These Pumpkin Snickerdoodles are a fun fall spin on classic snickerdoodles! My recipe has the perfect soft and chewy (not cakey!) texture with a buttery pumpkin flavor. Recipe includes a how-to video!
A Seasonal Snickerdoodle Cookie Recipe
If you love snickerdoodles, wait until you try these pumpkin snickerdoodles! These fall-flavored cookies are incredibly soft, chewy, and buttery. They have a distinct snickerdoodle flavor accented by pumpkin, cinnamon sugar, and other fall spices, and they’re truly the perfect fall cookie!
This recipe has been a favorite on the blog for years, and for good reason. Not only is it easy, but there’s no mixer required (yay!). You will need a bit of patience (there’s some chilling involved), but this is one cookie recipe that is absolutely worth the wait!
So often pumpkin cookies end up being cakey, but I designed my pumpkin snickerdoodles to have the perfect soft and chewy texture. You’ll find yourself eating one… and then another… and then another… so I typically recommend making a double batch just to be safe 😊
What You Need
Most of these ingredients will be expected, but there’s a few you should pay close attention to, including:
- Melted butter. Rather than creaming together our butter and sugar, which creates air bubbles and leads to thicker, fluffier cookies, we’re going to melt our butter. This is a long-time favorite trick of mine for soft, chewy cookies that have the best flavor (like my chocolate chip cookies!). It’s especially important in today’s recipe, where the extra moisture from the pumpkin could make our cookies cakey. Using melted butter is key in helping combat this!
- Pumpkin. Use pure pumpkin and NOT pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin pie filling has additives that we don’t need in our pumpkin snickerdoodles.
- Egg yolk. Pumpkin has a lot of water in it, and the water can lead to cakey cookies. Because we’re adding all of this moisture from the pumpkin, we will omit the egg white to reduce excess moisture. We leave the egg yolk which is mostly fat and will help make our pumpkin snickerdoodles tender, but toss that egg white (or use it to make candied pecans!).
- Cream of tartar. You simply can’t make snickerdoodles without cream of tartar! This is an essential ingredient and I don’t have a good substitute, so make sure you have it before you start.
- Pumpkin pie spice. If you don’t have the pre-made version, make my homemade pumpkin spice!
SAM’S TIP: Make sure your butter has cooled enough that it’s not warm to the touch before adding your sugar! Adding the sugar while the butter is too hot can cause your sugar to melt and leave you with a greasy, unusable cookie dough.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
- Combine the (cooled) butter and sugars, then stir in the pumpkin until combined.
- Stir in the egg and vanilla.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the wet ingredients.
- Cover the dough and let it chill for at least 45 minutes.
- Scoop and roll dough through cinnamon sugar before baking for 10-12 minutes.
SAM’S TIP: Never put cold cookie dough on a hot (or even warm) cookie sheet! This will cook/melt the cookies prematurely and can cause them to spread too much, leading to flat cookies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Chilling your cookie dough longer than the recommended 45 minutes is fine. I’ve made pumpkin snickerdoodle dough as far as 3 days in advance. Just keep it tightly covered in the refrigerator. If you chill for longer than 45 minutes and the dough is too difficult to scoop, let it sit at room temperature for several minutes until it can easily be scooped.
Definitely! You can freeze the balls (before rolling in cinnamon sugar) on a cookie sheet before placing in an airtight bag or container for pumpkin snickerdoodles on demand.
Unfortunately I do not recommend it. Cream of tartar is what gives all snickerdoodles (and my snickerdoodle blondies) their classic flavor and tang. Don’t skip it!
Love these pumpkin snickerdoodles? I have so many more snickerdoodle recipes, from snickerdoodle scones to snickerdoodle cupcakes!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled for at least 10 minutes
- ½ cup (100 g) sugar
- ⅓ cup (70 g) light brown sugar tightly packed
- ¼ cup (73 g) pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg yolk
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (190) all purpose (plain) flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon salt
Topping
- ¼ cup (50 g) sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Combine butter, sugar, and brown sugar and stir until well-combined. Add pumpkin and stir well.½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, ½ cup (100 g) sugar, ⅓ cup (70 g) light brown sugar, ¼ cup (73 g) pumpkin puree
- Stir in egg yolk and vanilla extract.1 large egg yolk, ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt until well-combined.1 ½ cups (190) all purpose (plain) flour, 1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar, ½ teaspoon salt
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet until ingredients are well-combined.
- Cover cookie dough with clear wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 45 minutes.
