🍁🧡🍂 Soft and Chewy Pumpkin Snickerdoodles are soft and pillowy in the middle, chewy around the edges, and ever so slightly crisp on the bottom! Classic snickerdoodles get a makeover with the addition of pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spices! They’re so EASY and the dough can be made in advance, making it perfect for all those COZY fall vibes!
Why You’ll Love These Chewy Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies
This pumpkin snickerdoodle recipe is a spin on my gold standard snickerdoodle recipe. I’ve made that recipe for years, and it’s a long-time reader favorite as well as a personal favorite of my family.
- In my book, a fantastic snickerdoodle is pillowy soft on the inside and slightly chewy around the edges thanks to the melted butter in the dough. This pumpkin version checks all the boxes, with the added bonus of a subtle pumpkin flavor and extra warmth from the blend of spices used in the batter.
- The prep time is only 15 minutes, and the cookies store well, meaning they’re great to prep ahead of time.
- When you’re ready to bake, these pumpkin snickerdoodles are ready to eat in ten minutes flat!
I love baking these every fall! Thank you Averie!
Grace
Need to Use up Your Pumpkin Puree? Try These Recipes!
This pumpkin snickerdoodle cookie recipe calls for ¼ cup of pumpkin puree, which isn’t an entire can. If you need ideas on how to use up that canned pumpkin, I suggest making another one of my (many) pumpkin recipes.
Specifically, the recipes below use less than a full can as well.
Pumpkin cinnamon roll bake is a decadent breakfast option that’s perfect for weekends and holidays, and cinnamon sugar pumpkin muffins are perfect for grab-and-go breakfasts and snacks. A reader favorite in recent years is pumpkin cruffins, which use a shortcut to keep them fast and easy!
This pumpkin chocolate chip bread comes together quickly and is perfect for gifting. But if pumpkin cookies are your favorite, then try these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, or iced pumpkin oatmeal cookies.
Ingredients and Notes
Just like my classic snickerdoodles, these pumpkin snickerdoodles use basic ingredients I always have on hand during the fall.
Gather the following to make the Cookie Dough:
- Unsalted butter – If salted butter is all you have, omit the added salt
- Sugar – Use a combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar (light or dark) to sweeten the cookies, add a molasses taste, and keep them soft and moist
- Pumpkin puree – Homemade puree will likely work, but homemade puree often contains more moisture than canned puree, so I have heard of some people thoroughly blotting it with paper towels before using to remove a bit of liquid. But more likely, adding a bit more flour will be necessary
- Egg yolk – This adds richness to the flavor and keeps the cookies moist and chewy
- Vanilla extract
- Baking soda – Make sure it’s fresh, or your cookies won’t rise
- Spices – I used a blend of pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and cloves to make this recipe, but in a pinch, I bet you’d be fine to use all pumpkin pie spice, which actually is a blend of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and sometimes lemon peel
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Cream of tartar – This makes snickerdoodles tangy and super chewy. It also reacts with the baking soda to make the dough rise in the oven and make the centers pillowy soft. You can replace the ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar + ½ teaspoon baking soda with ¾ teaspoon baking powder. Baking powder is a mixture of cream of tartar and baking soda, but the ratios within the baking powder will be different from what the recipe calls for. As such, I really recommend spending the couple of bucks and using the cream of tartar, and replacing it with baking powder only if it’s absolutely necessary
- Cinnamon-sugar coating – Combine granulated sugar and ground cinnamon
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Snickerdoodle pumpkin cookies are incredibly easy to make with modest prep time, but you must chill the dough before baking the cookies. As long as you plan accordingly, you should have no trouble!
- In a large mixing bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer), mix together the butter and sugars, then add in the pure pumpkin puree. Add in the egg yolk from a large egg, vanilla extract (1 or 2 teaspoons), and mix.
- In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, baking soda, cream of tartar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold to combine.
- Form into a big mound, and wrap the dough mound in plastic wrap and chill for 1-2 hours. You cannot skip this step! If you do, your cookies will flatten in the oven.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop the chilled cookie dough into oversized tablespoon-sized balls. Roll each cookie dough ball through the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
- Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake. Watch your cookies and not the clock when baking these easy snickerdoodles. You want to err on the side of slightly underbaking them so that they stay soft, tender, and chewy for days afterward. The cookies are done when the edges are set and the centers are just barely set but still a little glossy. Cool on a wire rack.
Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies
Equipment
- 1 Stand Mixer Fitted with a Paddle Attachment
- 2 Wire Racks
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling
- 1 egg yolk, from a large egg (discard white or save for your morning eggs)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons pumpkin spice
- ½ to 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar*
Cinnamon-Sugar Coating
- ⅓ to ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Cookie Dough – To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl with handheld electric mixer), add the melted and cooled (make sure it's cool or you will scramble the egg), sugars, and beat on medium-high speed until well combined. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the pumpkin puree and beat to incorporate.
