These pumpkin snickerdoodles are everything you love about snickerdoodles and pumpkin pie in one. I love the sweet flavor and creamy texture that the white chocolate chips add, but feel free to leave them out. Adapted from my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, this cookie dough comes together without an egg and the cookies have a wonderfully chewy texture.
I originally published this recipe in 2014. Have you ever tried them before?
If the end of summer has a silver lining, it’s that September marks the start of the Fall Baking Season. And when the weather begins to cool down, I always enjoy baking a batch of seasonal cookies. We have plenty of recipes to choose from and I have even more in my cookie cookbook!
My brown butter pumpkin oatmeal cookies are one of my favorites because they’re made with ultra-flavorful brown butter. (An over-the-top cookie, try them ASAP!) Then there’s my regular pumpkin cookies, which are similar to cakey muffin tops. They’re definitely delicious, but sometimes you crave a pumpkin cookie that has the same dense & chewy texture as a regular chocolate chip cookie. That’s where my beloved chewy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies come in. Today’s pumpkin snickerdoodles are a variation of that recipe. So good and always a hit!
These Pumpkin Snickerdoodles Are:
- A reader-favorite recipe since 2014.
- Deliciously spiced—and you can use homemade pumpkin pie spice!
- Egg free. See all of my egg-free baking recipes.
- Excellent both with and without white chocolate chips.
- Pretty quick—only 30 minutes of refrigerator chill time.
- One of my favorite recipes to make with leftover pumpkin puree.
My best advice: Make a double batch, because these disappear quickly!
Before You Begin, Blot the Pumpkin
This is actually optional, but I find it remarkably useful when I make brown butter pumpkin oatmeal cookies and soft pumpkin cookies.
Pumpkin is approximately 90% water by mass, which isn’t really useful in a chewy cookie recipe. (Think about it—there isn’t usually liquid in a chocolate chip cookie recipe, is there?) Using a paper towel, blot out some of the pumpkin’s moisture, so all that’s left is the flavor:
Here Are All of My Success Tips
- Skip the egg: What is the purpose of eggs in a cookie recipe? They bind ingredients together, tenderize the texture, and leave behind moisture. After some experimenting, I cut out the egg completely because pumpkin can replace it. If you’re in need of other egg-free cookie recipes, check out my shortbread recipe.
- Use both baking powder AND baking soda: To ensure these pumpkin snickerdoodles rise and hold their shape, use both and make sure they’re fresh. I replace them every 3 months because I find they lose their strength not much longer after that.
- Add plenty of spice: You can use store-bought or homemade pumpkin pie spice, plus extra cinnamon in the dough and more for the coating.
- Slightly flatten the balls before baking: The cookies won’t spread unless you give them a head-start. Slightly flatten the balls of dough before baking, as pictured below.
- Chill the cookie dough: Chilling the cookie dough helps guarantee the cookies don’t overspread. The dough only needs about 30 minutes in the refrigerator before shaping and baking. Pretty quick!
- Give it time: Let the pumpkin snickerdoodles cool on a cooling rack for a while. Like any cookie, they’re tasty warm from the oven, but I find their chewiness and flavor amplify over time. Sometimes I even leave them uncovered on the cooling rack overnight. The next day, they’re chewier and more flavorful. (Now the real test is if you can wait that long to dig in!)
These Step Photos Will Help:
While you can leave them out if desired, the white chocolate chips add texture and a deliciously sweet and creamy flavor. I love them both ways. Here is the cookie dough plain, and again with the white chocolate chips mixed in.
After 30 minutes of chilling, the cookie dough is a little more solid and sturdy and that’s because there’s butter in the dough. (Butter solidifies when it’s cold.) Use a medium cookie scoop to shape each ball of dough. You need 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie:
Roll the dough balls in a cinnamon-sugar mixture, and then arrange on a lined baking sheet. Slightly flatten the cookie dough balls with the bottom of a spoon or cup:
Plain or White Chocolate Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Considering the flavor, texture, and ease of this recipe—these pumpkin snickerdoodles are nothing short of a dream! Many readers bake them with white chocolate chips, but I love them plain. You could even swap the white chocolate chips for cinnamon chip morsels, a product by Hershey’s that you can usually find around the holidays.
P.S.: Because this recipe uses only 6 Tbsp of pumpkin puree, you may have extras to use up. Here are recipes to make with leftover pumpkin puree. Enjoy!
