Pumpkin Spice Cookies — These pumpkin spice cookies are made without pumpkin puree but are full of flavor thanks to the pumpkin pie spice! These are so soft and fluffy!
Table of Contents
Cozy Spiced Pumpkin Cookies
These pumpkin spice cookies are supremely moist, soft, with hints of chewiness at the edges, and their flavor is pure fall.
I used pumpkin pie spice in them, rather than pumpkin puree. I have a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies which uses pumpkin puree and it was a hard recipe to nail.
In general, baking cookies with pumpkin puree can turn cookies into little pumpkin cakes, unless you’re using a small amount (under 1/4 cup or so).
But at that point, you don’t taste it anyway, and all the flavor comes from the spices. Because on its own, I think pumpkin puree is bland and gross.
So I skipped the puree and went with pumpkin pie spice for all the flavor, and none of the potential for cakey cookies.
The intensity of the pumpkin pie spice, with notes of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves shining brightly, give the cookies such great depth of flavor. The brown sugar helps keeps them soft and adds a richness of caramel-like flavor.
If you’re a fan of spice cake, pumpkin, brown sugar cookies, soft gingersnaps or soft molasses cookies, add these little pumpkiny puffballs to your list.
Ingredients in Pumpkin Spice Cookies
To make these pumpkin spiced cookies, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Light brown sugar
- Egg
- Honey
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Cornstarch
- Baking soda
- Salt
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
Adjusting the Spice Level
I used 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice in these cookies, which is a pretty hefty amount, but it flavors the entire batch of cookies very nicely. They’re robustly spiced, without being overdone. If you are more sensitive to spices, you may wish to dial down the amount.
How to Make Pumpkin Spice Cookies
- Cream together the butter, sugar, and egg until light and fluffy.
- Then, add in the vanilla, honey, and pumpkin pie spice and continue mixing until combined.
- Add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined (be careful not to over work the dough!).
- Scoop the cookie dough into balls and chill for at least 3 hours, and up to 5 days.
- Once the dough has had time to chill, bake the cookies until the edges are set.
Baking Tip
If you prefer softer cookies, don’t bake for more than 9 minutes! For firmer cookies, bake these for roughly 10 minutes.
Recipe FAQs
I added cornstarch to the dough, my workhorse for creating super soft and supple cookies. I’ve used it in at least 15 cookie recipes and it never disappoints. They’re like puffy little pillows. Lightweight, supremely soft, delicate, and just melt in your mouth.
Technically yes, but your pumpkin spice cookies won’t turn out as soft and fluffy as mine did.
I’ve only ever made these cookies as written, but I bet you could add mini chocolate chips or chopped nuts to these pumpkin spice cookies if desired. This is a really soft dough, so you’ll want to be gentle when folding in the mix-ins.
If you can’t find pumpkin pie spice, it’s usually a blend of about 1 part cinnamon, to one-half part allspice, to one-quarter part each of ground ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
For example, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon allspice, 1/4 teaspoon each of ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Give or take. It’s all personal preference.
Play around with what works for you, and if you already keep those spices on hand, it’s cheaper to DIY than buy pre-made and you can tweak it to your liking.
Yes, this pumpkin spice cookie recipe is easily doubled. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to bake the cookies on multiple baking sheets since you don’t want to overcrowd them!
I’ve only made these pumpkin spice cookies as written, but if you have a gluten-free flour blend that you’ve used before and trust, you can certainly try it in this recipe! If it works out, please leave me a comment down below.
The spicd pumpkin cookie dough must be chilled before baking, no exceptions. It’s a scientific impossibility to take warm dough and have it bake up into thick, puffy cookies. Warm dough is limp and spreads much more while baking. Chill your dough if you want puffy cookies, period.
Yes! You can freeze the cookie dough AFTER you’ve scooped and shaped it, and bake off these cookies one by one if desired. You’ll likely need to add a minute or two to the total bake time if using frozen cookie dough, but otherwise you won’t have to alter the recipe at all.
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Soft and Puffy Pumpkin Spice Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup honey, I used clover from TJs
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice, yes tablespoons, not teaspoons
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugar, egg, and beat on medium-high speed until well-creamed, light and fluffy, about 5 minutes (or use a hand mixer and beat for at least 7 minutes). Do not shortcut the creaming process; make sure dough is very light in color and fluffy, stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the honey, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until combined and smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, optional salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping two tablespoon mounds (I made 17). Place mounds on a large plate, flatten mounds very slightly with your palm, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line baking sheets with Silpats, or spray with cooking spray.
- Place mounds on baking sheets, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet). Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center. Do not bake longer than 9 minutes for soft cookies because they firm up as they cool; bake for 9-10 minutes if you like firmer cookies (The cookies shown in the photos were baked with dough that had been chilled overnight, allowed to come to room temp for 10 minutes while oven preheated, and were baked for 8 minutes).
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Pumpkin Cookie Recipes:
The pumpkin spices cookies are made with NO pumpkin puree, but the cookie recipes shared below DO use pumpkin puree.