- Add the egg yolk, vanilla, and beat to incorporate. Stop and scape down the sides of the bowl. Set aside momentarily.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, add the flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves, cream of tartar *(See Notes) salt, and whisk to combine. Spices Tips – I add extra cinnamon and cloves because I am fond of the flavor. However, most blends of "pumpkin pie spice" contain a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and sometimes lemon peel. Therefore, if you want to just add a bit more pumpkin pie spice if you don't have individual spices, go for it. And/or add other spices to your liking, i.e. ground ginger, ground nutmeg, etc. It's all personal preference.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and beat on low speed to just incorporate; do not overmix.
- Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours. Chilling Tips – If you don't have room for the whole mixing bowl, make a dough mound and wrap that in plastic wrap, and then place it in the fridge. You MUST chill the dough because it's far too soft to bake with at this point and your cookies will spread horribly if you attempt it. You can chill the dough longer than 2 hours (up to 24-36 hours before baking it) however if you plan to chill for more than 2 hours, form the cookie dough mounds or balls within the 2 hour window or else the dough could become unreasonably stiff and difficult to work with.
- After 1-2 hours, remove the dough from the fridge, and using a medium cookie scoop (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) and form approximately 16 equal sized balls of dough. Give each ball a quick roll between your palms to smooth; set aside on baking sheets momentarily.
- Preheat oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with Silpat baking mats, parchment paper, or spray the baking sheets well with nonstick spray.
- Cinnamon-Sugar – To a medium bowl (not too small because you have to roll the dough balls through it), add the graulated sugar, cinnamon, and stir to combine.
- Roll each mound of dough through the cinnamon sugar, and place about 8 mounds per baking sheet, evenly spaced. You do not need to flatten the dough mounds.
- Bake for about 10 minutes, or as needed until done. Baking Tips – I always perfer baking one sheet of cookies at a time, on the center rack, and I rotate it midway through the baking time for the most even baking. However, you can bake two sheets at once if preferred. Baking time is just an estimate or guideline, and your cookies may take more or less time to bake depending on your oven, how cold the dough was going into the oven, the exact size of your cookie dough balls, etc. Cookies are done when they are set on the top and lightly golden browned and will have the tell-tale crinkling of a snickerdoodle cookie, although that also continues to develop at the cookies cool.
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 5-10 minutes, or until cool and set enough to transfer to wire racks, where they can cool completely. Cinnamon-Sugar Tip – Sometimes it can seem that the cinnamon-sugar coating almost disappears during the baking process. But don't worry if that happens to you! Simply sprinkle the baked cookies with an extra large pinch of cinnamon-sugar right after you pull them out of them oven while they're cooling on the baking sheets.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Pumpkin Cookie Recipes:
If you’re a pumpkin fan, check out ALL MY PUMPKIN RECIPES!
Cooking With Pumpkin: Recipes That Go Beyond the Pie is my second cookbook and was released October 2014. There are over 50 pumpkin recipes, including sweets, savory, drinks, and a photo for nearly every recipe. I’d be super grateful if you headed over to Amazon!
Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies — These pumpkin oatmeal cookies are bursting with chocolate chips in every bite! They’re thick, hearty, perfectly chewy, and not at all cakey.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies — Between the molasses, pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin pie spice extract that I used, these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies beautifully showcase the flavors of fall!
Pumpkin Spice Cookies — These pumpkin spice cookies are made without pumpkin puree but are full of flavor thanks to the pumpkin pie spice! These are so soft and fluffy!
Buttery Pecan Pumpkin Spice Cookies – Buttery soft dough with big chunky pecans in every bite! Salty-and-sweet and so hard to resist!
Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies — Soft, chewy, loads of white chocolate, and so much pumpkin flavor! A pinch of salt balances the sweet white chocolate for a salty-and-sweet treat!
Iced Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies — Soft and pillowy pumpkin cookies that are chock full of pumpkin spice and everything nice! The icing takes these cookies over the top. An EASY pumpkin oatmeal cookie recipe that does NOT require any dough chilling, making these a FAST treat to whip up!
I love baking these every fall! Thank you Averie!
🎃🍁 love hearing this!
Should the flour and dry ingredients be sifted?
I do not bother sifting for this recipe (nor almost any). If I ever think it’s essential I call it out but this one is just an easy add right in.
I tried to print the Pumpkin Snickerdoodles and my printer did not do it.. So I went back and there was no area to Print again. Please send me this receipe. I’m going to see whats up with the other and see if there is a receipe. Thank you and so glad I came across your Blog
In the recipe card section, there is a large black button with the word PRINT on it. Click that and you can print. It’s working just fine on my end.