More Fall Baking Recipes
- Pumpkin Bars
- Maple Brown Sugar Cookies
- Pumpkin Donuts & Pumpkin Scones
- Apple Pie Bars
- Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Snickerdoodle Cake
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
- Yield: 18 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These soft & chewy snickerdoodle cookies are full of pumpkin, white chocolate, and cinnamon sugar. Warning: they disappear quickly, so make a double batch!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick or 115g) unsalted butter, melted & slightly cooled
- 1/4 cup (50g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 6 Tablespoons (86g) pumpkin puree (see note)*
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice*
- optional: 1/2 cup (90g) white chocolate chips, plus a few extra for the tops
Coating
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together in a medium bowl until no brown sugar lumps remain. Whisk in the vanilla and blotted pumpkin until smooth. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice together in a large bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or rubber spatula. The dough will be very soft. Fold in 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, if using. The chips may not stick to the dough because of the melted butter, but do your best to combine.
- Cover the dough and chill for 30 minutes or up to 3 days. Chilling the dough is a must for this recipe.
- Remove dough from the refrigerator. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Shape & coat the cookie dough balls: Scoop the dough, about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, and roll each into balls. Mix the coating ingredients together, and then roll each cookie dough ball generously in the cinnamon-sugar coating. Arrange cookie dough balls 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Using the back of a spoon or the bottom of a cup/measuring cup, slightly flatten the tops of the dough balls. (Without doing so, the cookies may not spread.)
- Bake for 11–12 minutes or until the edges appear set. The cookies will look very soft in the center. Remove from the oven. If you find that your cookies didn’t spread much at all, flatten them out gently with the back of a spoon when you take them out of the oven. If desired, press a few white chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies. This is only for looks.
- Cool cookies on the baking sheets for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. The longer the cookies cool, the better they taste! The flavor gets stronger and the texture becomes chewier. I usually let them sit, uncovered, for several hours before serving. Chewiness and pumpkin flavor are even stronger on day 2.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Allow to come to room temperature, then continue with step 4. Baked cookies freeze well up to 3 months. You can also freeze the cookie dough balls for up to 3 months before baking. It’s best to freeze them without the cinnamon-sugar coating. When you are ready to bake, remove the dough balls from the freezer, let sit for 30 minutes, preheat the oven, and then roll in the cinnamon-sugar topping. Here are my tips for how to freeze cookie dough.
- Pumpkin: Squeeze as much of the moisture out of the pumpkin puree as you can before adding it to the cookie dough. I simply squeeze the puree with paper towels. See photo in the post for a visual. This will help produce a less cakey cookie. Less moisture is a good thing here! Measure 6 Tablespoons AFTER the pumpkin has been squeezed/blotted. Do not use pumpkin pie filling.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: You can find pumpkin pie spice in the baking aisle of most grocery stores or make your own homemade pumpkin pie spice. If you don’t have either and want to use individual spices, use 1/4 teaspoon each: ground ginger, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, and ground allspice. This is in addition to the 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon—you will still add that.
- Chilled Dough: If you are chilling the pumpkin cookie dough for longer than 30 minutes, the cookie dough will likely have to sit on the counter at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before scooping/rolling because it will be quite cold and solid. The amount of time it needs to sit at room temperature depends on how long the dough has chilled. If I chill my cookie dough for around 24 hours, I let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
- Bigger Batch: Cookie recipe can easily be doubled by doubling each ingredient. Chill the cookie dough for 45 minutes.
- White Chocolate Chips: Feel free to leave these out or replace with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, or cinnamon chip morsels.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Keywords: pumpkin snickerdoodles, white chocolate pumpkin snickerdoodles
I just made these, but they completely spread and flattened. Im not sure what i did wrong? they are delicious anyways, but i need to perfect them
I even chilled the dough overnight and let sit for about 15-20 minutes before baking. Help!
I just found your site, and hardly know which recipe I’ll try first! Question: can white whole wheat flour be substituted, and if so, would that change anything else in the recipe? I love how you explain explicitly the whys of ingredients, times, temperatures, consistencies, etc.
White whole wheat works– I use it all the time in my cookie recipes, including these pumpkin snickerdoodles.
OMG, these taste just like pumpkin pie with whipped cream, but in a cookie! Delicious!
OMG! I made these cookies over the weekend! Amazing!!! I agree that pumpkin tends to make things “cake” like which I don’t like as much. You have perfected this – yummy!!!!
I made these cookies last year and I think I even submitted a comment on here somewhere. I made them again today and I must say, these are so damn delicious that they should be illegal. Seriously this is one of the best recipes (not just cookies, but overall) I have ever had the pleasure of making.
I made these multiple times last year and brought them into work. To this day, everybody still remembers those cookies. Thankfully for them, I’m bringing in more on Tuesday! Fantastic recipe and hit for all!
Amazingly delicious! So easy to make my kids helped. I did chill mine longer and had no problem rolling them up. Make a double batch because you are gonna need ’em Everyone who tried them loved them
Wow! These are incredible!