Soft and Chewy Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies — These pumpkin oatmeal cookies are bursting with chocolate chips in every bite! They’re thick, hearty, perfectly chewy, and not at all cakey.
Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies — Soft, chewy, loads of white chocolate, and so much pumpkin flavor!! A pinch of salt balances the sweet white chocolate for a salty-and-sweet treat!!
Soft and Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies — No cakey cookies here! Soft, chewy, thick, loaded with chocolate and bold pumpkin flavor! Your new favorite pumpkin cookies!
Iced Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies — Soft and pillowy pumpkin cookies that are chock full of pumpkin spice and everything nice! The icing takes these cookies over the top.
Buttery Pecan Pumpkin Spice Cookies – Buttery soft dough with big chunky pecans in every bite! Salty-and-sweet and so hard to resist!
Soft and Chewy Pumpkin Snickerdoodles — Soft and pillowy in the middle, chewy around the edges, and ever so slightly crisp on the bottom! Classic snickerdoodles get a makeover with the addition of pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spices!
I always know where I can go to find some delicious cookie recipes. These look SO good!
you’re so sweet :)
I love baking with honey, and this is such a fabulous recipe to use it! My (soon to be) father in law makes his own honey right at home since he has a few bee hives and we always have soooo much honey! Love the pumpkin pie spice in these cookies – I’m totally trying these :)
I have always wanted to try my hand at bee-keeping! My grandfather had hives and as a child, I remember the honey but wasn’t allowed near the hives. That is so cool your FIL has hives!
they look yummy!
I love everything about these cookies. Thick cookies are my weakness, plus these scream fall with the pumpkin pie spices.
thin cookies are just…boring to me! :)
You had me at “soft and puffy cookie”!!! Delish!!!
To die for!!! Good tip on the pumpkin puree. My cookies were on the cakey side. I am going to have to give these a whirl!
Yes pumpkin turns most everything cakey. It’s very, very tricky to get chewy cookies when you add it. It just puffs everything up. Great for muffins and cakes, not so hot for cookies.
Honey and pumpkin sounds amazing! I’m ready for fall and these cookies are perfect for this chilly weather we’ve been having in NJ!
Oh god don’t say that…I am going to NJ for the weekend on a blog trip and I need to check the forecast. It’s 84F right now in my house on the 2nd floor where I sit and type this!
Ooo I love the sound of honey and pumpkin spice – that sounds like a fantastic combination! I love using honey but haven’t really used it much in baking – clearly that needs to change starting with a batch of these!
Well you’re the cookie monster so these should be right up your alley :)
I adore how honey tastes in cookies! These look amazing and I love that they’re so thick without being cake-y. I must try this. Pinning! x
Thanks for pinning! :)
Wow, delicious! This may be a silly question, but: what font is that on your top picture? It’s so pretty. :)
Omg I KNOW. I thought the same thing too. LOL
I am terrible with remembering names of fonts. I go to picmonkey and just keep clicking til I find one I think works with the image/title/mood
So I just went back there to find it, it’s near the bottom of the choices, called “Janda Stylish Script” – It did that little angling of the ‘and’ on it’s own when I Created the collage. But now, it’s not doing it for me. The font also looks radically different in white vs. black.
I would never have thought to put honey and pumpkin spice together, but I bet it tastes amazing!
It definitely does!
You read my mind. I just bought a HUGE jar of honey from Costco and am trying to use it left and right. I bet it pairs so nicely with soft pumpkin cookies Averie!
“If you’re a fan of spice cake, pumpkin, brown sugar cookies, soft gingersnaps or soft molasses cookies” – yes, yes, yes to it all! Those are a few of my very favorite things to bake. And this time of year gives us the excuse to go wild with those flavors! Amazing cookies. Loving all the pumpkin lately ;)
I figured I better get on board the pumpkin train that leaves the station now in like August with bloggers despite being a little bit pumpkin’ed out after my 2013 :)
You’d LOVE these Sally. They’re the pumpkin version of a soft gingersnap! They remind me of those cookies of yours actually, just based on texture from the photos!
Yay for pumpkin season!!!!
They just make me smile! I love the outer edge texture but the chewy inner goodness! Immlicking the screen! Okay maybe not really licking it since I’m sitting on a plane and the person next to me might start freaking out but I wish I could lick the screen! Lol
Thank you for commenting on my site on a plane! My god I am honored!!! I sometimes do that too when Im on planes and people next to me do NOT get why I am reading a blog/website with food pics all over it. Most people still don’t get food blogs LOL
I don’t know how you do it, but your cookies are always so gorgeous! Love the flavors in these!
You’re way too sweet Karly. Thanks!
This is definitely a unique cookie flavour of yours, Averie! They’re so pretty too, they would be great to add to a Christmas cookie selection
After 5 years and a couple hundred cookie recipes later, it’s nice to mix it up from oatmeal, PB, choc chip, etc :)