These pillowy soft and deliciously chewy Pumpkin Snickerdoodles are loaded with pumpkin flavor. Made with real pumpkin and warm pumpkin pie spice, this is the best fall cookie recipe just in time for your holiday baking.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

What better way to kick off pumpkin season than with homemade baked cookies. These mouth-watering Pumpkin Snickerdoodles take traditional the snickerdoodle recipe to the next level with the addition of pumpkin purée and warm, inviting pumpkin pie spice.

The dough gets rolled in a sugar and spice mixture that crystalizes when baking to give the exterior of these cookies the slightly hint of crisp that you look for classic snickerdoodles.

All of your friends and family are going to fall in love with these cookies. And because the cookie dough only takes minutes to prepare with simple ingredients, you can have freshly baked cookies in no time. Add them to a cookie tray with these Pumpkin Whoopie Pies and these Candy Corn Cookie Bars and you’ll have the perfect dessert for your next fall-themed gathering or Halloween party.

Why We Love This Recipe

These melt in your mouth pumpkin cookies are the perfect fall cookie for parties, cookie swaps or just for an afternoon treat.
This pumpkin cookie recipe uses simple ingredients from the grocery store that you’d typically use in baking.
Real pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice gives these sweet cookies the perfect taste of pumpkin!

Recommended Tools

Electric Mixer
Cookie Sheet
Cookie Scoop
Large bowl
Rubber Spatula
Measuring Cup
Wire Rack

What’s Needed for Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodles

Ingredients for Pumpkin Snickerdoodles recipe on a white counter. These are the following: ½ Cup Butter – softened , ½ Cup Brown Sugar, ¼ Cup White Sugar , 1/3 Cup Pumpkin Puree, 1 tsp Vanilla, 1 ½ Cup Flour , 1 ½ tsp Pumpkin Spice, 1 tsp Cream of Tartar, ½ tsp Baking Soda, ¼ tsp Salt For rolling the cookie the ingredients are: ¼ Cup Sugar, 2 tsp Pumpkin Spice

Unsalted butter at room temperature
Brown sugar
White sugar
Pumpkin puree
Vanilla extract
All-purpose flour
Pumpkin pie spice
Cream of tartar
Baking soda
Salt
Sugar and pumpkin pie spice for rolling the cookies

How to Make the Best Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Step One: Cream the Butter and Sugar

Mixing butter and sugar is one of the procedures in making Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer cream together butter, ½ cup brown sugar and ¼ cup white sugar until well mixed.

Add in pumpkin and vanilla, continue mixing until well blended, making sure scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as you go.

Step Two: Combine the Dry Ingredients

One process of making pumpkin snickerdoodles is to mix flour, 1 ½ tsp pumpkin spice, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl whisk together flour, 1 ½ teaspoon pumpkin spice, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.

Another step in preparing pumpkin snickerdoodles is to add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture gradually

Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture gradually, mixing between each addition until all the flour mixture has been incorporated well with the wet ingredients.

Step Three: Chill the Dough

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Step Four: Roll the Dough into Balls and Bake

Preheat the oven to 350 and line your cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Next process in making Pumpkin Snickerdoodles is to scoop dough out 1 tbsp at a time and roll into a ball and place into a mixture

Stir together the ¼ cup sugar and 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice in a small bowl or shallow dish

Scoop dough out 1 tablespoon at a time and roll into a ball. Place cookie dough balls in the sugar and pumpkin spice mixture and roll around to cover. Place on your prepared baking sheet.

Continue rolling the dough into balls and coating with the sugar mixture, placing them about 2 inches apart on your baking sheet.

Bake for 11-13 minutes or until the top of the pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies begin to crack.

Don’t over bake, but allow to the baked cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then move to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies have cooled, store them in an airtight container for up to a week.

Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodles Variations and Add-ins

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies: For the chocolate lovers in your life, you can add some milk chocolate or white chocolate chips to the cookie dough.
Frosted Snickerdoodles: Add a sugar glaze or some cream cheese frosting for extra decadent cookies. These soft pumpkin cookies are delicate when still warm, so you want to be sure they are cooled completely before you try adding the frosting.
Maple Snickerdoodles: Pumpkin and maple go hand-in-hand. If you want to add a maple twist to these cookies, use a little bit of real maple extract.
Pumpkin Macadamia Nut: If you want to add a little crunch to these cookies, macadamia nuts are awesome with the cinnamon flavors in these snickerdoodles.

View from the top of Pumpkin Snickerdoodles.

Tips for Making Perfect Snickerdoodle Cookies

For the perfect fluffy cookie, make sure you chill the dough for at least an hour. This really helps the dough from flattening out while baking, plus it gives the pumpkin spice to time to flavor the cookie dough well.
To help the cookies bake evenly, you want to make sure the dough balls are uniform in size. I like to use a small cookie scoop to measure them out.
Set a timer. We have all walked off and forgot something was baking in the oven. These cookies will not be chewy and soft if they are over baked.
Because you don’t use it often, make sure to check the expiration date on your cream of tartar. That is the key to making a chewy cookie.
To help keep the cookies moist, store them in an airtight container on the counter for up to 4-5 days.

Can I Use Pumpkin Pie Filling?

Pumpkin puree is actual pumpkin that has been cooked without other ingredients added and canned. Pumpkin Pie filling is not the same and it cannot be used in the same way without adding extra spices and sugar to the cookies.

How Do I Make Homemade Pumpkin Spice?

If you have a cabinet full of spices but not pumpkin pie spice you can easily make your own with our simple pumpkin spice recipe.

Can I Freeze These Chewy Snickerdoodles?

You sure can and it’s so easy to do. I like to pre-freeze mine so that they don’t break apart when they are in the freezer. Just place the cooled cookies on a sheet pan in the freezer for about an hour. Then transfer them to a zipper bag, squeezing out any excess air, and place back in the freezer for up to three months.

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Pumpkin Snickerdoodles