Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies

Recipe updated: April 3rd, 2024

Pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies are chewy cookies with a chewy texture full of pumpkin flavor. Basic ingredients with pure pumpkin purée, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract, and nutmeg, then coated in a cinnamon sugar mixture before baking.

These chewy pumpkin snickerdoodles are the perfect cookie to make starting in September and October, and through the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, along with pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake. With fall in the air, the smell of cinnamon pumpkin spice flavor cookies and pies baking in the oven is a pleasant way to bring in the cozy season.

🍪 Key Ingredients

To Make the Dry Ingredients

• 3 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt (heaping)
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

To Make the Wet Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar (granulated)
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar (firmly packed)
• 2 sticks (= 1 cup) unsalted butter (softened)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup canned pure pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Roll the Cookie Dough In

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

👩‍🍳 How to Make Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

These step-by-step instructions are accompanied by detailed photos for enhanced clarity and guidance.

Step 1. Preheat the Oven

Set the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. If you prefer to do so, you can wait and preheat the oven during the last few minutes that the cookie dough will be in the refrigerator.

Step 2. Prepare the Dry Ingredients

In a medium mixing bowl, add 3 and 1/4 cups of flour, together with 3 and 1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch, 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Continue to add to the medium bowl 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger, and 1/4 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.

Step 3. Whisk the Dry Ingredients – the Flour Mixture

After adding all of that to the bowl, with a whisk or spoon, blend all of the dry ingredients together with the flour. Set the bowl of dry ingredients aside for now until we use it later.

Step 4. Melt the Butter

Melt 2 sticks of unsalted butter (two sticks of butter equals one cup) in a microwave-safe bowl for 30 seconds or until softened. Keep an eye on the butter while it is in the microwave so it doesn’t burn. Set aside for a minute until the next step.

Step 5. Prepare the Wet Ingredients

In a large mixing bowl, add the melted butter together with 1 cup of the white granulated sugar, and 3/4 cup of light brown sugar.

Step 6. Mix the Butter and Sugars

Then, with an electric hand mixer, blend the softened butter in the large bowl together with the granulated sugar and light brown sugar just until it is mixed well into a butter and sugar mixture. You can use a stand mixer on low speed instead if you have one. Make sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl during mixing.

Tip: It is easier to use an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, but if you have neither, a spoon will work just fine.

Step 7. Beat the Eggs

In a small bowl, beat 2 large eggs with a whisk or a fork until they are mixed well.

Step 8. Add the Eggs, Pumpkin Puree, and Vanilla to the Butter Sugar Mixture

Then, after beating the eggs, add them and 1 cup of canned pure pumpkin puree, and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract together with the butter and sugar mixture.

Note: Make sure the can of pumpkin you buy is 100% pure pumpkin puree and not a can of pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin pie filling already has spices and also sweeteners added to it and the pumpkin puree doesn’t, it is pure pumpkin in the can.

Step 9. Blend the Wet Ingredients Well

Again, with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer on low speed, mix the butter and sugar mixture together with the eggs, pure pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract just until well blended.

Step 10. Add Some of the Dry Ingredients to the Wet Ingredients

Get the bowl of dry ingredients we set aside earlier, then slowly add a little of the dry ingredients mixture into the bowl of wet ingredients.

Step 11. Mix the Dry Ingredients and Wet Ingredients Well

With an electric hand mixer or stand mixer on low speed, mix the dry ingredients we just added together with the wet ingredients.

Then dump a little more of the dry ingredients in and mix again. Then again until the dry ingredients are thoroughly blended with the wet ingredients to make the pumpkin snickerdoodle cookie dough.

Mix until all is combined including the sides and bottom of the bowl.

Step 12. Cover the Cookie Dough and Refrigerate

Place a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the bowl and then put the bowl of cookie dough in the refrigerator for 45 minutes to one hour to chill.

Step 13. Mix the Cinnamon Sugar Mixture

In the meantime, while the cookie dough is in the refrigerator, mix 1/4 cup of granulated sugar together with 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Set the cinnamon and sugar mixture aside until later when we roll the cookie dough balls in the steps below.

Step 14. Make the Cookie Dough Balls

Then, after the cookie dough is chilled, get it out of the refrigerator. With a cookie scoop or ice cream scoop, scoop up some cookie dough. If you don’t have a cookie scoop or ice cream scoop, a spoon will work too.

Release the cookie dough out of the cookie scoop and into the palm of your hand. After that, with your other hand, roll the cookie dough between your palms making a ball.

Note: The cookie dough is going to be a bit on the sticky side. But you should be able to roll the balls without a sticky mess happening all over your hands. We need the dough to be on the sticky side so the sugar and cinnamon mixture will adhere to it.

Step 15. Roll the Cookie Ball in the Sugar & Cinnamon

After you have rolled the cookie dough into a ball, lay it in the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Then roll it around in the mixture until the ball is completely covered with the sugar and cinnamon mixture, making sure to get sugar and cinnamon all around the cookie ball.

Step 16. Lay Parchment Paper and Cookie Balls on a Baking Sheet

First, put a piece of parchment paper down on a baking sheet or cookie sheet. There is no need to apply cooking spray to the lined baking sheet with parchment paper on it. The cookies won’t stick to parchment paper.

Then, make some more cookie balls and roll them in the sugar and cinnamon mixture. After that, place the cookie dough balls on top of the parchment paper about two inches apart.

Tip: We have two prepared baking sheets ready to go for the next batch, so if you have more than one baking sheet, while the first batch is baking in the oven, you can get the next batch ready to go.

Step 17. Bake the Snickerdoodle Pumpkin Cookies

Place the cookie sheet with the cookie dough balls into a preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 minutes.

Step 18. Place the Cookies on a Wire Rack

After 12 minutes, take the cookies out of the oven. They may look slightly undercooked. This is normal. Let them sit on the baking sheet for a few minutes, since the baking sheet is still hot and the cookies will absorb the heat and cook a bit more.

Then after that, place the cookies on a wire rack (same thing as a cooling rack) so they can cool down. Also, baked cookies straight out of the oven are very hot. Let the cookies sit on the wire rack for a couple of minutes at room temperature before serving.

Tip: When you make the second and third batches of cookies, make sure that the cookie sheet has completely cooled down. If the cookie sheet is still hot, or even warm, it will make the cookie dough balls flatten out or spread out on the sheet before they have been put into the oven.

🌟 Recipe Variations

• Make some cream cheese frosting or powdered sugar icing and drizzle it over the top of the pumpkin cookies.
• You can add 1 cup of white chocolate chips or dark chocolate baking chips to this pumpkin snickerdoodle cookie recipe if you prefer to do so.
• Sprinkle some extra sugar and cinnamon on top of the cookies before baking.

❓ FAQs

💭 Final Thoughts

This pumpkin snickerdoodle cookie recipe is super easy to make with the best flavor of pumpkin you can imagine. If you love everything pumpkin, you are going to love these cookies made with real pumpkin puree, ground ginger, nutmeg, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and pumpkin pie spice with sugar and cinnamon baked on the outside of the cookie.

The addition of pumpkin pie spice and pure pumpkin purée can also give the classic snickerdoodle cookies a welcomed twist too.

📄 Recipe Card

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