Cream of Tartar Chocolate Chip Cookies is a recipe I usually forget about, then remember when I'm making Snickerdoodles. It's a chocolate chip cookie recipe with cream of tartar, baking powder and baking soda in the dough. All of the leavening agents (plus the ratios) give you a crinkly, wrinkly dough with crispy edges.
What is Cream of Tartar?
Cream of tartar is derived from argol, which is a crusty substance that appears inside wine casks during fermentation. I read that McCormick gets its argol from Italy, where they send very small people into the wine casks to do the scraping. The crusty crystal residue is refined into cream of tartar, which is an acidic salt. It is a good acid for baking, because it doesn’t add extra moisture to the batter like vinegar, buttermilk or other acids. It can be used alone or combined with baking soda to make baking powder.
What Does Cream of Tartar Do In Cookies?
The main purpose of the cream of tartar is to act as a leavening agent. It works with other ingredients to aerate and expand the dough. Cream of tartar also adds flavor to cookies, which is why it is often used in Snickerdoodles. And finally, cream of tartar can give certain cookies a smoother texture by inhibiting sugar crystallization. If you look closely at the cookie in the photo, you can see that it has wrinkles, yet the part between the wrinkles is slightly smoother.
Update: Photo below is older. I took a new photo of one from my latest batch (first photo) which looks better. All I did differently was to use Land o' Lakes brand butter, larger chunks and King Arthur brand ap flour. I also baked the last batch in my Breville toaster oven on the convection setting, which I believe gives cookies a more "bakery" quality.
How Much Cream of Tartar in Cookies?
In this recipe, you use ½ teaspoon of cream of tartar for 2 cups of flour. You don't have to make any calculations or substitutions. However, if you ever want to use cream of tartar in place of baking powder in cookies, the general rule is to combine ¼ teaspoon of baking soda with ¼ teaspoon of cream of tartar. This mixture should replace 1 teaspoon of baking powder.
What's Up With the Oreos Comments?
The reason Oreos are mentioned in the Comments section is that at one point I added broken Oreos (just big chunks) to the dough. You can still do that if you'd like, but the cookies don't really need it.
Cream of Tartar Chocolate Chip Cookies
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (170 grams)
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (125 grams)
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (125 grams)
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 egg (50 grams)
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (260 grams)
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 ½ cups chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat butter and sugars until smooth. Add vanilla and egg and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, stir together flour, soda, salt, baking powder and cream of tartar. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir until incorporated.
Divide the dough into about 12 equal sections (you can make them smaller if you want) and shape into balls. Place dough balls 3 inches apart (6 per cookie sheet) on parchment lined or non-stick cookie sheet and flatten tops slightly. You don't want to flatten it too much, you just don't want it to look like a ball. Bake for about 15 minutes or until brown around the edges. Cool slightly on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to set: remove from baking sheet. Cool on wire rack. Makes about 12 big cookies.
Recipe
Cream of Tartar Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter softened (170 grams)
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (125 grams)
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (125 grams)
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
- 1 egg (50 grams)
- 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (260 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 ½ cups chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat butter and sugars until smooth. Add vanilla and egg and mix until combined.
- In a separate bowl, stir together flour, soda, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cream of tartar. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir until incorporated.
- Divide the dough into about 12 equal sections (you can make them smaller if you want) and shape into balls. Place dough balls 3 inches apart (6 per cookie sheet) on parchment lined or non-stick cookie sheet and flatten tops slightly.
- You don't want to flatten it too much, you just don't want it to look like a ball. Bake for about 15 minutes or until brown around the edges. Cool slightly on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to set: remove from baking sheet. Cool on wire rack. Makes about 12 big cookies.
Anna says
Nicole, yes! When I started this blog 20 years ago I used volume measurements, but like a lot of home bakers I finally adopted the scale and realized how much more accurate it is. The way I measure now is with measuring cups AND a scale, but there are lots of older recipes which I need to go back and add weights to. For this recipe, you can see that the weights are in the recipe card, and the weights are what I go by. This recipe is a popular one so you shouldn't have any issue with it. If you do, let me know.
Nicole Hibbs says
do you weigh your ingredients?
Anna says
Gina, I hope you like it!
BTW, sorry this post was so late. I thought I'd published it, but I was alerted that the feed wasn't working.
Sweets-n-Treats by Gina says
What a great idea! It sounds like the perfect fun recipe to make with the kids. Can't wait to try it 🙂
Sweets By Vicky says
I feel like I should be baking a batch of gluten free oreos just so I can bake these. They look so good. Imagine...a double cookie milkshake! phwoarrr.
Julia says
I love anything with oreos in! I just bought a load of them as well... coincidence? I think not.
I love your blog by the way! It has helped me through many a miserable work day for a couple of years now!
Martha in KS says
Anna,
My aunt & I are going to visit Austin in early Oct. Do you have any suggestions for economical hotels & which part of town to stay in - N, S, E, W? Also restaurant recommendations please.
Thanks
emlod10 says
yum! there is a place in Georgetown, DC called Wisemillers that sells these, delicious!
Sue says
This is an interesting recipe with baking soda, baking powder AND cream of tartar! Also interesting that it isn't as buttery as some other recipes. I too would be afraid of having an entire pack of Oreos around as they are one of the few store shelf cookies I love. (I love Golden Oreos too.) I would probably just buy one of those little packages of Oreo bites to bake with. That way I wouldn't have the home made cookies and the leftover Oreos looking at me.
Kerstin says
Oreos make everything better - I need to try these!
Lee says
All the goodies are calling MY NAME,LOL
Molly says
Oh my goodness. I have a weakness for anything with Oreo's....
Gloria says
Looks like a fun cookie to eat-you get an Oreo surprise! Only problem is you have a lot of Oreos left over calling your name!!!
Lee says
Looks so yummy, i love cookies
Lisa Ernst says
This is a good looking cookie. I'm not much for Oreos but I can see this as a good base for other goodies, especially of a chocolate nature.