Pumpkin Snickerdoodles - soft and chewy fall cookies with a pumpkin twist on the popular snickerdoodle cookies; a MUST bake fall cookie recipe!
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This post was originally shared on December 19, 2013, and has since been updated.
I seriously can't believe how fast Thanksgiving is approaching. I feel like it was just yesterday that we were going to the pumpkin farm, baking for Halloween, and going trick-or-treating.
Now, we're shivering in our boots, wondering if it's too soon to decorate for Christmas, making Thanksgiving plans, and trying to figure out what Thanksgiving desserts to bake.
Luckily, I decided to go way back to 2013, to one of the first fall dessert recipes I baked and shared on Sarah's Bake Studio. I reworked the recipe, improved it to make it even more delicious, rebaked it, and now I am resharing this updated Thanksgiving cookie masterpiece.
Hello, new and improved Pumpkin Snickerdoodles.
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles are a soft and chewy fall cookie with a pumpkin twist, the addition of pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice.
The addition of pumpkin is subtle with a ¼ cup of pumpkin puree and 1 ½ teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice, but the pumpkin flavor is enough to kick your traditional Snickerdoodles up a notch and make these fall cookies a MUST at your Thanksgiving dessert table.
My original Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies recipe called for a lot more pumpkin, which was delicious, but didn't enhance the pumpkin flavor, and made the texture of the cookies more cake than a cookie.
In addition to the pumpkin tweaks, this version of the recipe utilizes only the egg yolk.
Pumpkin has A LOT of water in it which makes cakey cookies, and we do not want that. We want soft and chewy with a Snickerdoodle cookie texture; omitting the egg white helps make this happen.
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles Tips & Tricks
1. Let your melted butter cool. Your melted butter should be only slightly warm to the touch; definitely not hot. You don't want the heat from your melted butter to cook your sugars or egg yolk; that's a flavor you don't want. Using melted butter means you don't have to wait for it to soften (score), and it will give your cookies a chewy texture.
2. Chill your cookie dough. Chill your cookie dough for at least one hour and up to five days. The addition of pumpkin makes this cookie dough very sticky, and chilling makes it easier to work with. Chilling your cookie dough also allows the cookies to not over-spread while baking; it keeps them thicker and chewy. Be sure to chill cookie dough between batches too.
3. Let baking sheets cool. When baking cookies it's important to let baking sheets cool between batches. Cookies baked on warm baking sheets spread more than cookies started on a cool sheet.
These new and improved Pumpkin Snickerdoodles are spectacular and ALL cookie!
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
- 1 and ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 and ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In a medium-size bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a spatula, combine melted/cooled butter and sugars until well-combined. Add pumpkin puree; mix until combined.
- Add egg yolk and vanilla extract; mix until combined.
- Gradually, add flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix until well-combined.
- Cover and refrigerate dough for a minimum of one hour. Dough can be refrigerated overnight for up to five days.
- Preheat oven 350 degrees.
- In a small bowl, mix together ¼ cup granulated sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.
- Scoop chilled dough into 1 ½ tablespoon balls, or use a #40 disher to scoop balls of dough. Roll balls of dough in the sugar-cinnamon mixture, and place on a silicone mat/parchment paper-lined baking sheet; spacing 2" apart. Keep dough chilled in between batches.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Do not place cookie dough on hot baking sheet.
- Allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet. Eat & Enjoy!
Faye says
I love pumpkin and have never thought of baking it into a snicker doodle. What a great idea!
Sarah says
Faye, Thanks for the comment. This recipe made me a pumpkin fan. 🙂 P.S. I love your blog name!
Faye says
Thanks Sarah!