Pumpkin Spice Cookies (Easy!)
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These eggless chewy pumpkin spice cookies are like a pumpkin snickerdoodle, coated in a spiced cinnamon sugar with a perfectly soft and chewy interior bursting with pumpkin flavor.
You know what there aren’t enough of in the baking world? Pumpkin COOKIES.
Throughout my years of blogging, I have been no stranger to the pumpkin craze of September through November. If you take a look at my pumpkin archives, we’ve got things from cake to granola to bread and even savory biscuits and dog treats.
While I do have pumpkin biscotti, pumpkin spice sugar cookies, and pumpkin oatmeal cookies, what I always felt was missing was a pumpkin cookie that was soft and chewy and FULL of pumpkin, rather than one that was either simply spiced with pumpkin pie spice or one that took on a cakey texture due to the added moisture from actual pumpkin.
What makes these Pumpkin Spice Cookies Work
I thought long and hard about how to achieve a chewy cookie that used actual pumpkin puree and decided to do some experimenting with my go-to snickerdoodle cookie recipe, and settled on a cookie that is, by default, eggless.
By removing the egg and also melting the butter, as opposed to just softening it, we remove a significant amount of moisture, leaving behind the perfect spot for pumpkin to shine.
Pumpkin Spice Cookie Ingredients
For these pumpkin spice cookies, you will need:
- all-purpose flour
- salt
- baking powder
- baking soda
- ground cinnamon
- pumpkin pie spice
- unsalted butter
- brown sugar
- granulated sugar
- vanilla extract
- pumpkin puree
A NOTE ABOUT PUMPKIN PUREE
You’ll want to use canned pumpkin for these cookies. This is not the same as pumpkin pie filling.
WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE PUMPKIN PIE SPICE?
If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, can’t find it, or simply don’t feel like purchasing yet another spice, you can absolutely make your own substitution.
Pumpkin Pie Spice Seasoning Substitute
You’ll need a total of 1 and ½ teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice, so toss together ¾ teaspoon of ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon of ground ginger, and ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg to make up for it.
How to make Pumpkin Spice Cookies
Make the Dough
Another thing I didn’t want these cookies to be was anything similar to a pumpkin whoopie pie. There is a time and place for those, but as a solid, stand-alone cookie, that place wasn’t here.
The cookie dough that I settled on gave me some pause at first, I will say. It was much wetter than I anticipated it being, because my snickerdoodle dough is more or less the texture you expect in a cookie dough, but I carried on and refrigerated it anyway.
Refrigerate
I wound up leaving my cookie dough in the fridge for nearly 24 hours, but it should be fully chilled after 1 hour and ready to work with.
Roll in Sugar, Cinnamon, & Pumpkin Spice Mixture
Just like a classic snickerdoodle recipe, this recipe for pumpkin spice cookies comes with a sugar/cinnamon/pumpkin pie spice coating. It’s exactly what I put on my snickerdoodles, just with a little touch of pumpkin pie spice.
Each ball of cookie dough gets a generous dunk in the sugar + cinnamon + pumpkin pie spice. This makes for one excellent outer coating, if I do say so myself.
Cook
If you’re in the market for a pumpkin spice cookie recipe that will bring you all the chewy texture you’ve probably not gotten from many cookie recipes in the past, this is your cookie, for sure!
The edges are just a touch crisp, and that sugar/cinnamon/pumpkin pie spice coating is the perfect door to the soft interior that is just loaded with authentic pumpkin flavor.
In true taste-testing form, I tried many (many) of these cookies at various times post-baking. Right out of the oven, they are divine. But they truly got better, chewier, and had even better flavor as a handful of days went on.
Pumpkin Spice Cookie Recipe Tips
I think the only thing that could make these pumpkin cookies even better would be to slather some maple cinnamon cream cheese frosting on one and smooshing it together with another for a fall cookie sandwich situation.
I mean, if you’re going to do that, please go ahead and invite me over for a taste test. I will definitely travel far and wide for that.
While I always advise measuring ingredients by weight, when it comes to pumpkin, I always measure with a measuring cup. In my experience, depending on the brand, the moisture content can wildly change the weight measurements.
When rolling cookie dough ball in the spices, be sure to get every surface covered. I even like to sprinkle an extra little pile of spices on top of the cookie dough ball to make sure the tops of the cookies are super flavorful!
