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 actually like the idea of pumpkin cookie without pumpkin … you always think outside the box, Averie! I need to try one of your puffy cookie recipes just to taste the texture; I am SO curious! Favorite pumpkin recipe? Either your pumpkin spice granola or these pumpkin cookies (https://thesweet-toothlife.blogspot.com/2013/09/whole-wheat-pumpkin-maple-chunk-cookies.html)
Glad you’re a fan of my granola!
I really like your description of the process. It makes me want to make them now. I’ll definitely be making these for an upcoming function. Thanks!
I agree – pumpkin pie spice is so much better than pumpkin puree. I am not a fan at all. Even though I know most of it is butternut squash, I can acctually handle and enjoy butternut puree.
But the spices? YES!
I made some cookies today that turned out cake-y. They were cookie bars, but I should have made them into muffins.
Pummpkin has a way of puffing everything up. It’s great in cakes, muffins, etc but not so much in cookies. It’s so hard to get a chewy cookie with pumpkin so I sort of have stopped trying and just rely on the spices for flavoring!
Ahhh Averie! I am totally obsessing over this recipe. I adore pumpkin and I’m currently undergoing a pumpkin craze. I’ve been having pumpkin spice (with pumpkin puree) overnight oats every morning and I’m in love. I am making these cookies either tomorrow or Friday! So excited to see how the honey turns out!
Oh that’s great! Please LMK how they go for you!
These look wonderful, can’t wait to give them a try. Thanks for the pumpkin spice mix I will certainly make a batch of these cookies.
thanks Lynda! LMK how they turn out for you!
You know, I’ve seen a ton of pumpkin recipes around Pinterest but this is honestly my favorite! I just opened my first can of pumpkin this holiday season and I am in full gear for pumpkin recipes. These cookies are next! (Btw made your pumpkin bundt cake today – amazing! Posting tonight – I think!) :)
That is beyond sweet of you to say that this recipe of mine of all the pumpkin ones you’ve seen is your fave! WOW!! Because there are tons and tons and tons! So thank you!
And I didn’t know you were making that cake! That’s one of my fave cakes, ever, on my whole blog! I am so glad you tried it! :)
These sound amazing! Would raw honey work too?
I’m sure it would but it won’t be ‘raw’ after it’s baked at 350F. You may want to save it to use in another application b/c I know it’s pricey! But it would work here, yes.
Averie, you are the queen of cookies. These totally look like thick, puffy, golden, gorgeous pillows of pumpkin-inspired perfection. And all hail the chewy cookie – no cakey duds for this lady. I’m determined to bake as many pumpkin-y recipes as I can in the next month and I’m adding this to my list.
If you’re a pumpkin fan, you will love these! Full of pumpkiny flavor. And thanks for saying Im the cookie queen :) I love that title!
YUM! They look so darn good.
thanks girl!! :)
I adore your recipes and photos! it just got me thinking though. You create & photograph a new dessert basically every day/ many times per week… and do you only receive income when you sponsor a product? I guess what I’m saying is that all of these ingredients cost money. Do you pay for everything out of Scott’s income? Sorry this is a personal question, I was just curious given that you bake so many things.
I support myself fully, 100%. No help from anyone! I just want to throw that out there :)
And yes, I pay for all the ingredients myself. Sometimes vendors send me stuff, like a jar of vanilla or a tub of yogurt, but I make my income through the ads on my website on the sidebars. And yes, it’s expensive to bake because not everything works out and sometimes I have to make things a few times to get it right. When I am writing cookbooks, that’s the worst in terms of $$$ because I have to test at least 3x and it feels wasteful b/c we could never eat it all, so I am just giving it all away to others the minute it comes out of the oven. Money in, recipe tested, money gone. It’s just the nature of the beast – and I only hope I sell enough books to make it all worthwhile!
Great point about pumpkin flavored things really only being pumpkin spiced flavored things. I love the idea of honey in a cookie, such an under utilized flavor!
Totally under-utilized, you’re right. And yes, pumpkin out of the can is…gross and bland! Gotta blast it with spices!
mmm! those sound too good to be true! hooray for pumpkin!
The texture of these cookies looks spot on, and the flavor is just what I’ve been craving. Everything pumpkin spice, for every meal, and snack, and drink. Your pictures are lovely, too!
Thanks for the photo compliments Jodye!
OMG, Averie! These + me = trouble. They look so soft and perfect!
They are so soft. Little puffballs :)
Yes please to puffy cookies. Wish I had that whole stack in front of me!
These cookies look so appetizing and I can say for sure that they are really tasty. I`ve cooked them for breakfast today and my kids just loved them! Now this recipe is one of my favorite.
Thanks for making these already!!! On the same day I posted them – that’s wonderful! So happy to hear your kids loved them!