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Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
It's no secret that I love baking with pumpkin; it's a craving that hits me every fall. But sometimes, I want a sweet that's packed with pumpkin flavor and comes together easily so I'm not spending hours in the kitchen. And if you can relate, then I'm happy to tell you to look no further than these pumpkin sugar cookies. They're soft and chewy and come together insanely quickly.
This pumpkin sugar cookie recipe is easy. It uses butter, pumpkin puree, a mixture of two sugars, vanilla, pumpkin spice, and flour. It yields exactly 12 cookies (that stay soft for days), which is the perfect amount if you ask me. Did I mention that these pumpkin sugar cookies are also egg-free?!
If you're looking for other delicious pumpkin recipes, you have to try these pumpkin swirl brownies, these no-bake pumpkin pie bars, and this maple-glazed pumpkin bread.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Flavor. Obviously, these cookies are jam-packed with pumpkin flavor, but they're also lightly spiced and made with brown butter, which makes everything taste better!
- Texture. These pumpkin sugar cookies are dense and chewy, like all good cookies should be. The secret to avoiding cakey pumpkin cookies is eliminating the excess moisture that pumpkin puree holds (more on that below in the recipe card!)
- Easy to Make. It's a one-bowl recipe that doesn't require a mixer, so it comes together super quickly!
Ingredients Needed
These brown butter pumpkin sugar cookies use pretty basic pantry ingredients. Here's what you'll need:
- Butter– I prefer using unsalted butter in my baked goods, but salted is just fine, too... you'll just want to reduce the salt the recipe calls for to 1/8 teaspoon.
- Light Brown Sugar—The color, moisture, and flavor of brown sugar, derived from molasses, can't be beaten.
- Granulated Sugar– It's nice to have a bit of balance as far as sweeteners are concerned.
- Pumpkin– Make sure it's canned pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling.
- Vanilla- For a flavor enhancer.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice– If you don’t have it, you can replace it with an equal amount of cinnamon!
- All-purpose Flour– No fancy flours are needed for these cookies.
- Fine Sea Salt– The salt helps balance all that sugar.
- Baking Soda + Baking Powder– Our leavening agents.
- Sparkling Sugar- I like to roll the dough balls in sparkling sugar, which is large-grained sugar that doesn't melt and disappear in the oven. You can find it at craft baking stores or on Amazon. Alternatively, you can also roll the dough balls in demerara or granulated sugar! Just use whatever you have on hand!
How to Make Brown Butter Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
These pumpkin sugar cookies are really easy to make and come together quickly. Here's how you make them!
- Preheat the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Brown the butter. Read more on how to brown butter below!
- Stir the brown butter, sugars, pumpkin, and vanilla together until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined.
- Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet and place it in the fridge to chill for 20-30 minutes.
- Roll each dough ball in a small bowl of sugar; use either sparkling or granulated sugar.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Then enjoy!
How to Brown Butter
Browning butter is an easy process that only takes a couple of minutes to complete. All you need is your unsalted butter, a saucepan (light-colored makes it easier to see when the milk solids are browning), and a utensil to stir the butter as it browns (I like to use a silicone spatula).
- Melt butter in the pan. Melt the unsalted butter in a small saucepan over medium-low to medium heat, stirring occasionally.
- Stir. Once the butter is melted and begins to bubble and foam, stir continuously to ensure none of the milk solids—those little brown bits that appear as the butter melts— burn as they settle on the bottom of the pan.
- Wait for the color change. Lower the heat if necessary, and wait for the butter to become a warm shade of golden brown with an undeniably nutty aroma. Remove from heat immediately.
- Transfer and cool. Transfer the brown butter to a heatproof bowl and proceed with the recipe as written!
Serving & Storage
Serving: These cookies can be served warm or at room temperature. They're best within the first four days of being made.
Storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Brown Butter Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 113 g unsalted butter
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 55 g light brown sugar
- 60 g pumpkin puree *see Notes*
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 125 g all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- Garnish: sparkling, demerara, or granulated sugar
Instructions
- Cube the butter and place it in a light-colored skillet. Melt the butter over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once melted, the butter will start to foam. Keep stirring. After 5-8 minutes, the butter will begin browning; you'll notice lightly browned specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan, and you'll start to smell a nutty aroma. Once browned, immediately remove from the heat, and pour into a heatproof bowl.
- Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, pumpkin puree, and vanilla to the brown butter. Using a whisk, whisk together until combined, about 1 minute.
- Add the flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the wet ingredients and stir using a silicon spatula until everything is combined. The dough will be thick and a little greasy.
- Using a 1½-tablespoon spring-loaded scoop, scoop the dough into balls and place dough balls on a lined baking sheet, loosely cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator to chill for 20-30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Roll each dough ball in sugar, if using, and bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Victoria Slack
I would love to try this recipe, but the US measurement link doesn't work.
Mike Johnson
The US Customary link is working on my end in the recipe card! Maybe try clearing your cache and then try again.
Lisa
Perfect cookie with crisp edges and soft center. My husband and family were very impressed. Thanks for sharing.
Very easy to prep and delicious for fall..
Jenn
These cookies are delicious especially now that it's fall season. I'm not too sure what I did wrong though. I measured everything to a T but the cookies came out of the oven very thin and soft. It was baked for 12 minutes and edges were brown too. Do you have any ideas of what could've possibly happened?
Mike Johnson
It sounds like there was too much moisture! I ran into similar issues during testing when using organic pumpkin puree, as it was just too liquid-y. Make sure when squeezing out the pumpkin, you get as much moisture out as possible; it should almost be the texture of play-doh. You can also up the chill time to 1-2 hours which will also help with spreading!
Faith Pate
I cannot believe your comment section isn't full of people praising these cookies. BRB gotta go and buy your small batch baking cooking book!
Two words bakers: Brown. Butter.
It was a perfect fall Michigan morning, I had put a roast in the crockpot, and I was off to a Halloween party later. I said to myself "I should make cookies" so I pulled out this recipe that I've been eye balling. I hate making cookies, I'm terrible at it.
I loved using the kitchen scale, it's probably my favorite tool. Anyone who has issues baking I say "Buy yourself a scale, trust me". I'm no "star" baker by any means, so I figured that wringing out the pumpkin puree and browning butter would offer me a delightful challenge. It did, and it made my house smell like heaven.
I've never made such perfect looking cookies. I'm so impressed by these cookies that I thought to myself "I've made Instagram cookies!" I couldn't believe how perfect they were.
It's worth the effort! I'm so happy I stumbled upon your website! I cannot wait to make so many of your "small batch" recipes since it's just myself and my guy!
Mike Johnson
Thank you so much for your kind words, Faith! I'm SO glad you loved this recipe; it's one of my favorites too 🙂
Olivia Brancati
Question about the pumpkin note! Which cookie serving size is the 60g for after squeezing the water out? I just used it for the 24 cookie size, but noticed it does not change between the different recipe volumes.
Mike Johnson
The note about the 60g of pumpkin puree is for the *original* recipe yield of 12 cookies! When changing the yield in the ingredient card, the only quantities that change are in the ingredient list; for 24 cookies, you need 1/2 cup (120g) of pumpkin puree with the moisture squeezed out. Hope this helps!
Marty Terrier
Oops. Forgot to rate. Still gets 5 stars from me. Perfect texture, crisp, chew.
Marty Terrier
I made this recipe today. It makes a perfect cookie in all but one respect: It tastes more of brown butter than pumpkin. (Hence the name?) Anywho, it does make a perfectly crispy outside with chewy inside. I also had to bake about 18 minutes.