Storing this Pumpkin Spice Cookie Recipe
I’ll be honest, though, I don’t know what they taste like past 3 days, because these were all gone pretty darn quickly. Oops!
Cookie dough can be chilled in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, but at minimum 1 hour. This makes it a great cookie dough to make ahead of time so you can bake them when you are ready to eat or serve them.
You can freeze unbaked cookie dough, but do not roll in the spiced sugar coating beforehand. Freeze in rolled balls, then thaw in the refrigerator before rolling into spices and baking.
Pumpkin Spice Cookie FAQs
It is likely you used too much pumpkin in your recipe. Be sure you measure the pumpkin with a measuring cup.
Pumpkin brings a lot of moisture to baked goods, which is why you can see this recipe does not include any eggs.
Always follow the recipe in front of you, but in a lot of cases with cookies, the dough can usually benefit from chilling before baking to maintain shape.
You can enhance the flavor of pumpkin in baked goods by using pumpkin pie spice or even pumpkin pie extract.
Canned pumpkin is made specifically to be used in baking. Sometimes people will make their own pumpkin puree to replace the need to buy a can. If you’re worried about ingredients from store-bought ingredients, always check to make sure your canned pumpkin doesn’t include any ingredients you don’t want to use.
Canned pumpkin and pumpkin puree are the same thing, but in my experience, canned pumpkin is more consistent in texture and moisture content than homemade puree. It also has a more vibrant orange color.
More like this Pumpkin Spice Cookie Recipe
- Pumpkin Spice Cut Out Sugar Cookies
- Pumpkin Biscuits
- Pumpkin Spice Chex Mix
- Pumpkin Spice Puppy Chow
- Pumpkin Spice Whipped Cream
- Pumpkin Biscotti
- Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer
Pumpkin Spice Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 and ½ cups (180g) all-purpose flour be sure to measure properly
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 and ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon divided
- 1 and ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice divided
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter melted and allowed to cool
- ¼ cup (50g) firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar divided
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 Tablespoons pumpkin puree1
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the cooled melted butter, brown sugar, and ½ cup of the granulated sugar until smooth, then whisk in the vanilla and pumpkin puree until smooth.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spatula until everything is combined. Cover the dough and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or up to 3 days.
- When you are ready to bake the cookies, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Combine the remaining ½ cup of granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon of cinnamon, and ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. Stir or whisk together until uniform in color. Set aside.
- Roll the dough into balls, about 1 Tablespoon in size (I use this #50 cookie scoop for all of my standard size cookies). Roll each of the dough balls generously in the sugar/cinnamon/pumpkin pie spice mixture and place on prepared baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 11-13 minutes or until the edges are just set. Cookies will look very soft and under-baked. Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store leftovers covered at room temperature, up to 5 days. Baked cookies freeze well, up to 3 months. Thaw in refrigerator or at room temperature.
Notes
- Pumpkin: I always measure pumpkin purée with measuring cups as the moisture content can wildly change the weight measurements, depending on the brand.
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
Love pumpkin? Let my pumpkin bundt cake (above) or no bake pumpkin icebox cake (below) be your next stops!
No joke, I made these (because my heart, I’m fairly certain, is the shape of a pumpkin) and the overwhelming reaction was, “These pillowy pumpkin perfections are from another world.” They are a perfect balance of that pumpkin flavor you crave and the cinnamony greatness you’d want from a snickerdoodle! Wonderful (and certainly not just for fall for us pumpkin lovers!). Thank you!
Mine in the oven right now!😍
How did they turn out, Portia??
Came out really soft and I added candied ginger pieces for a nice bite. Everyone liked these!
I love that, Ashini!
Delicious!! One of my favorite cookie recipes.
I cooked them for 12minutes and followed the cooling instructions. Literally turned out so perfect! Soft texture, kinda tastes like gingerbread though. Everyone loved them at youth group, and I’m going to make them again for my co-workers!
Thanks so much!
Let me start off by saying that these cookies are absolutely delicious. They’re basically Fall in a cookie, which is honestly what I was aiming for flavor wise. My only caveat is that from a texture standpoint these are more cakey than cookie like. They lack that chewy, sugary, moistness of a cookie. That could be due to the combination of both baking soda and baking powder and lack of eggs, but irregardless, they’re incredibly delicious and pack mega pumpkin flavor.
