Make a batch of soft pumpkin spice sugar cookies, perfect for a cozy fall dessert. You can roll cookie dough in sugar before baking or spread with frosting after baking. Delectable autumn cookie recipe everyone will love!
Fall is in the air, and so is pumpkin spice. Along with my favorite pumpkin gooey butter cake, these soft pumpkin sugar cookies are a scrumptious way to welcome fall.
We make a lot of pumpkin recipes around here, so easy pumpkin sugar cookies fit right in.
Why You'll Love These Cookies
- Pumpkin spice sugar cookies are soft and delicious.
- You have options if you don't have pumpkin on hand; we'll talk more about this in the ingredients notes below, but you can use canned pumpkin, homemade mashed pumpkin, or even various types of squash.
- Enjoy these soft pumpkin sugar cookies with frosting or without. If you don't want to frost them, just do like I do, and roll the dough balls in sugar before baking. Easy peasy and still just as good.
- This pumpkin sugar cookie recipe is great for fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. Bake a batch for potlucks, parties, or bake sales.
Ingredients and Substitutions Notes
Gather up a few ingredients, most of which you probably already have on hand.
- Unsalted Butter – You can use salted butter too; just keep in mind you may not need to add quite as much salt. Unsalted butter allows you to control the amount of salt that goes into the cookies. You'll need to be sure to soften the butter before mixing.
- Cane Sugar – You can also use granulated sugar. Just be sure to use the appropriate amount of sugar as specified by the recipe, because extra sugar can make your cookies spread and flatten, as well as be really sweet with a super chewy texture.
- Light Brown Sugar – Brown sugar helps give a cookie its texture and flavor. In the case of fall flavors, brown sugar is where it's at when you're trying to get those yummy fall flavors into a recipe.
- Egg – You'll need a large egg.
- Vanilla Extract
- Pumpkin – While I make the cookies with canned pumpkin, you can also make your own homemade pumpkin puree. A lot of times, I will also substitute other types of squash if I don't have pumpkin, especially when I make my grandma's pumpkin pie recipe.
- All-Purpose Flour – I prefer to use an unbleached all-purpose flour. And if you want to make gluten-free cookies, use a good gluten-free flour.
- Cream of Tartar – If you don't have cream of tartar, you can substitute lemon juice or white vinegar; for every 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar, you'll need 1 teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar.
- Baking Soda
- Sea Salt – I recommend and use Redmond Fine Sea Salt.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice – You can buy this at the store, or make homemade pumpkin pie spice with individual spices and use that.
How to Make Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies
Before you mix up the cookie dough, be sure to pre-heat your oven to 375° F.
Mix up the Dough
- Cream or mix together the softened butter, cane sugar, and light brown sugar.
- Then mix both the egg and vanilla extract into the creamed mixture.
- Next add in the pumpkin puree, and mix everything together well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.
- Then stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture, and mix really well, being sure to scrape the sides of your bowl.
Bake the Cookies
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop 1-inch balls of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Press each cookie with the bottom of a glass coated in pure cane sugar. If you want to frost the cookies, you can omit the sugar.
- Bake the flattened cookies at 375° F for about 12 minutes, or 'til the edges of the cookies begin to turn a nice golden brown.
- Remove the baked cookies from the cookie sheet, and place them on a wire rack to cool before serving. If you want to ice the cookies, just spread your favorite icing on the top of each cooled cookie.
Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ's
No, but you can if you want a cookie that's a bit more chewy in texture. If you choose to chill the dough, put it in the fridge for about 1-2 hours before baking.
Yes, and actually, you can freeze the dough itself, the dough balls once you've scooped with a cookie scoop, or the unfrosted cookies. However you plan to freeze them, be sure to store in an airtight container so they don't get freezer burn.
If they're unfrosted, just keep them in an airtight container on the counter. If you do frost them, you'll need to store them in an airtight container in the fridge, since the frosting will likely have either cream cheese or milk in the ingredients.
Additional Ingredients or Recipe Options
There are a few ways you can add to this pumpkin sugar cookie recipe…
- Coat the cookies in a cinnamon sugar mixture, rather than just sugar.
- We talked about this a little bit above, but just like with my regular sugar cookies, instead of coating the cookies in sugar, you can actually frost these cookies with an easy sugar cookie icing or a cream cheese frosting.
- If you want to make the icing even more fun and flavorful, you can add maybe 1/2 teaspoon of caramel extract or maple extract. Mmmm, can you imagine? Yum!
- Add chopped walnuts or pecans to your cookie dough before baking.
- Dust the top of your freshly baked, warm out of the oven, pumpkin sugar cookies with a light sprinkling of powdered sugar.
More Pumpkin Spice Recipes:
- Deliciously Moist Pumpkin Bread Recipe
- No Bake Pumpkin Dessert
- Instant Pot Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Roll
- Pumpkin Pear Spice Cake
- Gluten-free pumpkin muffins
You'll find even more pumpkin recipes on my list of family favorite Thanksgiving recipes!
If you try this recipe, why not leave a star rating in the recipe card right below and/or a review in the comment section further down the page? I always appreciate your feedback. You can also follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. And subscribe to my email list too!
Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 3/4 cup cane sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup pumpkin
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 375° F.
- Cream or mix together the butter, cane sugar, and light brown sugar.
- Then mix both the egg and vanilla extract into the creamed mixture.
- Next add in the pumpkin, and mix everything together well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture, and mix really well, being sure to scrape the sides of your bowl.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop 1-inch balls of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Press each cookie with the bottom of a glass coated in cane sugar. If you want to frost the cookies, you can omit the sugar.
- Bake at 375° F for about 12 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn a nice golden brown.
- Remove the baked cookies from the cookie sheet, and place them on a wire rack to cool. If you want to frost the cookies, just spread your favorite frosting on the top of each cooled cookie.
YUM!!!!! They look absolute delish. Would love to have you come share at Reader Tip Tuesday. We’re open and growing all week long: http://www.jodiefitz.com/2018/09/04/reader-tip-tuesday-weeks-craft-recipe-party-14-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2/
Hope to see you there.
Jodie, thank you so much! I will definitely come check it out.