These pumpkin Snickerdoodle cookies are soft, chewy, and coated in sparkling cinnamon sugar. Discover the easy recipe everyone will want this fall!!
If you want a fall cookie with buttery centers, lightly crisp edges, real pumpkin flavor, and enough cinnamon sugar to leave a few delicious fingerprints on your plate, these pumpkin Snickerdoodle cookies deserve a spot at the top of your baking list!
What Do These Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies Taste Like?
These cookies combine everything people love about a classic snickerdoodle with just enough pumpkin to make them unmistakably seasonal.
Each one has a soft, chewy middle, a gently crisp cinnamon-sugar shell, and a buttery caramel flavor from browned butter.
Cream of tartar adds that familiar snickerdoodle tang, while cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice keep every bite warm and fragrant.
Ingredients
For Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup (75 grams) canned pumpkin puree, measured before blotting
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) packed light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup (67 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
For Cinnamon-Sugar Coating
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- A small pinch of salt
Servings: 14 cookies
Serving size: 1 cookie
Prep time: 20 minutes
How to Make Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies
Place 1/3 cup pumpkin puree on a plate lined with two or three folded paper towels, spread it into a thin layer, and press another folded paper towel firmly over its surface.
Lift paper away, replace it if it becomes soaked, and repeat until pumpkin looks thick and matte rather than glossy or wet. You should end up with 3 tablespoons, or about 45 to 50 grams, of concentrated pumpkin.
Do not skip this step! Removing excess water is what gives you chewy cookies instead of little pumpkin cakes wearing cinnamon-sugar coats.
Put butter in a light-colored saucepan or skillet over medium heat and let it melt, stirring or swirling pan regularly. Butter will foam, crackle, and then begin forming golden specks across pan bottom after about 4 to 6 minutes.
Watch closely once crackling becomes quieter because it can travel from beautifully toasted to bitter while you are wondering where you left your measuring spoon.
As soon as butter smells nutty and milk solids turn deep golden brown, remove pan from heat and pour everything, including browned bits, into a large mixing bowl.
Let it cool for 10 to 15 minutes, until warm but no longer hot.
Add brown sugar and granulated sugar to cooled brown butter, then whisk for about 30 seconds. Mixture will look glossy and slightly grainy, which is exactly right.
Add blotted pumpkin, egg yolk, and vanilla, then whisk again until mixture is smooth, thick, and evenly orange with no visible streaks of egg yolk or pumpkin.
In a separate medium bowl, whisk flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt for at least 20 seconds.
This short mixing time matters because nobody wants one cookie with all the baking soda while its neighbor gets none of it.
Pour dry ingredients into pumpkin mixture and fold everything together with a flexible spatula. Stop as soon as no dry flour remains.
Dough should look soft, glossy, and a little sticky, but it should not resemble cake batter.
Avoid vigorous mixing once flour goes in because too much mixing can make cookies tough instead of tender and chewy.
Cover bowl and refrigerate dough for 45 to 60 minutes. Chilling allows flour to absorb moisture, firms up brown butter, and prevents cookies from spreading into one large cinnamon-sugar welcome mat.
Dough is ready when you can scoop and roll it without most of it clinging to your fingers.
When dough has about 15 minutes left to chill, arrange an oven rack in center position and preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two light-colored baking sheets with parchment paper.
Dark pans absorb more heat and can overbrown cookie bottoms before centers finish baking, so reduce oven temperature by 15°F if dark pans are all you have.
Stir granulated sugar, cinnamon, and optional pinch of salt together in a shallow bowl.
Scoop chilled dough into portions of about 2 tablespoons each, or roughly 35 grams per cookie, then roll each portion gently between your palms until round.
Drop each ball into cinnamon sugar and turn it several times, pressing very lightly so every bit is covered. A generous coating gives cookies their delicate crust, so this is not a moment for cinnamon-sugar shyness!
Arrange dough balls at least 2 1/2 inches apart on prepared pans, placing no more than seven cookies on a standard baking sheet.
Bake one pan at a time for 11 to 13 minutes. At around 7 minutes, cookies should begin spreading and their cinnamon coating will start forming tiny cracks.
They are ready when edges look set, tops appear puffed and cracked, and centers still look slightly soft. If centers look completely firm inside oven, cookies have probably gone a little too far.
Remove pan from oven and leave cookies exactly where they are for 10 minutes. Residual heat will finish cooking soft centers while edges settle into their chewy texture.
If cookies have not spread as much as you would like, press each warm cookie very gently with bottom of a flat measuring cup.
If you enjoy those polished bakery-style circles, place a large round cutter around each hot cookie and move it in a gentle circular motion to tidy up edges.
Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let them cool for another 15 minutes before serving. They will be very soft while hot, so give them time to firm up.
Their best texture arrives once centers are warm rather than steaming, edges have developed a faint crispness, and cinnamon sugar no longer slips off when you pick one up.
Serving Suggestions
Serve these pumpkin Snickerdoodle cookies slightly warm when centers are soft and cinnamon is especially fragrant. They pair beautifully with cold milk, hot coffee, chai, or a simple cup of black tea.
For dessert, sandwich a small scoop of vanilla, maple, or salted caramel ice cream between two fully cooled cookies.
You can also crumble one over vanilla yogurt or ice cream, warm it for 8 to 10 seconds in a microwave, or arrange cookies on a fall dessert board with apple slices, toasted pecans, caramels, and dark chocolate.
If you are serving them for a party, make smaller 1-tablespoon cookies and begin checking them after 8 minutes.
They disappear quickly, which is either proof of a good recipe or evidence that someone has been standing suspiciously close to your cookie tray!
These pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies give you crisp cinnamon-sugar edges, buttery and chewy centers, real pumpkin flavor, and just enough spice to make your kitchen smell wonderful before your first batch even leaves its pan!
Hungry for more feel-good meals? Explore these 21 Anti-Inflammatory Breakfast Recipes for a nourishing start and 10 Anti-Inflammatory Dinner Recipes for delicious evenings that make healthy eating easy!