Thanks, Tawney! Actually, leaving the eggs out makes them LESS cake-like, and funny enough, I actually think these cookies are far less cakey than most pumpkin baked goods I’ve made! Regardless, I’m glad you still enjoyed them 🙂
Instead of pumpkin spice and vanilla extract I have pumpkin spice extract will that work?
Hey, Daniel– absolutely! Use 1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice extract and still the same amount of ground cinnamon.
Just started cooking them and they smell amazing 🙂 I made one batch per the instructions and then I made the other with white chocolate chips! Kind of nervous because they do seem raw but I trust the process and the maker of the recipe 🙂
How did they turn out, Kayla?
Made these pumpkin spice cookies today! I make lots of fresh pumpkin purée in the fall so I love all things pumpkin, so these made me really happy. Thanks for the lovely recipe. They are spiced perfectly and are soft on the inside and a little crispier on the outside. Yummy!
Thank you so much! I’m so glad you like these cookies– one of my favs for fall!
Just made these! Doubled the recipe and they are delicious
Thanks so much, Sheri!
These are so easy and are full of FALL flavor. I followed the recipe exactly and love that the ingredients are by weight – makes it foolproof with my kitchen scale. My coworkers raved about them! I will be making these often!
Thank you so much, Marilyn!
Amazing scrumptious delicious show-stopping spectacular
Thank you so much!
How big are these cookies? Or what size scoop did you make? For a serving of only 20 cookies they must be big cookies?
Step 6 tells you exactly what I use to make these cookies.
Made these for the 1st time to take to a fall chili cook-out. These cookies did not disappoint! These are great cookies and everyone raved about them. I made them more bite size so that I’d have more cookies and that worked well. After the event I came home and made another batch. Thanks for a great recipe!
PS-I froze the remaining pumpkin in 1/4 cup increments in silicon ice trays to save and it was no problem using it after defrosting.
Thank you so much, Susie 🙂
I made these last night and they are amazing! They were easy to make and delicious. The whole family loved them! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for trying them, Jeaneen 🙂
These were delightful! My sort of stayed ball shaped after cooking but were so tasty. As said above…not likely to last 5 days after cooking. Today I realized they taste like Little Debbie Pumpkin delights!
Thanks for your review, Katherine!
I was looking for an easy and quick(ish) pumpkin spice cookie, and this one seemed suitable. I measured some things “with my heart”- extra vanilla, a little extra pumpkin, and of course an extra dash or 2 of pumpkin spice. I doubled the recipe, and it made about 40 cookies- first batch I put in the oven, I made them quite large- like the size of a large cotton ball(?). I thought they would expand, but they didn’t much, so next batch, i made them smaller, and gave them a bit of a squish to flatten them. I had to taste test them of course between batches, but this is a cookie that I could easily find myself munching on throughout the day. they are exactly as the recipe describes. I also like they don’t have egg in them because I can keep the extra rolling sugar mix to put on toast or something. Would definitely recommend!
Thanks for your thorough review, Lisa! I appreciate you 🙂
My son really wanna to cook pumpin spice cookies. We like your recipie, but our cookies didnt take shape of cookie, it stay in ball shape. Is that how should be?
Hi! Sometimes your baking sheet can do weird things to cookies. I have different results on different baking sheets even in my own house. There’s nothing wrong with smashing them down gently when they come out of the oven!
Hi! I love how this recipe looks, but don’t have a lot of time… Is the cooling time before baking necessary?
Hi, Alondra– yes, you will need to chill the dough. Since you’re using melted butter, you will need to allow the butter to solidify again before baking to avoid the cookies spreading or melting into puddles.
Today I had the time to do all the process. They turned out different than what I was expecting. After I took the cookie dough out of the fridge, it was to solid to scoop into balls. After it softened a bit, I scooped them and rolled them in the sugar and spice. When I took them out of the oven, they were still in their ball form. I was really hoping for a fluffy and soft cookie(which is why I chose the recipe in the first place), and instead got a thick ang heavy cookie…what can be done for next time? None the less, I took them to my Thanksgiving dinner and they where a huge hit!
I’m not sure what happened, but I know some baking sheets can yield different-than-expected results. There is nothing wrong with gently pressing down cookies when they come out of the oven if they don’t look ideal.
Amazing, so delicious!!!!!!
Thank you, Isla 🙂