I’d like to introduce you to my favorite new flavor cheesecake: the Snickerdoodle Cheesecake.
It’s been a while since I made this cheesecake, and its pictures have been haunting me in my photo collection ever since. A few of my family members were in town visiting, and we needed something good for dessert.
The thing is… we had a couple things to consider.
- Many of us like to eat light.
- My Mom is gluten free, so we had to choose something she could enjoy too.
My sister is often recommending recipes from magazines, and she had pulled this recipe for snickerdoodle cheesecake out of an issue of Better Homes and Gardens from last fall. Since I’m a snickerdoodle cookie FANATIC, it sounded wonderful to me… and it would be easy to turn it into a gluten-free version too. As far as eating light… well… we at least used light cream cheese- ha!
While this is not a low calorie dessert, devouring a small slice of it will totally satisfy your craving for sugar. I’m all for eating kind of a plain-type cheesecake without a lot of sauces or toppings or anything excessive like that. I love cheesecake enough not to mess it up with a lot of extra stuff, so this snickerdoodle cheesecake meets that criteria. It’s a delicious and creamy textured cheesecake with a cinnamony-crust on top. Perfect!
Our gluten-free adaptation of this recipe turned out very well. We used Cup-4-Cup Gluten Free Flour Blend (my favorite to use for baking) to substitute for the all purpose flour in the recipe. And for the crust we just used some gluten-free sugar cookies (animal cookies would work fine too). My gluten-free Mom was happy that she was able to eat it too. It was enjoyed by all of us. Did it taste like snickerdoodles? No, not really. But it was a delicious cheesecake with a cinnamon-sugar touch!
Here are a few more cheesecake recipes you might like to try:
- Red Velvet Cheesecake
- Strawberry Cheesecake
- No Bake Cheesecake
- Italian Ricotta Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Cheesecake
Snickerdoodle Cheesecake
Recipe Details
Ingredients
CRUST:
- 10 ounces shortbread cookies (finely crushed or ground in a food processor)
- 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
- ¼ cup (½ stick) butter, melted
FILLING:
- Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
- 8 ounces sour cream
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 large eggs
TOPPING:
- 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
PREPARE THE CRUST:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
PREPARE THE CRUST:
- In a medium bowl stir together the cookie crumbs and sugar. Stir in the melted butter and mix until combined. Press the crust onto the bottom and 1½-inches up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan.
PREPARE THE FILLING:
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, flour, vanilla and cinnamon- mix until smooth. Then mix in eggs. Pour the filling into the pan, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar topping. Place the springform pan in a shallow baking pan.
- Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until a 2½-inch area around the outside edge appears set when gently shaken. Cool in the springform pan on the wire rack for at least 20 minutes, then use a knife to loosen the crust from the sides of the pan. Cool 30 minutes more, then remove sides of the pan. Cool the cheesecake completely, then cover and chill for at least 4 hours before serving.
Notes
- If preparing this recipe as gluten-free, just be sure to use gluten free cookies and gluten-free flour.
Nutrition
How much GF flour do you use in this recipe?
We used Cup4Cup GF flour, and so it’s an even exchange- 2 tablespoons. You can also use the gluten free shortbread.
Can I make this the day before?
yes
Can I make this in mini cupcake form?
I’ve never tried that!
I made this last night and it is delicious! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.
Hi, I wanted to let you know that I made this cheesecake when I hosted our book club. The book I chose had a main character who made snickerdoodles and I wanted to go fancier than just cookies, so I searched for a cheesecake recipe and found this. I used Girl Scout shortbread cookies for the crust and regular (not low fat or gluten free) ingredients – flour, sour cream, cream cheese. I topped it with a little whipped cream, a drizzle of salted caramel, and a few toasted slivered almonds. It was a huge, delicious success. Thank you!
Do you put water in the shallow baking pan? Thank you!
No, there is no need to do that for this recipe.
Lori, you are the cheesecake queen!!! And a snickerdoodle version?! ALL HAIL!!! This is just too good to be true!
This looks amazing and I love the gluten free option!
I’ve always thought snickerdoodles are a bit of an underappreciated cookie, so it’s so fun (and tempting!) to see them fused with cheesecake, one of my all-time faves!
I love snickerdoodles! This cheesecake looks amazing – that crust and the cinnamon sugar topping – YUM! Using light cream cheese totally makes this dessert light 🙂
I LOVE snickerdoodles…,they are so classic and simple. And, cheesecake is my favorite food ever….I think it should have it’s own food group. This looks delish Lori…and sometimes, the calories just don’t count right? 😉 Pinned!
You’re speaking my language with this one! I love snickerdoodles and yeah let’s call it lite b/c of the lite cream cheese. I am down with that, for sure 🙂 pinned