This pumpkin cookies recipe makes big, soft cookies with a cake-like crumb, made with real canned pumpkin, one egg, melted butter, and warm cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Everything gets stirred together by hand with a wooden spoon, so there’s no mixer to pull out, which makes it an easy pumpkin cookies recipe for busy holiday weeks. The dough chills for an hour, then the cookies bake for 14 minutes, until the tops lose their shine and the edges just start to turn golden. One batch makes 12 big cookies.
I like treating my grandkids when they come over, but I don’t want to be that grandma who loads them up with sugar during the holidays. I wanted to make a cookie that had a little bit of something good for them in it, and that’s why I decided to use real pumpkin in these cookies. We make them the day before Thanksgiving. That’s my cooking day, and some of the older grandkids like to come over and help with our baking projects, getting the turkey ready, and all the things we can make the day before. The older ones get to help scoop the cookies off of the cookie sheet, and from there we keep making them right on into Christmas.
Main Ingredients Needed For This Pumpkin Cookies Recipe
Here’s a quick overview of the key ingredients for this recipe. For the full list of ingredients and exact measurements, jump to the recipe card.
- Unsalted Butter: Melted butter is what lets you stir this whole dough together by hand, and it gives the cookies their rich, buttery flavor. I always bake with unsalted butter so I can control how much salt goes in.
- Light Brown Sugar: Brown sugar adds moisture and a little caramel flavor, which helps keep these cookies soft. Make sure yours is soft and moist, not dried out and hard, so it stirs smoothly into the melted butter.
- Granulated Sugar: Plain white sugar adds sweetness and works with the brown sugar to give the cookies their golden edges.
- Egg: One large egg holds the dough together and gives these cookies their soft, cake-like texture.
- Pumpkin Puree: Real pumpkin is the whole reason I make these, and it’s what keeps them so soft and moist. I use canned pumpkin for these canned pumpkin cookies, so look for a can that says 100% pure pumpkin. When you measure it, level off the cup with a flat spoon so your measurement is accurate.
- All-Purpose Flour: Regular all-purpose flour gives the cookies their structure. You’ll sift it into the wet ingredients through a hand sieve, which keeps the dough smooth with no little pockets of flour.
- Baking Soda: This gives the cookies their lift and helps them puff up soft. Check the date on the box, since old baking soda loses its power and your cookies won’t rise as well.
- Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Ginger: These three spices give the cookies that classic pumpkin spice flavor. Be sure your spices are fresh. I tend to leave mine in the spice cabinet too long, and they lose their flavor after a year.
How To Make This Pumpkin Cookies Recipe
Here’s how I make these, step by step. The whole dough is mixed by hand in two bowls, no mixer needed.
Tip: Stir just until everything is combined. Overmixing the dough will give you tough, dense cookies instead of soft ones.
Tip: If the chilled dough is too firm to scoop, let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes.
Easy Pumpkin Cookie Variations
These soft pumpkin cookies are great plain, but a little something stirred into the dough makes them feel extra special for the holidays.
- Chocolate Chips: Stir 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips into the dough before it goes in the fridge, because once it’s chilled, it’s too firm to stir anything in. This is the add-in I reach for most.
- Chopped Pecans: Stir in 1/2 cup of chopped pecans before chilling for a little crunch. My Roasted Buttery Pecans are a good fit here; just leave the optional cayenne out of that batch and chop the pecans once they’ve cooled.
- Cinnamon Sugar Coating: If you love a cinnamon sugar crust, that’s my Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, a chewy, egg-free pumpkin cookie rolled in cinnamon sugar.
Make-Ahead Tips for Soft Pumpkin Cookies
These soft pumpkin cookies are great for a busy holiday; you can mix the dough ahead and keep it in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, as long as it’s in a tightly sealed container. Then scoop and bake whenever you’re ready.
From Thanksgiving through Christmas, I keep a bag of unbaked dough balls in the freezer, so I always have cookies ready to pop in the oven. I scoop them onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet and pop it in the freezer. Once they’re frozen, I move them to a freezer-safe container or zip-top bag and write the date on it. They keep for about 2 months. When I want fresh pumpkin cookies, I set a few frozen dough balls on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake them right away.
If you’re planning the whole holiday dessert table, my Easy Thanksgiving Desserts roundup has plenty more ideas.
Kitchen Essentials I Use In This Recipe
These are the basics I reach for every time I bake these cookies: a big wooden spoon for stirring, a hand sieve for the flour, a 2-inch cookie scoop so every cookie comes out the same size, and parchment-lined baking sheets.
Baking Essentials
Questions When Making This Pumpkin Cookies Recipe
Not in this recipe. Pumpkin pie filling, sometimes sold as pumpkin pie mix, already has sugar and spices added, so it would make these cookies too sweet and throw off the spice. Stick with a can labeled 100% pure pumpkin.
Pumpkin Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, large
- ½ cup pumpkin purée
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
Instructions
Mix Wet Ingredients:
- In a large bowl, combine the melted unsalted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Stir well with a wooden spoon until smooth.⅓ cup unsalted butter, ½ cup light brown sugar, ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- Add in the egg, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract, mixing until fully combined.1 egg, ½ cup pumpkin purée, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Prepare Dry Ingredients:
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, ¼ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
- Sift the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Gently mix until everything is well incorporated, but avoid over-mixing.
Chill the Dough:
- Cover the dough and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour. If you're short on time, you can freeze it for 20-30 minutes until it's firmer and easier to handle.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop and roll the dough into balls using a 2-inch cookie scoop. Place them on the lined baking sheets, leaving space between each cookie.
Bake:
- Bake in the preheated oven for 14 minutes, until the tops lose their shine and the edges start to turn golden.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 5 to 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Gina’s Notes and Tips
- Measuring Pumpkin: Use a flat spoon to level off the pumpkin puree in the measuring cup for accuracy.
- Chilling the Dough: Chilling helps prevent the cookies from spreading too much, giving them a better texture.
- Mix-Ins: Stir 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or 1/2 cup chopped pecans into the dough before chilling. Once the dough is cold, it’s too firm to stir them in.
- Make Ahead: Keep the dough in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days before scooping and baking.
- Storage: Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Freezing Baked Cookies: Freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature before serving.
- Freezing Dough Balls: Place scooped dough balls on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and freeze until firm, then transfer to a freezer-safe container or zip-top bag and label with the date. Freeze for up to 2 months. When you want fresh cookies, place the frozen dough balls on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake right away.
Tried this recipe?
Please consider Leaving a Review!Showing Hospitality With Soft Pumpkin Cookies
A Holiday Cousins Sleepover is one of my favorite ways to share this pumpkin cookies recipe. I pick a night over Thanksgiving or Christmas break, tell the cousins to bring their sleeping bags, and plan on baking together. After supper we mix up a few batches of cookies; then, while the cookies bake, we pour glasses of cold milk and spread the sleeping bags across the living room floor so everyone has a spot saved. Psalm 145:4 says one generation shall commend God’s works to another, so use those few minutes while everybody waits on a warm cookie to tell the kids about something God has done in your family. When the house finally goes quiet and the cooling rack is empty, you’ll know the night was worth every crumb on the floor.