1 hour ago, MelissaH said:Definitely use the cream of tartar and baking soda. (Together, they make a homemade baking powder, and one of the defining features of a snickerdoodle IMHO.) My current favorite recipe is Joanne Chang's, and I always make and portion the dough into balls the day before. They stay in the fridge overnight, and then get coated in cinnamon sugar and baked the next day.
I made them using the NY Times recipe and used baking soda and cream of tartar. I compared that recipe to Joanne Chang's and they are almost the same. The differences are that my recipe was halved, it called for a bit more flour and butter, did not mention beating the butter and sugar beyond mixing it, did not call for flattening the cookie before baking and called for an oven temp of 375 not 350. It also did not call for chilling the dough. I'll try the Joanne one next time. I just had one and they are delicious, soft in the middle and sort of crispy around the edges. Quick to make too, which is a bonus. Edited to add that my recipe also called for vanilla.