Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
These pumpkin snickerdoodles are super soft and chewy (not cakey!), made with real pumpkin, and coated in cinnamon and sugar. The perfect cookie recipe for fall!
I have to admit, I’ve never really loved pumpkin cookies very much. I love pumpkin and cookies, but the problem with them is that they tend to be cakey and not really taste like cookies. I’d much rather just eat a piece of pumpkin cake.
So I set out to create a pumpkin cookie recipe that was soft, chewy, and loaded with pumpkin flavor. No cakey cookies anywhere in sight!
And let me tell you, this pumpkin snickerdoodle recipe delivers all of that. Not only are they super soft and chewy, but these cookies have actual pumpkin in them too.
What You’ll Need For This Recipe
This recipe starts out with some of your usual snickerdoodle cookie ingredients, but with a few adjustments to give them lots of pumpkin flavor.
The full ingredient list and instructions are towards the bottom of the post, but I wanted to quickly go over a few key ingredients:
- All-purpose flour: This provides the structure for your cookies. One important note – make sure that you measure your flour with the spoon and level method. If you scoop your flour from the container it can become compacted and cause your cookies to turn out cakey.
- Pumpkin pie spice: If you don’t have any on hand, you can use my homemade pumpkin pie spice recipe instead.
- Cream of tartar: The cream of tartar is what gives snickerdoodles a little bit of a tangy taste and also reacts with the baking soda to help the cookies rise. You can technically leave it out since this recipe uses brown sugar which reacts with the baking soda as well.
- Sugar: I used a mixture of brown sugar and granulated sugar, both to add sweetness and a little moisture to these pumpkin snickerdoodles.
- Egg yolk: This recipe doesn’t call for a whole egg, just the egg yolk. I promise that’s not a mistake! One of the main reasons pumpkin cookies tend to turn out cakey is because pumpkin adds moisture to the batter. In order to avoid this problem, I removed some moisture by just using an egg yolk instead of the whole egg.
- Pumpkin puree: Be careful to buy pure pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling by accident.
How to Make Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
To make the cookies, start by whisking together the flour, spices, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Set it aside while you prepare the wet ingredients.
In a separate bowl, cream together the unsalted butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Then, mix in the egg yolk, vanilla, and pumpkin puree.
Next, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix them together until just combined.
Once you make the cookie dough, it’s important to let the dough chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. This will give the butter some time to firm back up and prevent the cookies from spreading too much in the oven.
Once the cookie dough is chilled, scoop it out and roll each ball of cookie dough in a cinnamon sugar mixture, then bake them.
The cookies are done once the tops are set. They will be soft when they first come out of the oven, but they will continue to set up as they cool.
Storage Instructions
Cookies may be stored in an airtight container on the counter for up to 1 week.
Cookie dough balls may be frozen for up to 3 months. Roll in the cinnamon sugar coating just before baking and bake from frozen for an additional 1 to 2 minutes. Baked cookies will also freeze well for up to 3 months, thaw to room temperature before serving.
Baking Tips
- Don’t over mix your butter and sugar! You only need to mix them together for 1 to 2 minutes, just until they’re well combined. If you over mix, it could potentially cause the cookies to have a cakier texture.
- You will have quite a bit of pumpkin puree leftover. You could easily double this recipe to make more cookies or use the extra pumpkin in my pumpkin oatmeal cookies, pumpkin scones, or mini pumpkin pies.
- Be sure to chill your cookie dough for at least 30 minutes so your cookies don’t spread too much in the oven.
Recipe Video
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour spooned & leveled (190 grams)
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened (115 grams; 1 stick)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- ¼ cup packed light brown sugar (50 grams)
- 1 large egg yolk at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ cup pumpkin puree (60 grams)
For the cinnamon sugar coating:
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (25 grams)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar for 1 to 2 minutes or until well combined. Mix in the egg yolk and vanilla extract, then mix in the pumpkin puree, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
- Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator. Using a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, making sure to leave a little room between each one.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon for the coating. Roll each ball of cookie dough in the cinnamon sugar coating and place back on the baking sheets.
- Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until the cookies are set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Soooo good! I didn’t refrigerate & they came out perfect!!
Great recipe! I will be making more for the holidays!
Can I use fresh pumpkin purée? It’s been in my freezer and will likely be more watery than canned purée. Tips for using that?
I think it would be fine. If it’s more watery than canned pumpkin, I’d recommend spreading it onto some paper towels and blotting out the excess moisture.
I made a double batch of these cookies today for my Womans Club meeting. Actually I didn’t have the cream of tarter and they were still
delicious. I will definitely share this recipe with a friend. Thank you. They are delicious.
What about making the dough and refrigerating it to bake the next evening? Would I just take it out of the fridge and let get to room temperature before rolling and coating with sugar and cinnamon?
You can refrigerate it overnight. I wouldn’t let it come completely to room temperature though, because you do want the butter in the dough to be chilled. If it’s too hard to scoop, you can let it sit at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes.
Is there a substitute for cream of tartar? I live abroad and can’t get any here. 🙁
It would be fine to omit it from the recipe, it just adds a little tanginess to the cookies to give them the classic snickerdoodle taste.
These are absolutely the best snickerdoodles I have ever tasted! I made them for my daughter’s baby shower last fall and have had many requests to make them again. I love baking and gifting baked goods to people, and everyone has raved about these! I was wondering if you would have any recommendations for making gingerbread snickerdoodles? While I am sure I could find a recipe for them, your recipe for these is BY FAR the best! I don’t want to mess with perfection! 🙂
So glad everyone loved these cookies, Danielle! You could use my ginger molasses cookie recipe here and coat them in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. I hope that helps!
