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.
Fall is the time for everything pumpkin. You’ll love my recipe for pumpkin sugar cookies because they have a light – not overwhelming – pumpkin flavor, paired with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. They are lightly sweet, with a crunchy sugar crust.
The best part about this recipe is that there is no chilling time for these cookies. The dough is ready to go into the oven immediately, no waiting needed!
I do normally love to chill my cookie dough. This gives time for the flavors to meld, and I prefer the consistency of chilled dough going into the oven.
However, the pumpkin in this recipe not only replaces the eggs in this recipe, but also the need for chilling. The additional fiber added with the pumpkin helps hold the dough together better, so they don’t spread easily on the baking sheet.
Love everything pumpkin? You should also try my recipe for Pumpkin Pecan Quick Bread. If you have a whole can of pumpkin hanging around, you can make two loaves of bread! Simply double the recipe and pour the batter between two loaf pans.
I also have a fun recipe for Candied Pumpkin Seeds. Add a little something extra to the family tradition of roasting pumpkin seeds – sweet pumpkin seeds!
How to Make Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set this aside for now. Next, gather your ingredients.
For this recipe, you’ll need some room temperature butter, granulated sugar, pumpkin puree (I’ve since reduced the amount slightly from what is shown here), vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon.
In this picture I also included a cinnamon/sugar mixture to sprinkle on the tops of my cookies. I have since started using granulated sugar only, but you’re welcome to add cinnamon to yours for an extra kick of spice.
Sift all of your dry ingredients together and set aside.
First, cream together your butter and sugar, then add your pumpkin puree and vanilla extract. Mix until well incorporated.
Your mixture may look like it’s separating from the pumpkin puree, but don’t worry, it will all mix together with the dry ingredients.
Next, add half of your sifted dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and stir until just combined. Add your remaining flour and mix until just combined.
Your cookie dough is now ready to go straight in the oven. I like to use a medium cookie scoop for my cookie dough, so that my cookies are properly portioned and equal in size.
If you don’t have one of these scoops, they hold 1.5 tablespoons, so I’d try using a heaping tablespoon filled with dough.
After scooping your cookie dough, sprinkle the tops of each cookie with granulated sugar (and optionally, cinnamon).
This cookie dough is a little more wet than a standard dough, making it hard to roll in sugar like a normal sugar cookie (or peanut butter cookie). Therefore, I simply scoop them straight onto the cookie sheet, then sprinkle the tops.
Recipe Updates
Recipe UpdatesI originally published this recipe in September 2018. Since then, I’ve been reworking the recipe to make it even better.
I wasn’t 100% happy with the texture of the cookies, even though they tasted amazing. I’ve since reduced the amount of pumpkin slightly. I also switched over to all granulated sugar, to make these a more traditional “sugar cookie”. When I switched over to granulated sugar, I also swapped from baking soda to baking powder.
Previously, I rolled these cookies in a blend of sugar and spices. Now, I bake all of the spices into the cookies for a more consistent flavor overall.
I hope you enjoy my improved pumpkin sugar cookies. Let me know what you think in the comments below – and don’t forget to leave a star rating if you’ve made them!
Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
Topping:
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar *
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. 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.
These cookies turned out great. So soft and kind of cakey.