Café de Olla Snickerdoodles

These Café de Olla Snickerdoodles bring all the cozy flavors of Mexican café de olla into a soft, chewy cookie! Egg-free and rolled in a spiced sugar mix with cinnamon, cloves, and star anise, these cookies are perfect.
A batch of golden-brown cafe de olla snickerdoodle cookies is arranged on a textured gray surface. The cookies are sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Cinnamon sticks and star anise are scattered around, along with a broken cookie piece in the foreground. Dark chocolate rests in the top corner.

About this recipe

What happens when you take a classic Snickerdoodle and give it a Mexican twist? You get these Café de Olla Snickerdoodles—soft, chewy cookies rolled in a warm, spiced sugar mix that tastes like a comforting cup of café de Olla.

Instead of traditional cinnamon sugar, we blend cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and allspice—the same spices used in café de olla, Mexico’s iconic spiced coffee. And to make things even better, these cookies are egg-free snickerdoodles, using soft tofu for that perfect texture. If you love Snickerdoodles but want to give them something extra, this recipe is for you!

Why will you love these

  • Soft & Chewy: The mix of butter and oil keeps them tender for days.
  • Egg-Free: Perfect if you’re out of eggs or prefer a plant-based option.
  • Mexican-Inspired: The café de olla spice blend adds a warm, cozy flavor. Have them with a Mexican Hot Chocolate.
  • Perfectly Sweet: Just the right balance of sweetness with a hint of spice.
A person with red nail polish pours maple syrup from a glass container into a measuring cup over a mixing bowl. They hold a hand mixer, covered with butter, in the other hand. Wearing a light pink sweater and red string bracelet, they dream of Café de Olla and freshly baked snickerdoodles.

Ingredients

  • AP flour, baking soda, salt.
  • Unsalted butter, can be swapped for vegan butter.
  • Vegetable oil
  • Sugar and Cafe de olla syrup
  • Soft tofu
  • Vanilla extract
  • Spiced Sugar Coating
The person, wearing a light sweater, dark pants, and a red bracelet, carefully places round dough pieces on parchment paper. Their orange-painted nails stand out as they prepare snickerdoodles. In the cozy kitchen setting, a blurred oven hints at the aroma of Café de Olla brewing nearby.

How to make

  • Preheat & Prep: Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Mix Dry Ingredients
  • Cream Butter, Oil, Syrup & Sugar
  • Combine & Form the Snickerdoodles
  • Roll in Spiced Sugar
  • Bake
  • Enjoy

Tips for the Best Snickerdoodles

💡 Make it extra spiced: Add a pinch of cinnamon or ground star anise directly into the dough.
💡 Chill the dough (optional): If you want thicker cookies, chill the dough for 30 minutes before rolling.
💡 Storage: Keep these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. You can also freeze them!

A batch of golden-brown snickerdoodle cookies is arranged on a textured gray surface. The cookies are sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Cinnamon sticks and star anise are scattered around, along with a broken cookie piece in the foreground. Dark chocolate rests in the top corner.

Café de Olla Snickerdoodles

Alejandra Graf
These Café de Olla Snickerdoodles bring all the cozy flavors of Mexican café de olla into a soft, chewy cookie! Egg-free and rolled in a spiced sugar mix with cinnamon, cloves, and star anise, these cookies are perfect.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Course sweets
Cuisine Mexicanish
Servings 24 cookies
Calories 128 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 Hand Mixer
  • Baking sheets
  • Parchement paper

Ingredients
  

For the Cookies:

For the Spiced Sugar Coating:

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
  • In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter, vegetable oil, and sugar together until light and fluffy—this gives the cookies that irresistible chewy texture.
  • Mix in the café de olla syrup, soft tofu, and vanilla extract until smooth.
  • Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring until just combined. Don’t overmix!
  • In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and allspice. Scoop the dough into 1-tablespoon portions, roll into balls, and coat each one in the spiced sugar mixture.
  • Place the dough balls about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are set but the centers still look slightly soft. They’ll continue to firm up as they cool.
  • Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookieCalories: 128kcalCarbohydrates: 22gProtein: 1gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.2gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 10mgSodium: 101mgPotassium: 27mgFiber: 0.4gSugar: 12gVitamin A: 118IUVitamin C: 0.01mgCalcium: 8mgIron: 1mg
Keyword snikerdoodles

information

Nutritional information of this recipe is only an estimate, the accuracy for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.

Did you make this recipe?Tag @piloncilloyvainilla on Instagram and hashtag it #alecooks so we can all see your creations.
Alejandra Graf
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