Pumpkin snickerdoodles are a fun fall twist on a classic cookie!
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Some people mark fall with sweaters and pumpkin spice lattes, but I mostly mark it by baking!
I love fall desserts. The warming spices are the perfect bite as the temperatures drop and the days get shorter. So this month I’ve been experimenting with creating the perfect version of pumpkin snickerdoodles!
I love the cinnamon-sugar perfection of classic snickerdoodles, so a pumpkin version seemed like a good next step. The secret? Adding pumpkin spice to the sugar coating!
Before you ask, yes, these have pumpkin in them. So much of that flavor we associate with pumpkin actually comes from the spice blend, which is why things like PSLs don’t have any actual pumpkin in them. So the cookies have pumpkin spice in both the dough and the outer coating to amp up the fall flavor.
I’m a big fan of making my own pumpkin spice. It uses spices you probably already own for other baking recipes, making it easy to toss together a batch at the beginning of the season!
Since we replace some of the butterwith pumpkin, it changes the texture of the cookie a little. This recipe especially benefits from weighing out the flour vs scooping. Weighing ingredients is more precise and kitchen scales are really affordable. I use mine multiple times a week, and try to bake using weight most of the time. For pumpkin snickerdoodles, it means you won’t add too much flour and end up with dry cookies!
Tools you’ll need: cookie sheet, mixer, kitchen scale, and silpat or parchment.
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (190 g)
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter (115 g)
- ½ cup sugar (120 g)
- ¼ cup brown sugar (50 g)
- ¼ cup pumpkin puree (65 g)
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the sugar coating:
- 2 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
- ½ tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Set aside for now.
- In a larger mixing bowl, beat the butter for one minute until light and fluffy. Add sugar and brown sugar and beat another minute, until fully incorporated and fluffy again.
- Add the egg yolk and vanilla and mix, then pumpkin and mix well, scraping down the sides occaisionally.
- Gently stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Cover with saran wrap and chill for half an hour.
- When dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 375°F. Mix the sugar coating ingredients in a shallow bowl. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Make 1-inch balls of dough, then roll in the sugar mixture to coat fully. Place on the cookie sheet with about 2 inches of space between. Using the bottom of a glass or other flat clean surface, gently press the cookies to be about ½ inch thick.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, then let the cookies cool an additional three minutes on the cookie sheet before moving to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Want more pumpkin recipes? Try frosted pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cupcakes, or pumpkin bread!
