Is cream of tartar absolutely necessary?

[Mare749]

My hubbie decided he loves snickerdoodles and wants me to make some for his lunch. The recipes all seem to call for 2 tsp. of cream of tartar. So, what happens if you don't use it? This isn't a product that I normally buy.

[Lorraine]

I don't have any in the house either, Maryann. This is what I found:
Substitute

[labradors]

In that kind of recipe, the cream ot tartar is the acid used to make the baking soda work. If you don't have cream of tartar, cut down on some of the baking SODA, and use some baking POWDER (which contains baking soda, cream of tartar and cornstarch) instead.

[Mare749]

Thank you both. I had to go to the store for salmon for dinner, so broke down and bought it anyway. I figure if he likes these cookies that much, I'll be making them regularly and want them to turn out the way they are suppose to. I'm going to save your tip, labs, for when I run out and see if they turn out the same.

[labradors]

BTW, Snickerdoodles are some of my favourite cookies, too, and this is the recipe I use. A couple of tips: use good baking sheets from a restaurant-supply store (not the flimsy, non-stick garbage they sell in department stores and "kitchen stores") and line them with parchment, then put the dough onto the parchment using a cookie scoop (like a smaller version of an ice-cream scoop). They'll come out perfectly every time. Once, when I took them to a church function, someone asked where I had bought them, because they loved them so much. When I told them I had made them, they asked, "Well, how did you get them all to come out the same size, and perfectly round?" LOL!