I made these according to the directions. The taste was doughy and the texture was undercooked. I will give these another shot with more time in the oven.
Amazing flavor soft perfect texture. A new family favorite. Followed recipe but chilled over a hour . Thanks for sharing.
These cookies are exceptionally tasty! I was drawn to this recipe because they’re described at chewy, not cakey, but unfortunately mine came out really cakey. Is there a way to get more of a chewy cookie?
Did you make sure to spoon and level your flour? If so, it may be that your pumpkin puree had too much moisture in it. You could try blotting out the excess moisture with some paper towels before using it.
Can you add chocolate chips to this recipe???
Yes, you can add 3/4 to 1 cup.
These were perfect for a fall treat, delicious! I rolled the balls and then couldn’t bake them for almost a week but kept them in the fridge and they baked wonderfully. Definitely a keeper recipe!
Im waiting my half hour to pull from the fridg. A bit nervous, I’ve baked regular snickerdooles with ok results. It looks like it doesn’t make alot. I may have to double it next time.
YUM!! I did not have cream of tartar to use and it didn’t miss it! I got some of the liquid out of the pumpkin with paper towels, and added 3/4 cup of white chocolate chips. Sooo good!
I’m an experience baker but I had no luck with these. Even after baking for a minute longer than the maximum time recommended, and letting them sit on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes, they were wet and floppy. I followed the recipe directions exactly – not sure what I did wrong!
Hi, Lisa! Did you use canned pumpkin? Or did you use a homemade puree that possibly had more moisture in it than canned?
Made these cookies for the first time. I used baking crisco instead of butter and the cookies were great!!!! I had to flatten them a little because they did not spread as regular cookies do. The texture was smooth and the cookies baked fine on 350. My mom was a professional at baking and she taught me to always use the best ingredients and never bake cookies above 350.
Made this recipe double. Used dark brown sugar only because I didn’t have light brown sugar. Turned out great. Everyone loved them.
Prepared the dough last night so I could bake these today and they are delicious!! Only change was omitting the cream of tartar and using a 1:1 gluten free flour, and I still got a great rise on the cookies and minimal spread. The flavour is delicious but they are very cakey in my opinion and almost a little dry on the first bite. Where could I have gone wrong? I scooped and levelled the flour as mentioned
Hi, Sarah! I don’t think that omitting the cream of tartar would have affected it, but it could have been the flour that you used. Have you had success using it in other cookie recipes? Did you happen to use a homemade pumpkin puree or puree from a can? And did you make sure to use an egg yolk not the whole egg?
Followed the recipe exactly as described, and cookies still came out underdone and flat. They are still delicious, but I may add 1/4c of flour to the recipe to give them a little bulk!
These cookies are delicious.
Can you make these using 1 T cookie scoop? How long would you bake them?
Yes, absolutely! Baking time should be about 8 to 10 minutes.
If I used gluten free flour would that make a difference?
As long as it’s one that substitutes 1:1 for all-purpose flour, it should be fine. You can test one cookie to see how they spread before baking the others. If it’s not spreading very well, you can slightly flatten each ball of cookie dough before baking them.
I made these yesterday and they were incredible! Definitely a keeper recipe for autumn. I wanted to really amp up the fall flavor, so instead of cinnamon I added more Penzey’s pumpkin pie spice blend in the dough and coating. I tried using the convection setting on the oven on half the batch to see if they would be chewier/crispier, but actually they didn’t spread as much and were more dome shaped. I will stick with the standard 350 degree oven, no convection needed!
Great cookie! Just like a snickerdoodle with more going on…wonderful texture & flavor. Thank you for figuring it out for us.
A friend made these and brought them to class last night. FREAKIN’ AMAZING! So, so good! Soft and chewy…. the perfect texture for a cookie. : )
I just wanted to comment on here regarding the cookies potentially turning out more cake like. If you follow the instructions and are still finding this happen, try baking your cookies off of the baking pan and instead directly on the aluminum foil in the oven. We did an A/B test and the ones that we cooked on the cookie pan turned out a lot more cake like versus the one directly on the aluminum. Overall, cookies were great! Thanks for the recipe ?
Great cookie but probably use less cream of tarter next time . Too much of a bitter after taste .
Amazing, tasty cookie! Really tender crumb! I scooped them onto a baking sheet, put in the fridge overnight, and baked them in the morning. They turned out amazing!
I made these and they were delicious however I have a family member that can’t have butter. Will it turn out okay with a vegetarian butter substitute?
I haven’t tried it, but I think it would be okay.
the taste was great and i could tell this is a great recipe but for some reason they came out dry crumbly and cakey 🙁 i only baked one cookie to test it out but I still have all of the dough, is there any way to fix the rest of the dough before baking?
Did you make any adjustments to the recipe? And did you make sure to spoon and level your flour?
yes i did and I still don’t know what went wrong with them. I still have the dough chilling in the fridge so is there anyway to fix it so they at least come out a bit more moist ?
Adding a little more butter or granulated sugar will help the cookies spread more and make them less cakey. You could possibly let the dough come to room temperature and incorporate another tablespoon or two of melted butter, but since the dough is fully mixed together it may not work too great.
You could also try slightly flattening each ball of cookie dough before baking (to help them spread) and reducing the baking time a little (so they’re not over baked/crumbly).