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Pumpkin Snickerdoodles are soft, chewy pumpkin cookies rolled in cinnamon sugar and studded with sweet white chocolate chips, and when I baked a batch on a *crisp Saturday morning* Maddie and Lizzie hovered by the oven arguing over who got the first warm one. If you love our pumpkin cinnamon rolls, these cookies deliver that same cozy fall flavor in half the time.
They are everything you love about a classic snickerdoodle, made extra soft and cozy with real pumpkin.
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 15 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 11 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 56 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 12 cookies
- ⚡ Calories: 252kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Warm cinnamon spice with sweet white chocolate and real pumpkin
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, a simple mixing bowl recipe like our iced pumpkin oatmeal cookies
Quick Answer
Stir melted butter with brown and granulated sugar, mix in blotted pumpkin and vanilla, then fold the wet mixture into spiced dry ingredients with white chocolate chips. Chill the dough for 30 minutes, roll balls in cinnamon sugar, flatten slightly, and bake the Pumpkin Snickerdoodles at 350 degrees for 10 to 11 minutes.
Jump to:
- Pumpkin Snickerdoodles Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- Pumpkin Snickerdoodles FAQs
- Other Recommended Fall Dessert Recipes
- Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Blotted pumpkin. Blotting the pumpkin puree with a paper towel removes extra moisture, so the cookies bake up chewy instead of puffy and cakey.
- Melted butter. Melted butter gives the dough more richness than creamed butter, which makes dense, soft centers.
- A 30 minute chill. Chilling firms the butter and hydrates the flour so the cookies do not spread too thin in the oven.
- Double spice. Cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice in the dough plus a cinnamon sugar coating layers warm spice inside and out.
- A gentle flatten. Pressing each dough ball slightly before baking helps these low-spread cookies bake into perfect thick rounds.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- They are soft and chewy in the middle with lightly crisp cinnamon sugar edges.
- Real pumpkin and warm spices make them taste like fall in cookie form, just like our pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes.
- The dough comes together in two bowls with no mixer required.
- It has earned a permanent spot in our rotation, right up there with our soft white chocolate cranberry cookies recipe.
- It earns a spot in the rotation right next to our white chocolate mousse.
- It has earned a permanent spot in our rotation, right up there with our copycat white chocolate mocha frappuccino.
Key Ingredients
Here is a quick look at the simple ingredients that make these Pumpkin Snickerdoodles soft, chewy, and full of fall flavor.
- Pumpkin Puree: Use pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling, and blot it with a paper towel so the cookies stay chewy instead of cakey.
- Melted Butter: Melted butter gives these cookies dense, chewy centers and rich flavor.
- Cinnamon and Pumpkin Pie Spice: A double dose of warm spice in the dough and the coating makes them taste like fall.
- White Chocolate Chips: Sweet, creamy pockets in every bite, the same combo that makes our cranberry cheesecake bars so good.
- Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar: Brown sugar keeps the centers soft while granulated sugar gives the edges a light crispness.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
These Pumpkin Snickerdoodles are easy to make your own. Here are a few favorite twists.
- Swap the chips: Use semi-sweet chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, or butterscotch chips instead of white chocolate.
- Add crunch: Fold in chopped toasted pecans or walnuts along with the chips.
- Extra spice: Add a pinch of ground ginger or cardamom to the dough for a deeper spiced flavor.
- Cream cheese drizzle: Whisk softened cream cheese with powdered sugar and milk and drizzle over the cooled cookies.
- More pumpkin treats: If you love these, try our pumpkin donut holes next.
- Craving a different flavor next time? Our soft snickerdoodle blondies bars delivers the same easy comfort with its own twist.
- In the mood for something different? Our pumpkin cheese ball scratches a similar itch.
- Craving a different flavor next time? Our halloween chocolate covered strawberries delivers the same easy comfort with its own twist.
How to Make Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
- Stir the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together in a bowl until no brown sugar lumps remain.
- Stir in the vanilla and blotted pumpkin until the mixture is smooth.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice together.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula until just combined.
- Fold in the white chocolate chips, then cover the dough and chill it for 30 minutes.
- Roll the dough into balls, coat them in cinnamon sugar, flatten slightly on the baking sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 11 minutes.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Blot the pumpkin well. Pressing the puree between paper towels removes extra water and keeps the cookies chewy, not cakey.
