Pumpkin Sugar Cookies are light, moist, and filled with your favorite fall spices. These eggless cookies are ready in 30 minutes and require no chilling time.
You'll love this recipe for pumpkin sugar cookies because they have a light - not overwhelming - pumpkin flavor, paired with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
The best part about this recipe is that there is no chilling time for these cookies. The pumpkin puree not only replaces the eggs in this recipe, but also the need for chilling.
Serve these pumpkin sugar cookies at your next fall gathering, like Halloween or Thanksgiving. They'd go great with a batch of slow cooker mulled apple cider!
Ingredients and substitutions
Since baking is an exact science, I do not have many substitutions to offer for this cookie recipe. Each ingredient has a purpose, so I do not recommend omitting anything.
Unsalted butter and salt can be substituted with salted butter.
Use granulated sugar or a cinnamon sugar mixture to top your cookies before baking.
Dough consistency
This cookie dough is a little more wet than a standard dough, making it hard to roll in sugar like a normal sugar cookie. It's like a mix between a cake batter and a cookie dough.
I recommend scooping the dough straight onto the cookie sheet, then sprinkle the tops with your granulated sugar.
Cookie baking tips and tricks
Cookie baking tips and tricksProperly measuring flour is an issue I see frequently. If you have issues with your cookies not spreading, or turning out extra thick and tall, you probably measured too much flour into your cookie dough.
To properly measure flour, use a spoon to add flour to your measuring cup, then level off with a knife. By scooping flour directly from a container with your measuring cup, you’re compacting the dough into the cup. This can add up to 25% more flour to your dough.
Using parchment paper helps prevent your cookies from spreading too much while baking. A greased baking pan will guarantee your cookies spread more than they should, so I always suggest parchment paper (or a reusable baking mat) instead.
Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
Topping:
- ¼ cup granulated sugar *
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, add butter and sugar. With a hand mixer, cream together until fluffy, about a minute. Add vanilla extract and pumpkin puree and mix to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk (or sift) together the dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and ginger.
- Gradually stir dry ingredients into pumpkin mixture until just combined.
- Scoop dough using a 1.5 tablespoon scoop or drop by spoonful onto prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle tops with reserved sugar.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until cookies begin to brown around edges and tops begin to crack. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Your cookies will keep for 5-7 days in a sealed container. To help keep cookies fresh, you can place a slice of bread in the container with the cookies. Replace the bread slice as needed.
- You can keep raw cookie dough in the refrigerator for 3 days. Cookie dough balls (and baked cookies) freeze well, up to 3 months in a sealed plastic container or freezer bag. Allow frozen balls to thaw for up to 10 minutes on the baking sheet before baking, or add 1-2 minutes to the baking time.
- *Optionally, add a teaspoon of cinnamon to your topping sugar for an added kick of spice in your sugar coating.
I made these moist tasty cookies. I did add mini chocolate chips and some chopped pecans too. They were a hit.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Brenda. Chocolate chips and pecans sounds amazing!
These cookies turned out great. So soft and kind of cakey.