- One dough is nearly finished chilling, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and prepare a cookie sheet by lining with parchment paper. Prepare your cinnamon sugar mixture by whisking together ¼ cup sugar and 2 tsp ground cinnamon in a small bowl.¼ cup (50 g) sugar, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- Remove dough from refrigerator and scoop into 1 ½ Tablespoon-sized balls. Roll briefly between your palms until smooth and then roll through cinnamon sugar and transfer to prepared cookie sheet, spacing at least 2" apart.
- Bake cookies in a 350F oven for 10-12 minutes. Keep your remaining dough refrigerated while cookies are baking and do not place cookie dough on a hot baking sheet.
- Allow baked cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet before enjoying.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Katie
Wow! I followed the directions exactly and these are hands down the BEST cookies I have ever made!! Thank you so much for being so firm with the instructions. I can’t wait to see all your other recipes!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Katie! 🙂
Monique
These cookies are absolutely delicious! Made them for Halloween treat bags for friends and the absolutely loved them.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy everyone loved them, Monique! Thanks for trying our recipe and giving us a five star review. Enjoy ❤️
Angelina
I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin, however, these are bomb. So delicious. So chewy. Everyone in my family loved it. Making them again now!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you loved them, Angelina! They’re perfect for fall. Enjoy ❤️
Lexxs Hoffman
I was not super diligent about the chilling and cookie sheet instructions and the cookies still turned out wonderfully. Huge hit with all our friends. Great pumpkin dessert recipe to add to the books!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you loved them, Lexxs! Enjoy ❤️
Rachel Gibbs
Hi!
How long can you refrigerate the dough for? I am a Family & Consumer Sciences (Home Ec.) teacher and I want to make the dough one day, refrigerate overnight, and then bake the cookies the next. Would that work? Let me know!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Rachel! The dough can stay in the refrigerator for 5 days, so that should be just fine. We hope your students love these cookies! 🙂
Kelly
These cookies turned out absolutely delicious and were soft and chewy and perfect! The pumpkin taste was pretty light but that seems to be the case for all the pumpkin cookie recipes I’ve tried. But they were still super delicious and everyone at work loved them! I will definitely be saving this recipe to make again. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you loved them, Kelly! Enjoy! ❤️
Bruce
Kelly,
If you’d like to increase the pumpkin flavor, you can use about 2 Tbl more pumpkin, and cook it in a heavy saucepan, over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, about 3 minutes. The cooking intensifies the pumpkin flavor. You can do this with any pumpkin recipe
Jo
Love these cookies, thank you for the recipe! I’ve had success replacing a tablespoon or two of butter with some extra pumpkin puree, if anyone is interested.
Cassie
Could I do these with almond flour and a little coconut flour?
Also sub the sugar for trivia and brown sugar splenda?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Cassie! Unfortunately, without testing this ourselves we can’t know for sure how the cookies would turn out with these substitutions. If you do try it, please let us know how it goes!
Anna
Just made these right this moment. Judging by the fact that the hubby just scarfed four of them in a row, I’d say they’re a hit. Good recipe. Thanks for posting.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Kim
Thank you for this amazing recipe!! It is soo good How many days can the dough refrigerate for and would it be ok to freeze it?
Sam
Hi Kim! They should be ok in the refrigerator for 5 days, after that freezing them will work great. 🙂
Rachel Levesque
Thank you for the recipe is so good and soft 😋
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sooo soft! We love them too, Rachel. Thanks for letting us know how they turned out for you! 🙂
ashton
soooo good
Rachel
These were so yummmmy! I added just a DASH of nutmeg in the cinnamon sugar, gave it a nice little spice between bites. ❣️ Thanks so much for sharing, we will be making these our fall cookie must have!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Rachel! 🙂
Vicki
Wonderful recipe! T tripled the recipe and added 1 tsp. Of ground cloves to the cookies and the sugar mix.
Michelle
These are the perfect fall cookie! The spices and pumpkin flavor are balanced and delicious. They bake up like puffy little chewy clouds. So amazing!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Michelle! 🙂
Marizol
Just made them they are delicious and very easy to make. I ended up with 20, cookies good size! I will be sharing this recipe with family and friends.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Marizol! Thank you for letting me know how they turned out for you! <3
Suzanne
Easy to make, chewy and perfect foe the holiday. You can’t go wrong with these cookies. Make that never go wrong when it’s got pumpkin in it.
Sam
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed, Suzanne! Thank you so much for commenting! 🙂
Holland
Do you think it would work ok to only bake a few (ones that will be eaten right away), and freeze the rest of the balls? I usually do that for chocolate chip cookies. I like my cookies fresh out of the oven!
Sam
Hi Holland! That will work just fine. 🙂
Patricia
This cookies is amazing. My husband who is not crazy about anything pumpkin LOVES these cookies. Thank you for the recipe.