- Do not skip the chill. Thirty minutes in the fridge keeps the cookies from spreading flat and makes the dough easy to roll.
- Flatten before baking. These cookies barely spread, so press each ball down slightly with the bottom of a measuring cup.
- Pull them early. Take the cookies out when the edges are set and the centers still look soft, they finish setting on the tray.
- Press chips on top. Stick a few extra white chocolate chips into the warm cookies right out of the oven for a bakery look.
- Measure the flour right. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it off, too much flour makes dry, crumbly cookies.
- Make it a spread. When you are feeding a crowd, round out the table with our white chocolate blondies.
- Make it a full spread. Our pumpkin cornbread rounds out the table.
- Make it a spread. When you are feeding a crowd, round out the table with our soft cream cheese chocolate chip cookies.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
These Pumpkin Snickerdoodles are the cookie I bake on repeat from September through Thanksgiving. They are perfect with a mug of coffee, a chai latte, or a cold glass of milk after school.
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles FAQs
Extra moisture from the pumpkin is almost always the reason. Blot the pumpkin puree firmly with paper towels before mixing it in, and measure the flour by spooning it into the cup. Properly blotted pumpkin is what keeps Pumpkin Snickerdoodles dense and chewy.
No. Classic snickerdoodles use cream of tartar for tang, but these Pumpkin Snickerdoodles rely on baking powder and baking soda for lift, so the pumpkin and warm spices stay front and center. You still get that signature cinnamon sugar coating.
Yes. The dough can chill in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours before baking. You can also roll the dough into balls, freeze them solid on a tray, and bake straight from frozen, just add an extra minute or two to the bake time.
Store cooled Pumpkin Snickerdoodles in an airtight container at room temperature for up to four days. Slip a slice of sandwich bread into the container to keep them extra soft.
No, use 100 percent pure pumpkin puree. Pumpkin pie filling is pre-sweetened and spiced, which throws off the sugar balance and adds too much moisture to Pumpkin Snickerdoodles.
Absolutely. Double every ingredient and chill the dough in two batches so it stays cold while you scoop. Bake one tray at a time on the middle rack for the most even results.
Still filling out the menu? Readers love pairing this one with our cheesecake snickerdoodle bars, pumpkin monkey bread, and pumpkin hand pies.
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons pumpkin purée blotted with a paper towel
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
For the coating
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Stir the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together in a small/medium bowl until no brown sugar lumps remain.1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1/4 cup light brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- Stir in the vanilla and blotted pumpkin until smooth. Set aside.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 6 tablespoons pumpkin purée
- In another bowl, whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice together in a large bowl.1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a rubber spoon.
- Fold in 1/2 cup white chocolate chips.1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- Cover the dough and chill for 30 minutes or up to 24 hours. Chilling the dough is a must for this.
- Remove the dough from the fridge, preheat the oven to 350°, and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Mix together the sugar and cinnamon for the coating and set aside.1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Scoop about 1.5 tablespoons of the dough out and roll into a ball.
- Roll it around in the cinnamon-sugar mixture until coated.
- Place on the baking sheet, and using the palm of your hand or the bottom of a measuring cup, flatten the cookie slightly. They might not spread if you don’t. Repeat, leaving 3 inches between the cookies.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes or until the edges seem set. The cookies will seem soft in the middle.
- This next part is optional. If you want them to look even more pretty, you can place chocolate chips into the cookies slightly. I take the pointy side of the chips and slightly stick them into the cookie right after they come out of the oven.
- Let cookies completely cool and serve.
Notes
- Blot the Pumpkin: Make sure to blot your pumpkin purée before using it. This removes excess moisture and prevents the cookies from becoming too soft.
- Chill the Dough: Don’t skip the chilling step. It helps the dough firm up and makes it easier to handle, giving you thicker, chewier cookies.
- Use Room Temperature Ingredients: Using room temperature butter and eggs helps the ingredients mix together more smoothly.
- Even Spacing: When placing the dough balls on the cookie sheet, leave enough space for the cookies to spread slightly as they bake.
- Customize the Spices: Feel free to adjust the amount of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice to suit your taste.
- Fresh Out of the Oven: For an extra treat, press a few more white chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies right after they come out of the oven.
Nutrition
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