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.
Lauren
Followed the recipe exactly (egg yolks room temp, melted butter cooled, etc) and the turned out perfectly! So delicious and I will definitely be making these every fall. Thanks!
Lisa
I tried these and they also turned out flat, soft and floppy. I used homemade pumpkin puree that was drained the night before so it wasn’t watery. I left them in longer and they still did not harden a little. They seemed under done. Maybe the butter shouldn’t be melted first but just softened by room temperature. Not sure though.
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear this happened, Lisa! I think the issue was probably the homemade pumpkin puree. 🙁
Paul
Can I roll these in pumpkin pie spice and sugar instead of cinnamon and sugar or would that be too strong?
Sam
Hi Paul! That could work. You may want to go a little light on the pumpkin pie spice as it can be more intense. 🙂
Alicia
These came out amazing! I even doubled the recipe! I used a scale so I could get the exact measurements. I was nervous when I read some of the other comments but they literally came out perfect. My husband who isn’t even a snickerdoodle fan (or pumpkin fan for that matter) even took a bite and said, ” VERY NICE” ! Thanks for the recipe!
Bethany
Folled instructions carefully. Absolutely delicious!
Toni
I love a strong pumpkin flavor in my desserts. Is 1/4 cup enough?
Sam
Hi Toni! I definitely think so! Most of the “pumpkin flavor” most people typically enjoy comes from the spices and there are adequate spices here. 🙂
Judy
These cookies are great! I cooked them just a little bit longer. They were approved by grandkids ,kids n husband!!!!
Andrea
Unfortunately, the cookies turned out flat. I followed the recipe and the video..
not sure why. If I had to guess it is because it does not have baking powder. I relied on the good reviews and comments and made 4 batches 🙁 oh well. Learned my lesson to always try first with 1 batch..
Sam
Hi Andrea! Do you mean you quadrupled the recipe? If they turned out flat I suspect something was accidentally mis-measured, they definitely shouldn’t be flat (and no baking powder needed, these cookies are actually prone to being too fluffy rather than too flat, something I carefully designed this recipe to counteract)! I would recommend trying again with one batch, please let me know how they turn out for you if you do!
Liz
Tried these out and they were absolutely delicious but too soft and floppy. We feel like we should have left them in the oven longer.
Sam
Hi Liz! It does sound like they need a bit more time in the oven. All ovens are different so I would just do the next batch a tad longer. Enjoy!
Kayla
I just made this recipe, and my cookies turned out more like muffin tops than cookies! What can I do next time to prevent this from happening?
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear this, Kayla! I wonder if there was too much flour in the dough? 🙁
Terri
Sam,
I’ve seen recipes that recommend drying the pumpkin purée on paper towel for pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies. No need to do this in your recipe?
Sam
Hi Terri! There’s no need to dry the pumpkin. I do in some recipes, but not needed here. 🙂
Nikki
This might be the best cookie recipe I have ever made. They are delicious!!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Nikki! 🙂
Bruce
I’m going to try doubling the recipe and baking it in a 9×13 pan, for pumpkin snickerdoodle blondies.
Andrea
How did they turn !? Did you tweak anything else?
Vicki
These cookies are so delicious! They are soft and chewy!
Trish
I love this recipe!! Absolutely delicious! Does it double well?
Sam
Absolutely! I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Pumpkin baker
It looks good. I haven’t tried it yet