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!
LOVE THIS RECIPE!! nothing goes wrong with this, my family love it! and I love it more! thanks for sharing!! :)
Thanks for the compliments and so glad everyone is happy!
I was curious if you’ve ever used cake flour in this recipe, or the Reese’s Pieces Soft Peanut Butter Cookies? If you have, do you have to change the amount of flour that is called for in the recipe? Thanks!
I was curious if you’ve ever used cake flour in this recipe, or the Reese’s Pieces Soft Peanut Butter Cookies? = No and no.
If you have, do you have to change the amount of flour that is called for in the recipe? = Yes, you will. You will need more. How much more, I don’t know and the texture isn’t what I prefer in cookies. I like AP flour (or even a bit of bread flour) in cookies, but not cake flour. The texture it produces in cookies isn’t for me.
Just found this recipe on pinterest and I can’t wait to find it! Your blog is my go-to resource for cookie recipes, and every single one has been amazing. I can’t wait to try this!
Thanks for the great compliments on my recipes!
I made these yesterday and doubled the recipe (good thing because that dough is addictive!!). Your recipe nails the flavor–they channel the pure essence of autumn! Mine turned out flat as pancakes, unfortunately–I thoroughly chilled the dough (and added more flour to the remaining dough, which helped somewhat, but I definitely did not achieve the chunky loft of your cookies!) I’m committed to getting the consistency right on these, so may have to tweak things for our elevation (about 5000 ft), and will buy the King Arthur flour to see if that gives me a different result.
It would be so helpful if you could put the *weight* measurement of the flour (I went to culinary school in Europe where recipes are always measured by weight, instead of volume, and it really makes for more precise and successful replications of baked products). Thank you!
https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/02/the-best-soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies.html In that post I gave my tips, tricks, and secrets for the perfect cookies. Silpat, chilled dough, KA flour, and more. All of those 3 things are instrumental. After that, you may need to play around with things since you’re baking at elevation and I’m not. And with cookies, if you ever have to error, over-flouring is better than under-flouring (with bread/yeast, no way) so I think you made the right call!
The dough is cooling in my fridge right now! I just wanted to leave a comment saying how happy I am that I got exactly 17 cookies as well. There are so many recipes out there that make less than expected and this is spot on. Thank you!
Glad we got the same number and with me and my measurements, people usually get MORE because when I say use a 1/4-cup measure or cookie scoop, when I pack my scoop, it’s usually overflowing and so if you were to truly just do 1/4 c on the nose, you could probably get easily 1-2 cookies more per batch than I do…and most home bakers have a habit of making pretty small cookies, like 2 tbsp or less of dough. Whereas I am 4-5 tbsp girl…so most people get more if anything with my recipes. You’re safe with mine not getting less, that’s for sure!
One quick question! The cookies came out puffy but deflated while cooling. They appear thinner than yours look. Do you know what might cause that? Either way, they are delicious! :)
Please read this post for all my cookie baking tips & tricks!
Just made these and they were absolutely delicious! My friends also loved them but thought they were a little dry so I made a pumpkin maple glaze (just icing sugar, pumpkin puree, maple extract and some water). I drizzled a generous amount on top and my friends all agreed it added a nice twist to the cookies. Thanks for the recipe I will definitely add it to my fall collection! :)
Great call on the glaze and next time you can either bake a minute or two less, or maybe add 2 tbsp less flour, that should do it. Glad they’re going into your fall collection!
I just made the dough! They are in the fridge now. Two quick questions: The dough tastes yummy, but it has a slight gritty texture because of (I think) all the pumpkin spice. thats OK, right? Also, is the dough pre-chilling supposed to be a little wet and sticky? I don’t have a cookie scoop so I used a 2 tbsp measure and my hands to roll the dough balls, and it stuck to my palms a bit. Just wondering! can’t wait till the three hours are up so I can pop these babies in the oven.
It isn’t the pumpkin spice that’s making it gritty and more than likely, it’s the natural fiber that’s in pumpkin. It’s pretty fibrous and isn’t always super smooth. But any grittiness should smooth out after baking.
Sticky dough – well anytime you work with pumpkin it can be sticky. If you thought it needed it, another 1 to 4 tbsp of flour would have fixed that (next time). Enjoy the cookies!
When you say it’s the pumpkin fibers that are making Sam’s dough gritty, do you mean from actual pumpkin? I read there isn’t any actual pumpkin in the cookie dough recipe but only pumpkin pie spice, which consists of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice, depending on brand. So what could be causing the grittiness in Sam’s dough?
So want to make these, but have not on stick of butter. Going to try it with coconut oil. Fingers crossed!
Hope it worked out for you!
