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These snickerdoodle pumpkin cookies have that classic, chewy snickerdoodle texture with the flavor of everyone’s favorite fall dessert, pumpkin pie.
These are a great fall-ish cookie for those of you (like me) with family members who prefer a “plain” cookie, not something with a lot of bells, whistles, and add-ins. These pumpkin snickerdoodles have a decidedly pumpkin-pie-like flavor but have that classic, crinkly cookie look to them and won’t provide any surprises when you bite into them. 🙂 I love how this recipe holds a nice poofy, fluffy shape as they cool and crinkle up a bit, and don’t melt down into a pancake like snickerdoodles often do. Since there are no eggs in the ingredients, these cookies can be completely plant-based if you use plant-based butter, which I often do. If you try this recipe, promise me you’ll dip one of these cookies into a mug of chai tea. So good!
More of the best cookies for simple baked goods fans: Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients Needed for The Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
To make these delightfully spiced, soft cookies, you’ll need:
- Flour
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Pumpkin puree
- Vanilla extract
- Brown and white sugar
- Plant-based butter (or regular butter if that’s what you have and like to use)
- Ground cinnamon
- Pumpkin pie spice (mix up your own with ground nutmeg, ginger, and other spices using this recipe if you’re out)
I read somewhere that it’s a good idea to blot your pumpkin puree before baking with it, so that’s what I did, and I think it really helped these cookies to maintain their shape. Pumpkin has an incredible amount of water in it, even if it doesn’t look like it. To blot your pumpkin puree, place it in a small bowl, then fold up two paper towels and place them directly on top of the pumpkin. Wait a minute or two, and you’ll be amazed at how much excess liquid the paper towel extracts out of the pumpkin!
Read next: Homemade Pumpkin Puree in the Crock Pot
How to Make the Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Mix up the dough for the cookies using the full recipe below. These are quite easy to mix by hand, but you can also use your stand-mixer if you prefer. You’ll notice that the dough will still be quite soft, even if you’ve blotted your pumpkin, so it’s extra important that you allow for at least 30 minutes of chilling time. You can even make your dough up to two days in advance if you want to really do a good job of chilling your dough, but 3o minutes will do just fine if you’re in a hurry to try these.
Once the dough is chilled, it will be really easy to work with. Roll it out into little balls and dip each one into cinnamon sugar before placing them on a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet or a baking tray lined with a Silpat. You should be able to get away with placing a full dozen cookies on a regular-sized sheet because they don’t spread much at all.
If you still have more pumpkin puree left to use up, definitely try making my pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe next!
More Favorite Pumpkin Recipes:
- 3 Ingredient Pumpkin Bread
- Perfect, Plant-Based Pumpkin Pie Recipe
- Non-Dairy Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer
Here’s the full printable recipe. Add it to your recipe binder or just follow along on your phone, tablet, or laptop.
These pumpkin snickerdoodles have that classic, chewy snickerdoodle texture with the flavor of everyone's favorite fall dessert, pumpkin pie!
- 1/4 cup Pumpkin puree blotted
- 1/2 cup Plant-based butter melted and cooled
- 1/4 cup Brown sugar
- 3/4 cup White sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups Flour
- 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/4 tsp Baking powder
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Pumpkin spice
- 1/4 cup White sugar (for rolling before baking)
- 1 tsp Cinnamon (for rolling before baking)
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Mix together the last amounts of white sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. This will be used for rolling the cookies in just before baking.
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Combine all the dry ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
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Combine the melted butter and the sugars in a large bowl and stir until well-combined. Mix in the pumpkin puree and the vanilla.
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Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until everything is fully combined. Cover the dough and chill it for at least 30 minutes, but up to two days.
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Preheat the oven to 350° and remove the dough from the refrigerator. Shape the cookie dough balls using about 1 tbsp of dough for each cookie. Roll each cookie dough ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat, then place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, leaving about 1" of space between the cookies.
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Bake at 350° for about 11.5 minutes, turning your cookie sheets halfway through the baking time. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before moving them to a cooling tray. Cookies will be very soft in the centre and will firm up as they cool completely.
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.