Bursting with warm buttery flavor, caramel brown sugar undertones, and pumpkin-y goodness, Pumpkin Snickerdoodle cookies are melt in your mouth delicious! Chewy, soft and tender this elevated cookie is packed with all the warm and cozy flavors of fall.
Crinkly-topped, with a lightly crispy and crackly exterior, these cookies are double dipped in a sweet cinnamon-sugar coating. Quick and easy to make with just one bowl and no chill time required, it makes the perfect addition to your fall baking list!
But don't sleep on these other other fall favorite recipes like warm Triple Berry Crumble, Southwestern Tamale Pie, or Sweet and Spicy Chili. All are winners in our book!
And if it is really pumpkin recipes you seek, don’t miss these easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies made with a box cake mix, tender Pumpkin Sheet cake, or delicious Pecan Streusel Pumpkin Pie.
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🥫 Ingredients
With all the classic ingredients and flavors of a snickerdoodle cookie, the addition of pumpkin puree and cinnamon spice are what push this cookie over the top for a delicious and fun fall treat.
- Butter
- Brown Sugar
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Pumpkin Puree
- Flour
- Cinnamon
- Salt
- Baking Soda
- Cream of Tartar
When shopping be careful that you grab a can of pumpkin puree and NOT pumpkin pie filling. They are not the same! Libby’s brand pumpkin is definitely my favorite pumpkin puree go to.
Libby's is concentrated pumpkin, has good flavor and is packed with little excess water. You can use other brands of pumpkin, but you may want to be proactive and remove excess water from your pumpkin by blotting with a paper towel.
Too much extra moisture in your dough will give you a cakier Pumpkin Snickerdoodle cookies and we want a nice chewy, tender cookie for the best results.
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
Firstly, line your baking sheet with parchment paper and set the pan aside. In a small bowl combine your sugar and cinnamon for the topping and set aside. Then in a bowl using a hand mixer whip your butter till it is a nice light color.
Cream Wet Ingredients
Add your sugars to the bowl and continue to cream the butter and sugar together for at least two minutes or until there is absolutely no lumps. We want to make sure we have beaten a lot of air into the dough.
Afterwards add the rest of your wet ingredients and mix as you go starting with your vanilla and pumpkin. Then lastly add your eggs to the batter and mix together till it is smooth and fully come together.
Dry Ingredients
Following the combining of our wet ingredients it is now time to add in our dry ingredients.
Let's begin by measuring our flour. Be careful not to use your measuring cup to directly scoop out the flour. This will pack in the flour and cause you to have too much which will make for a crumblier dry cookie.
Instead, spoon your flour into the measuring cup and gently level it off to ensure you have the right amount of flour for your recipe.
When measured properly add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar to the mixing bowl. Then gently stir the dry ingredients together combining them on top of the wet ingredients first.
When lightly mixed use a spoon to combine the wet and dry ingredients. As soon as the white streaks of flour are gone stop mixing the dough. Be careful not to over mix the Pumpkin Snickerdoodle cookies dough.
Scoop and Roll
Once done, pre-heat your oven to 350° F. Using a cookie scoop, measure out your cookie dough. Drop and roll each ball of dough in the small bowl of cinnamon sugar topping till coated. Then place each cookie dough ball on your prepared baking sheet.
Bake the Cookies
Allow the cookies to bake for 9 to 11 minutes until the edges are just barely set. It is very important not to over bake your Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies. Underbaking your cookies just slightly is what will help give them their soft chewy center!
Bang and Shape
As soon as your cookies come out of the oven bang your cookies out. Do this by dropping the pan on a flat surface. This pushes those air pockets out of the baked cookies helping get that chewier center!
Then immediately use a spatula or mason jar to gently round out your cookies and push the edges back in towards the center before the edges harden. This will help give your Pumpkin Snickerdoodle cookies a beautiful round shape and thicker chewier centers.
Double Coat and Cool
Once that is done let your cookies sit on the pan for 3-5 minutes to continue cooling and set up. Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack and let cool till just warm enough to handle with out breaking or falling apart.
Then last but not least, drop each cookie in your cinnamon-sugar topping for good measure. Double dipping each cookie in cinnamon sugar not only gives a beautiful finish to your cookies but also extra flavor, texture and a little crunch!
Be sure to flip the Pumpkin Snickerdoodle cookies to get a coating on each side before setting aside to finish cooling and enjoy!
Lastly, don't forget, pumpkin spiced cookies and treats taste even yummier the next day! Giving the spices and pumpkin flavors 24 hours to meld together is so, so worth it!
👩🏻🍳 Make it Your Own
I know we are already elevating your basic snickerdoodle recipe with adding in all our favorite fall spice flavors! But that doesn't mean there isn't room for still making this recipe your own.
Using brown sugar in our recipe adds nice warm caramel undertones and extra moistness, but for an even deeper molasses flavor try using dark brown sugar instead.
There are also lots of add in options that go great with this cookie. Chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, dried cranberries, raisins, and chopped pecans or walnuts are all yummy and delicious mix-ins.
💭 Top Tips
Do's
- Do cream your butter, sugar and pumpkin till creamy and smooth. You want as much air in the wet ingredients as you can for perfectly chewy texture when baked.
