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’ve made these for years since I found this recipe. I’ve never chilled the dough and never took out the moisture out in the pumpkin puree. They come out perfect everytime. I bake them a little over 8 mins for my oven. Soft and delicious.
I love all your recipes and follow them to the T…. but I’ve recently had to go GF, dairy and refined sugar free. I’ve read the comments about changing to gf flour and vegan butter, but do you know if I could substitute the sugars for maple syrup and or coconut sugar??
Hi Amy! We haven’t tested those swaps. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a recipe that is specifically formulated for those sugars. But let us know what you try!
Can I use pumpkin spice extract instead of pumpkin spice seasoning or will that butcher the recipe?
Hi Bella, while you can try adding some pumpkin spice extract, we’d still recommend using the pumpkin pie spice blend as well for the best taste.
Such a delicious fall cookie! Made this for the first time and shared them with my family and coworkers. They got rave reviews! They remained chewy and soft with that slight wonderful bite from the rolled sugar. I made mine a bit smaller than pictured, but they still came amazing. I am saving this recipe. I agree you need to make a double batch of these 🙂
★★★★★
Tastes like fall
So when I first initially made these cookies, I was unsure if they would be popular. To my surprise, they were a fan favorite ! Several people said, and I quote “they taste like fall!” I was even asked to make more (well not asked, demanded) so I made more a few days later. They are thick, cakey, and delicious! And best of all , my lactose intolerant , easy stomach sick husband, was so excited for them as there was no dairy in them or eggs! A first for him. Thank you sally!
★★★★★
is he allowed to eat the butter in the recipe or do you substitute? if so what do you use? xx liv
Wow…pumpkin spice and everything nice! Amazing, is will definitely remake these. Although I may tone down the cinnamon next time.
Hi Sally! Just wondering if I can brown the butter instead of just melting it to give the cookies an even better flavour. Thanks 🙂
Yes, absolutely!
I haven’t had snickerdoodles in a long time and when I saw this recipe, I had to try! I had left over cooked pumpkin in the freezer, thawed and strained the juice as directed. I love the added taste from the pumpkin and spices. This recipe is a keeper!
★★★★★
The flavor was good, but they were more cakey than I like. I pressed out the liquid, flattened the dough balls, and flattened them a bit when they came out of the oven. I baked for 12 minutes. If I make them again I will try for a few more minutes so the edge gets slightly crispy. They were a pretty cookie.
★★★
I used a nut milk bag to squeeze all water our of the pumpkin puree. Is it such a bad thing if I REALLY squeeze all moisture?
HI! I was thinking about making these and slightly browning the butter. I have not tried this recipe yet. Do you think that would overwhelm the other flavors or add to it? Excited to try these! Thanks.
Hi Sophie! Brown butter would be delicious in these cookies.
This recipe is HEAVENLY. I tripled the recipe and even made the cookies smaller so they could stretch. Everyone who’s tasted these has asked for the recipe! These are SO moist, so flavourful and a great way to use up my white chocolate chips leftover from last Christmas. This was my first time baking with pumpkin and I think I’ve just found my favourite year-round cookie recipe….thank you!!!
★★★★★
Made this recipe yesterday. Making another batch today because my only complaint is that there weren’t enough cookies! XD They are DELICIOUS!!
★★★★★
Why refrigerate the dough to prevent too much spread, then pat down so they spread enough? If you skip refrigerating, will they still be chewy, just thinner?
Hi Amy, Without the quick 30 minute chill the cookies will spread out to be too thin – we find this method produces the best textured cookie!
Favorite Fall Cookies!!
I discovered this recipe in 2019 and have been making them ever since. They are my husband’s favorite. He loves taking them in to work to share with his coworkers. They always rave about them and a few even claim they are the best cookies EVER!! Thank you for such a delicious recipe.
★★★★★
AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING!!!!! I got 19 cookies out of these, the last 7 cookies didn’t spread as much as the first pan though and I’m not too sure why. They’re full of pumpkin flavor but it’s not over the top. Just the right amount! I’m going to make a double batch again tomorrow to give as gifts!
★★★★★
Question—why isn’t cream of tartar used like in regular snickerdoodles?
Hi Deb, Cream of tartar is usually used in traditional snickerdoodles– helps with leavening and adds a little tang. It’s not necessary in this pumpkin variation though.
I forgot to melt the butter— I’m hoping it doesn’t affect the overall texture too much!
Incredible! Loved their chewy centers, and spot on flavor! I pressed a few chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies like you recommended in the shapes of smiley faces, and they added the perfect touch! This recipe is definitely a keeper!
★★★★★
So good! Nice pumpkin flavor, and perfectly spiced! Thanks for an outstanding recipe!!
★★★★★
This is a fantastic recipe! My husband and I came home from a date and our 15 year old found this recipe and baked them while we were out! We devoured them! Today we doubled the recipe so he could share with friends at school tomorrow!
★★★★★
Here I am for like the 7th year in a row with these! I’m pretty sure I’ve even commented on here already! But year after year, these are a huge hit! Thank you Sally!
★★★★★
I had to try these and I usually hate being in the kitchen lol however these looked SO GOOD. I got the stuff and made them one day, let the dough sit overnight in the fridge, because again, I hate being in the kitchen for too long lol let the dough come to room temp the next day and threw a dozen in to try a “test batch” lol and they were DELICIOUS! I’ll be making these as teacher gifts for sure!
★★★★★
Not me over here with 5x the amount because I didn’t read directions all the way through first lol
★★★★★
Hi sally!
My daughter is lactose intolerant at the moment which means I can’t eat anything with cows milk while I breast feed her. I have been craving these cookies and was wondering if there was anyway I can sub the butter for something non dairy? Thank you!
Hi Emaleeann! A few readers reported success using solid coconut oil, although we haven’t tried it ourselves. You could also try a plant-based butter. Let us know if you do any experimenting!
Hi! I use vegan butter all the time in baking without any issues. My two favorite brands are Miyoko’s and Melt.
I used liquid coconut oil (it was solid, but I warmed it in the oven). It worked great!
This is one of my favorite go-to recipes! They are always a hit, and they disappear so quickly. So easy and SO delicious! Even my mother, who is not the biggest fan of pumpkin, LOVES these cookies!
★★★★★
Can you use Gluten free flower?
Hi Lauren, we haven’t tested these cookies with gluten free flour so we’re unsure of the results. Let us know if you do give it a try!
Hi Lauren,
I have made these with Bob’s Red Mill gf 1-to-1 flour and they turned out perfectly!
I made these with bobs 1:1 gluten free flour and they were perfect!
Approximately how many cookies does this recipe make?
Hi Amelia, this recipe yields about 18 cookies.
I made a double batch yesterday and followed the recipes, but didn’t add the white chips. The first 18 cookies I made using a small scoop but they were large. I then reduced the size slightly and I ended up with 44 cookies 18 very large and a few medium size. My neighbors and I thought they were fantastic and we waited to eat them the next day, Perfecto!
★★★★★
This is the 3rd fall in a row my daughter and I baked these and delivered them to friends and family. We have been doing it since she was 3 and she really looks forward to it (mainly eating lots of white chocolate chips in the process)—not to mention everyone enjoys them so much! Thank you!
★★★★★
Wow! Just made these for the first time and they turned out perfect! Thank you for the recipe. I am going to make second time once again .
★★★★★
Why isn’t cream of tarter used?
I want to know this too!!
I came to ask this same question!
Hi Deb! For a little tang, like regular snickerdoodles, you could absolutely add 1/2 teaspoon.