OMG!! These are fabulous!! Made a double batch but three different ways. Added extra vanilla and white chocolate chips to one batch, rolled some in cinnamon sugar, left some without for BF who like cookies not so sweet and added pecans to one batch for my bestie who likes more nuts than cookie in her cookies! All three are fabulous, I am having a hard time not eating them all before I deliver them tomorrow morning!!
Amazing cookies! Took them to work today and didn’t make it out of there with any left! So many compliments!
Made these, substituting butterscotch chips for the white chocolate. They were out of this world. They are now on my Christmas rotation. Have to make more because the first batch is gone.
My dough was very sticky and not able to be rolled into balls. I haven’t baked in a long time but I am 95% sure I followed all the steps. What could I have done wrong?
I seccond this, I made your recipie when it was first posted & they were perfect. Honesty perfect and the best cookies anyone had ever had. I’ve made them three times since then and have yet to achieve the same results. Each time the same problem, the dough is very sticky and not the same consistency it was the first time.
I made the white chocolate chip pumpkin snickerdoodles for Thanksgiving and they are to die for. Everyone LOVED them. I used semi sweet chocolate chips because I had them on hand. Thanks for the great recipe!
Can’t even explain how much I love your blog! The pumpkin muffins that I made from your recipe were amazing as well, but these blew my mind! Just took the cookies out, and I know you’re supposed to let them cool, but I just couldn’t resist and had to try one of the smaller ones. The pumpkin muffins that I made from your recipe a while ago were amazing, but these blew my mind! Can’t wait to try one when they’re done cooling. Thank you for your wonderful recipes!
These are the best cookies I have ever made. I am so glad I came across your recipe & can add it to my collection of favorites. Also, thank you for the very helpful hints.
Would it work if I browned the butter in this recipe? I love cookies with browned butter, but don’t want to mess up the consistency by doing so.
absolutely
These are great cookies. I’m calling them Pumkie-Doodles. I’m adding the recipe to my personal recipe collection because it is definitely a keeper.
These are AMAZING. I’ve made them three times now and they are the biggest hit. I had one person tell me it was literally the best cookie he’s had in his whole life – everyone is so used to cakey pumpkin cookies that these are such a wonderful surprise! I made a double batch over the weekend to take to a Friendsgiving and made half with the white chocolate and half with semi-sweet; they were both delicious but the consensus seemed to be the white chocolate was best! Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Thanks for this recipe! These were sooo good! And they do stay chewy! Another recipe I will be making again and again and will be adding to my Christmas cookie repertoire.
I have the dough in the fridge for 30 minute and the ddough is sticky ? What should i do with the dough.
Brooke – my dough was also pretty sticky (I’ve made it 3 times now) and I just went ahead and rolled and baked as directed. They were great.
Made these for my drum line and they absolutely loved them! Every time we have a party they beg me to make them 🙂 Thanks for a great recipe!
Thank you for another fabulous recipe! I was looking for a fall-ish cookie to take to a church function and these were perfect. I knew when I saw Sally’s site on google I didn’t have to look any further! The cookies turned out great first time, with only minor altitude adjustments. I made a second batch substituting pecans for the chips, since I have run into people who would rather have nuts than chocolate (not me, for sure!) and they were also wonderful.
Hey! I was wondering how long you could keep these for? I currently live in Spain and wanted to send a batch over to my boyfriend in the States (parcel would take about 2 weeks to arrive). Would this be advisable?
Unfortunately, no. I would say up to 1 week would be OK. But 2 weeks is pushing it just a little.
Do these work with semisweet chocolate morsels instead? I know you could substitute almost any type of chocolate but will the flavor fit in with the snicker doodle. They look delicious I’m going to try them today
semi-sweet is delicious here, I’ve used them a few times before.
I made these today and they turned out perfect. They were an absolute hit. Thank you so much for providing us with such wonderful recipes!
These were a hit! Very easy and absolutely delicious!! Getting ready to make more!!
These are amazing!!! Made the house smell good and made my eyes close hen I took my second bite :)) definitely a keeper!
These are sooo dreamy! I made these this week and my roommates loved them and them and their boyfriends asked for more. I’m making them for my sorority now too! Can’t wait to make more of these!
Melt in your mouth delicious. My husband loved them. I offered to make them for him to take to work in the future and he said it wouldn’t be necessary because he wanted them all to himself.
Really they are great, it’s a fabulous recipe and they came out perfectly Snickerdoodle.
First time I have ever made snickerdoodles and I LOVED the result
I made these on Saturday for a neighborhood gathering, and they were a huge hit! My hubby, always the skeptic, thought that these would be a 6 out of ten, but after tasting – they are officially a 10! He couldn’t stop raving about them. He has officially become your biggest fan! And you were right, I should have made two batches! But I had the extra pumpkin, so more will be made 🙂