These easy chewy pumpkin sugar cookies are soft, spicy with cinnamon sugar, and melt in your mouth, made with 4 main ingredients in 15 minutes, no chilling required. These cookies are eggless, rich in pumpkin flavor, the perfect fall treat!
Chewy pumpkin sugar cookies are an easy way to welcome fall and pumpkin season! With this recipe you can have cookies on the table in 15 minutes, no chilling!
These soft and chewy cookies are a mix of a few pantry ingredients that give these cookies a melt-in-your-mouth texture. No eggs needed because pumpkin puree provides the texture and binding. These soft pumpkin cookies bake up puffed up so you'll press them down warm, then either glaze or dust with spicy sugar to achieve a soft, chewy perfect fall cookie! A fantastic cookie treat just like my cosmic brownie cookies.
Enjoy a warm spicy cookie with my other fall recipes such as my mulled spiced apple cider, hot pumpkin spice latte, to an iced pumpkin spice latte or even a easy iced coffee, or a delicious spicy ginger juice.
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Why You'll Love These
Easy fast cookies. Some people say pumpkin puree is hard to bake with, but not true! It's just like baking with apple sauce which I use all the time to replace eggs. Follow my easy steps and you'll have soft spicy pumpkin cookies in 15 minutes.
Chewy, soft cookies. Once you press down these cookies, and let them cool they are chewy and soft, and melt in your mouth with each cinnamon sugar spicy bite. They are not overly sweet either, with sugar only at 5 grams per cookie.
Perfect for all diets. These pumpkin sugar cookies are free of eggs and dairy free, and can easily be adjusted to any other diet, so these easy pumpkin sugar cookies are perfect for anyone on a dairy free, vegan, nut free or gluten free diet.
Ingredients
Pumpkin puree - Canned pumpkin is necessary here as fresh will contribute too much water. Look for plain pumpkin puree. This ingredient makes these pumpkin cookies and replaces the egg traditionally found in sugar cookies.
Flour - All-purpose flour will create the softest cookie. Gluten free baking flour also works.
Sugar - Organic cane sugar tastes best but regular granulated sugar also works.
Butter - Use butter sticks instead of butter from a container as the latter contains more moisture. I used a dairy free butter stick.
Leaveners - baking powder and baking soda are both needed to create the rise and fall reaction that leads to a chewy texture.
Pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and salt. Important for flavoring.
See the recipe card at the bottom for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions
Flour. It's easy to replace all purpose flour with gluten free baking flour. I think oat flour would also work, just use a bit more such as 1 ¼ cup because oat flour is more absorbent.
Sugar. I haven't tried it but I think brown sugar or coconut sugar could be used instead in a 1 to 1 replacement.
Butter. I used Earth Balance dairy free butter sticks, but regular butter would also work. Do not use tub butters as there is too much moisture in them, and do not use a butter replacement or margerine.
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Step by Step Instructions
Specific directions and measurements can be found in the recipe card in the bottom of this post. But here are the general steps:
Preparations:
- Make sure your butter is at room temperature, or microwave it at 10 seconds.
- Some canned pumpkin puree brands are more liquid than others. (Libby and Whole Food 365 are driest). If your puree is runny, pour it through a strainer to press out the liquid and then re-measure or blot the pumpkin with a paper towel to remove excess liquid.
Step 1. Use a hand mixer to cream butter and sugar for about 2 minutes or longer. Add the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract and mix another several minutes until all are incorporated.
Step 2. Add the dry ingredients using a strainer over the bowl or mix them in a separate bowl and dump them into the wet ingredient mixture.
Step 3. Mix the batter until just combined, about 30 seconds. Don't mix more than a minute. Scoop 1-2 tbsp-sized balls of dough (I used a medium scoop) and line them on the prepared pan about 2 inches apart. I fit 6 on a quarter baking sheet.
Step 4. Bake 10-11 minutes. The middles will look soft and underdone, while the edges will be faintly browned.
Step 5. Puffy cookies. Out of the oven, your cookies will be puffy and rounded so press them down with a spatula immediately warm out of the oven.
Step 6. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for about 1 minute. Transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely then sprinkle or glaze.
Step 7. Pumpkin Cookie Toppings. Either mix 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice into 3 tablespoon of cane sugar or make a simple glaze of ¼ cup powdered sugar and ½ tablespoon of milk.
Recipe Tips
1. Measure flour carefully. It's always important in baking, but particularly with these cookies. Do not scoop the flour - you will use too much. Instead either weigh or fluff and level - fluff the flour in the bag with a fork, spoon into the measuring cups, and level with a knife.
2. Make sure the butter for the cookies is just soft as in room temperature. If you press into the stick, it will make an indentation, but you can't press far. To get to this texture, set it out of refrigerator about 20 minutes before use.
3. Use canned pumpkin puree. Fresh puree won't work here, it will be too wet. If your brand is watery, be sure to put it in a strainer to drain any extra fluid, or blot it with a paper towel. Generally, Libby and Whole Food's 365 brands ares dryer than Farmer's Market brand. Don't use pumpkin pie filling - that has additional ingredients including sugar. The only ingredient you want in your puree is pumpkin.
Variations
Make chocolate chip pumpkin cookies. Add ¼ cup of mini chocolate chips into the batter. Or try my pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
Make pumpkin oatmeal sugar cookies. Add ¼ cup rolled oats into the batter.
If you are looking for even more fall, apple and pumpkin recipes, check out my apple crisp without oats, pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, my healthy pumpkin bread, and my baked pumpkin donuts.
Storage
These pumpkin sugar cookies last 3-4 days in a sealed container at room temperature. They can last longer, frosted or not, in the refrigerator but will begin to dry out. Freeze the batter or baked cookies, frosted or not, for up to three months.
FAQS
The cookies freeze well both baked and unbaked. Store the dough or baked and cooled cookies in a sealed container for up to three months.
Pumpkin cookie dough can remain refrigerated for up to three days. After that, freeze up to three months.
These pumpkin sugar cookies have only 5 grams of sugar per cookie, and are super high in vitamin A. The sugar rises a bit depending on any coating you add, but only by a few grams keeping the cookie still on the low end for sugar.
Other Pumpkin & Spice Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Chewy Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
- Hand-mixer
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup all purpose flour or use gluten free baking flour
- ⅓ cup pumpkin puree, canned
- ⅓ cup organic cane sugar
- ½ cup butter, softened I used dairy free
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice 1 tablespoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ginger, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, pinch of cloves
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch of salt
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Instructions
Prep
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- If butter is not at room temperature, microwave it in a bowl, paper off, for 10 seconds.
- In a strainer, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Make Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
- In the large mixing bowl combine the butter and sugar together. Mix until light and fluffy.½ cup butter, softened, ⅓ cup organic cane sugar
- Add the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract, mix until you are convinced the sugar is dissolved - I press a spatula against the side of the bowl and look for the crunch feeling to go away. You can't over-mix this step.⅓ cup pumpkin puree, canned, 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Put the strainer full of dry ingredients over the bowl, and use a spoon to work the ingredients through.1 cup all purpose flour, 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, pinch of salt
- Mix the batter until just combined. Don't mix longer than 1 minute if possible to keep the cookies from turning hard.
- Scoop out 1 ½ tablespoon sized cookie dough balls (medium cookie scoop) onto your prepared baking sheet. Leave 2 inches between each cookie dough ball - I fit 6 on a quarter baking sheet.
Bake cookies
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. The edges should have set and the middles will still look puffy and soft. While they are warm, press them down gently with a spatula to form a flatter cookie.
- Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Topping
- Either sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice sugar or glaze with a simple glaze.
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