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Brown Butter Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
If you've looked through my fall recipe archives, you'll know that I love to bake pumpkin recipes. And when you couple that with the fact that cookie season is rapidly approaching, it was a no-brainer to come up with these soft and chewy pumpkin snickerdoodles.
I have quite a few cookie recipes floating around the internet, and I've even written two cookbooks, both of which contained cookie chapters. So you can trust me when I say I know a thing or two about cookies, and I guarantee that this brown butter pumpkin snickerdoodle recipe is about to become one of your favorite snickerdoodle cookie variations! They're soft, chewy, dense (in a good way), and come together insanely quickly.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Flavor. These fall-flavored cookies are jam-packed with pumpkin flavor, but they're also spiced and made with brown butter, which makes everything taste better!
- Texture. These pumpkin snickerdoodles are dense yet soft 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!)
- Easy to Make. It's a one-bowl recipe, and it doesn't require a mixer, so it comes together super quickly! Did I mention that these pumpkin snickerdoodles are also egg-free?!
Ingredients and Substitutions
These brown butter pumpkin snickerdoodle 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 want to reduce the salt the recipe calls for to 1/8 teaspoon.
- Light Brown Sugar– The color, moisture, and flavor you get from the molasses in brown sugar can't be beaten. Feel free to use an equal amount of dark brown sugar instead if that's all you have on hand.
- Granulated Sugar– It's nice to have a bit of balance as far as sweeteners are concerned. Granulated sugar also helps our cookies to spread nicely.
- Pumpkin– Make sure it's canned pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling.
- Vanilla- I like to use vanilla bean paste, but vanilla extract also works perfectly.
- Cinnamon– These are snickerdoodles, after all...
- Pumpkin Pie Spice– If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, 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.
How to Make Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
These pumpkin snickerdoodles are really easy to make and come together quickly. Here's how you make them!
Serving and Storage
Serving: You can serve these brown butter pumpkin snickerdoodles warm or at room temperature.
Storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles Video Tutorial
Other Pumpkin Recipes You'll Love
Note: I post my recipes in grams as it’s the most accurate way to bake, and it’s how I develop them. Cups are not only inaccurate, but they vary in volume worldwide! In any event, if you look at the recipe card underneath the ingredients list, you can click “US Customary” and it’ll convert to volume measures!
Remember to tag me @mikebakesnyc on Instagram and leave a rating + review below if you make this Soft & Chewy Brown Butter Pumpkin Snickerdoodles recipe!
Soft & Chewy Brown Butter Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- 113 g unsalted butter *see Notes*
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 55 g light brown sugar
- 60 g pumpkin puree *see Notes*
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 125 g all-purpose flour
- 1¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
For the Rolling Mixture:
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 1¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
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. You should have about 7 tablespoons (98 grams) of brown butter.
- 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, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar, 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 medium (1½-tablespoon) spring-loaded cookie 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 15-20 minutes.
- While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and make the rolling mixture. Combine the sugar, cinnamon, and pumpkin spice in a small bowl. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, then set it aside.
- Roll each dough ball in the spiced sugar 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 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once cool enough to handle, dip the baked cookies in the remaining spiced sugar mixture.
Kate
these are absolutely delicious! So soft, not cakey at all, and well spiced. Thanks for the great recipe!
Mike Johnson
Glad you enjoyed them, Kate!
Spillt User
Made these over the weekend and they were the PERFECT chewiness, without an overwhelming pumpkin spice flavor. Tempted to make them again this week because they were soooo good.
Mike Johnson
So glad you enjoyed them! 🤗