- Do bang your Pumpkin Snickerdoodle cookies out on the countertop after pulling them out of the oven. This pushes those air pockets out of the baked cookies helping get that nice chewier center!
- Do push back the edges of the cookies with a spatula or use a mason jar to gently round out your cookies and push the edges back in towards the center for a chewier and prettier cookie.
Don'ts
- Don’t pack in the flour when measuring out the dry ingredients. Instead, spoon your flour into the measuring cup and gently level it off to ensure you have the right amount of flour for your recipe.
- Don’t over mix the dough after adding your dry ingredients. Switch to mixing with a spoon for better control. And as soon as the white streaks of flour are gone stop mixing the dough.
- Don’t over bake. It is very important not to over bake your Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies. Underbaking your cookies just slightly is what will help give them their soft chewy center!
🍽 Storing
Melding Flavors
If you can manage to save a cookie or two don't forget that pumpkin spiced cookies and treats taste even better the next day when our fall spices and flavors have had time to meld together.
Freezer Friendly
Cookies generally freeze great! Pumpkin Snickerdoodle cookies are no exception. Place your completely cooled cookies in an airtight container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
You can also freeze your cookie dough balls if preferred. Then when ready to bake, pull the dough from the freezer and bake as normal.
No need to thaw the dough. Just pop it in the oven and add a minute or two to your final bake time. Then shape and double coat each cookie in another layer of cinnamon sugar and enjoy!
📋 FAQ's
Is pumpkin pie filling the same as pumpkin puree?
This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make while shopping! Be careful and make sure you grab a can of pumpkin puree and NOT pumpkin pie filling. They are not the same! Pumpkin puree is just straight pumpkin. Pumpkin pie filling is a mixture of added spices, flavorings and sugar.
What is the best canned pumpkin puree?
Libby’s brand 100% pure pumpkin is definitely my favorite pumpkin puree go to. Libby's really is concentrated pumpkin with no added salt, has good flavor and is packed with little excess water. You can use other brands of pumpkin puree, but you may want to be proactive and remove excess water by blotting with a paper towel if you do.
Excess water will add additional moisture to your cookies and there is a fine line you have to walk when trying to get a nice chewy texture in your cookies.
Why are my cookies puffy and not chewy?
There are a lot of factors that can play into having puffy or cake like cookies. Some of the biggest culprits however are not properly measuring your flour, over mixing your dry ingredients, over baking the cookies, or not banging out the cookies after baking to release the extra air pockets that build.
Check out our Top Tips section above for all the Do's and Don'ts for getting the best chewy cookie texture possible!
Can you freeze snickerdoodle cookies?
Cookies generally freeze great! Pumpkin Snickerdoodle cookies are no exception. Place your completely cooled cookies in an airtight container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can also easily freeze as cookie dough if preferred.
📖 Recipe
Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies
Bursting with buttery flavor and the addition of sweet fall spices and pumpkin-y goodness, these cookies are melt in your mouth delicious!
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, salted
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- 3¼ cups flour, spooned
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1½ teaspoon cream of tartar
Coating Sugar
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1½ tablespoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a small bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon for coating sugar and set aside.
- In a large bowl whip the butter using a hand mixer until it is airy and light in color.
- Add sugar and brown sugar to the bowl with whipped butter and cream together for at least 2 minutes or until there are no lumps.
- Add the vanilla and pumpkin to the bowl and mix together with hand mixer. Add eggs to batter and mix together till smooth and fully incorporated.
- Measure flour by spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling off the top. Add flour to bowl of wet ingredients.
- Add cinnamon, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar to the mixing bowl. Gently stir dry ingredients together to combine them.
- Using a spoon or spatula combine the wet and dry ingredients, being sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. When streaks of flour are no longer present stop mixing dough, be careful not to over mix dough.
- Pre-heat oven to 350° F. Using a cookie scoop measure out cookie dough and drop into bowl of prepared coating sugar. Coat each dough ball and place on lined baking sheet.
- Allow cookies to bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until the edges are just barely set. Be careful not to over bake the cookies.
- After removing pan from the oven drop pan on a flat surface to bang out any air from the cookies. Immediately following this use a spatula or mason jar to gently round out the cookies and push the edges back in towards the center before they harden to give cookies a beautiful round shape and thicker center.
- Allow cookies to cool for 3-5 minutes to set up. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack . When cool enough to handle without breaking drop each cookie in the coating sugar and flip for a double coating of cinnamon-sugar.
- Allow cookies to cool on the wire rack completely and enjoy!
Notes
- Don’t pack in the flour when measuring out the dry ingredients. Instead, spoon your flour into the measuring cup and gently level it off to ensure you have the right amount of flour for your recipe.
- Don’t over mix the dough after adding your dry ingredients. Switch to mixing with a spoon for better control. And as soon as the white streaks of flour are gone stop mixing the dough.
- Don’t over bake. It is very important not to over bake your Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies. Underbaking your cookies just slightly is what will help give them their soft chewy center!
- These cookies freeze great after baking or as pre-rolled dough balls. For more tips on freezing your cookies look above in the section titled Storing.
Don't miss other helpful tips, recipe variations and storage information found in the full article above.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 202Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 36mgSodium: 210mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 1gSugar: 16gProtein: 2g
Nutritional information provided is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products used and any changes made to the recipe. If these calculations are important to you, I recommend calculating them for yourself.