These soft and chewy snickerdoodles are ready for fall with the addition of pumpkin and warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves.
- Prep Time:
15 mins - Cook Time:
10 mins - Total Time:
25 mins *
*Plus chilling time.
Jumping from last week’s grilled Thai beef salad recipe, I’m moving straight into fall with my annual pumpkin recipe.
For those new to the blog, for the last several years, I post a pumpkin recipe each year about this time to celebrate fall and the return of pumpkin spice lattes (Team PSL, all the way). Past favorites have included pumpkin pie with amaretto-almond streusel topping and marbled pumpkin cheesecake bars.
I missed 2020 for obvious reasons but I was determined to post something wonderfully autumnal this year. Five test batches and many dirty dishes later, I have it – pumpkin snickerdoodles.
They are inspired by the pumpkin snickerdoodles that one of my favorite bakeries at the farmers market offered for a very brief time last year. They were my ideal snickerdoodle with just the right texture combination of soft and chewy and the perfect blend of bold spices. I was very sad when they stopped selling them. So, I had to learn to make my own.
Tip for successful snickerdoodles
- The amount of flour in the dough will greatly affect the texture of the cookies. Too much flour and the cookies will be cakey. Too little flour and the cookies will spread too much when they bake.
Although the most accurate way to measure flour is to use a scale, let’s be honest, most home cooks in the United States, just don’t do that. I’m also too impatient to spoon the flour into my measuring cup, a technique often referred to as the “spoon-and-sweep method”.
I use the “scoop-and-sweep method” which involves first fluffing up the flour (this step is essential), then scooping the fluffed up flour with the measuring cup, and then sweeping the top even with the back of a knife.
- While baking several batches of cookies for this post, I discovered that not allowing the cookie sheets to cool completely between batches caused these snickerdoodles to spread more than I liked.
So, If you are making a double recipe of cookies or only have one cookie sheet and you’ll be baking these cookies in several rounds, be sure to let the cookie sheets cool between batches.
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes (plus chilling time)
- Yield: About 1 1/2 dozen cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These soft and chewy snickerdoodles are ready for fall with the addition of pumpkin and warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1/2 cup pumpkin purée
For the cinnamon-sugar
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Prep oven and cookie sheets. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Set aside.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl.
- Add wet ingredients. Add egg yolk and beat to combine. Then beat in pumpkin puree.
- Add dry ingredients. With mixer running on low speed, slowly mix in flour mixture until evenly mixed, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
- Chill. Refrigerate the dough until firm enough to handle, about 1 hour.
- Scoop and roll. In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon to make the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Use a small ice-cream scoop to form balls of the dough, and roll in cinnamon sugar. Place 2-3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake. Bake until the cookies are set in center and begin to crack, 9-10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets after 5 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the pans for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
If you are making a double recipe of cookies or only have one cookie sheet and you’ll be baking these cookies in several rounds, be sure to let the cookie sheets cool between batches. Placing the dough on warm cookie sheets will cause the cookies to spread too much.
Liz says
I made these last night and they turned out perfectly! I think I made the dough balls a little bit small so my cookies were thinner than the pictures but that’s how I like my cookies.
Nguyet says
Your comment made my whole day! This recipe took quite a bit of testing to get right and I am so happy it worked for you. Thank you!!