Just made these today and they turned out WONDERFUL. So thick and soft and delicious. My favorite kind of cookie. I was worried they wouldn’t turn out right, because my power went out and the oven shut off mid-baking, but it actually just made them have this really beautiful, crackle-y top, so that was a nice surprise. Thanks for the lovely recipe. :)
Sounds like your oven literally held up just with a minute to spare! Well thank goodness it waited just long enough for them to bake and so happy you’re pleased – I love crinkly crackly topped cookies too :)
I wonder if maple syrup could be substituted for honey. It would change the flavor, but would it change the consistency too greatly as well?
Although I havent tried it, I think the consistency would be very similar and the recipe would ‘work’; however, yes you’re right, a totally different flavor profile. Maple is much bolder than honey and the cookies will taste different. Still good but different. LMK if you try!
Averie, I loved these cookies! Sadly, I’ve had issues with other cookies that are supposed to turn out thick (I think it has something to do with my extremely inefficient oven, or just that I haven’t figured out how to adjust recipes since moving to a completely different part of the world recently), but these held up quite well! They were nice and chewy but not so much that I got tired, and I loved the amount of spice! They reminded me a bit of gingersnaps, but a bit lightened up since there was no molasses. Definitely writing this out for the recipe box!
So glad to hear they stayed thick and puffy for you and that you loved the level of spice. They remind me of a pumpkin-ey version of a gingersnap in a way too, minus the molasses. Glad the recipe is a keeper for you!
This takes the cake, or I mean cookie. I’ve seen a lot of pumpkin this week and this one is a winner. GREG
Awww, thanks Greg! Tis the season for pumpkin overload out there on blogs, that’s for sure :)
I was dying to try this, because I wanted a thick, puffy cookie, and these looked amazing!
However… after following the instructions (I was NOT going to let these be ruined), they did NOT turn out light & fluffy. The taste is great, but they still flattened quite a bit and are much more dense. (The top is fairly shiny, too, if that means anything.)
I creamed them for as long as you recommended, making sure it was light & fluffy. I put them in the fridge overnight, and took them out when I turned the oven on to pre-heat. I baked them for 8 minutes. I have an oven thermometer, so I know my temp isn’t off. As far as I can tell, the only thing I did different was put them in a large tupperware dish in the fridge vs plastic wrap. (Hubby works second shift, and I don’t want him accidentally putting something on them in the middle of the night when he gets home!)
Any idea on what I may have done wrong?? Do you think that overmixing after adding the flour could’ve done it?
I was so disappointed when these didn’t turn out like yours. :(
Ok so my cookies are not ‘lightweight’ like an airy sugar cookie in terms of taste. They are not like ‘lofthouse’ cookies that you’d get at the grocery store bakery with frosting on them – that real light, almost cakey-ish texture. They are not like that. They do have some density so when you say yours aren’t light and fluffy, I don’t necessarily know if they’re different than mine. It’s hard to tell without actually seeing them but you say they flattened quite a bit. I would make sure your baking soda is 100% fresh and your flour – what are you using? If you are using anything other than King Arthur unbleached all-purpose ($5.69 for 5 lb bag with a red stripe at my groc store and at Target), you may want to try some KA flour. It’s the best. It has a higher protein content than Gold Medal, Pillsbury, etc. and gives baked goods some extra rise and puff. That could help you out. Sounds like you really followed the directions…glossy in the middle – could it be that they are a tad underbaked (even by my standards, and I do love underbaked…) but maybe an extra 45 seconds or so could have helped them to rise better and stay puffed? If you have any unbaked dough left, try baking a couple cookies for maybe 9 mins and see what happens. And switch our your flour. I swear by KA. Given everything else – I think that’s your best call. Please LMK how this pans out!
Averie,
I’m an avid follower of Ambitious Kitchen and she highly recommended your blog. I am so excited that she did because I am excited to try so many of your recipes! These cookies are going to be the first of many, I’m sure. They’re going to my husband and best friend in Afghanistan, as it’s not so much “Fall” out there. Hopefully these get them in the right spirit :)
Monique is a great girl and friend! I remember when she started blogging and quickly knew she’d have great success. Thanks for saying you popped over based on her recommendation and I hope you enjoy these cookies and anything else you try. Would love to hear how things go for you after you’ve made them. Stop on back!
Hi Averie,
Thanks for all of the advice. My final question is will that concoction harden up, cream cheese and confectioners sugar with the maple extract, I’m sure I can replicate the taste, I just need to know what firms up frosting so that it is not loose, so that it hardens on the outside slightly so that it is not crunchy like some frosting can be on the top of cookies but has a somewhat soft consistency on the inside. I appreciate all of your help and suggestions!
Kathy
Since I haven’t tried it, I don’t know. That’s your job to play around with it and come up with the answers to your own questions :)
ok…..
This pumpkin-orange flan is pretty yummy…https://lizthechef.com/2012/10/25/pumpkin-orange-flan/