Welcome sweater weather with these soft and chewy pumpkin cookies! Made with brown butter, pumpkin puree and all the warm spices, these pumpkin cookies are perfect to make on a chilly fall evening. Plus, you don't even need a hand mixer to make these cookies! Just a bowl and a whisk.
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I am such a huge pumpkin fan, I can't help it! From pumpkin breakfasts like a pumpkin pie smoothie or pumpkin banana muffins to traditional desserts like pumpkin custard pie, I love a pumpkin recipe. These chewy pumpkin cookies are no exception!
These are super soft cookies that get a ton of flavor from brown butter. Each cookie dough ball is rolled in pumpkin spice sugar (a fun twist on cinnamon sugar!) before being baked. This is literally my dream cookie, just sit me down with a small plateful of these guys, Practical Magic on the tv and I am in HEAVEN. I've even made a chocolate chip brown butter pumpkin cookie after making these!
If you want even more fall desserts, you gotta try my brown butter oatmeal cookies (seriously, brown butter is perfect in the fall), mini pumpkin muffins, pumpkin spice latte cake, cardamom cake, or cinnamon sugar soft pretzels!
Why you'll love this recipe!
- One Bowl: you only need a bowl and a whisk to make these pumpkin cookies, nothing too fancy here! I love that you don't need to drag out the old stand mixer to make these chewy cookies.
- Pumpkin Flavor: you get all the pumpkin flavor thanks to a combination of canned pumpkin puree, fall spices and a dash of maple syrup.
Grab your ingredients
- Canned Pumpkin: make sure you're using 100% pure pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin pie filling already has sugar and spices added to it, so it won't work in this recipe! Just a note, I haven't tested this recipe with homemade pumpkin puree.
- Flour: I've only tested this recipe with all purpose flour. I recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh out your flour. It's so easy to add too much flour if you use a measuring cup, and then the cookies might turn out dry.
- Egg Yolk: because of the canned pumpkin, we only need to use an egg yolk and not whole eggs. Why is that? Because pumpkin is actually used as an egg replacer already in baking recipes! Egg (and pumpkin) help bind the ingredients together, so we don't need to use a whole egg.
- Sugar: I'm using a mixture of granulated sugar and light brown sugar. Using more light brown sugar is going to give you those caramel flavors, and make the cookies softer and gives them that chewy texture. No cakey pumpkin cookies here!
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: it wouldn't be a pumpkin cookie without pumpkin spice! We're going to use it in both the cookie dough and also the sugar coating.
- Ground Cinnamon: while there is already cinnamon in the pumpkin spice, I wanted to add a bit more cinnamon to really give more warmth to these cookies.
- Maple Syrup: I'm using just a bit of maple syrup in these cookies as I love the combination of pumpkin, warm spices and maple syrup in the fall.
- Unsalted Butter: I always recommend using unsalted butter, that way you can control the level of salt in the cookies. I'll melt and then brown the butter, giving a delightfully nutty and toasted flavor.
Substitutions & Additions
- Baking Chips: add semi-sweet chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips or white chocolate chips! You could also use butterscotch chips and Trader Joe's sometimes has these delicious sea salt caramel chips that would taste so good.
- Maple Syrup: if you don't have maple syrup on hand feel free to leave it out.
How to make chewy pumpkin cookies
- Step 1: Start by browning your butter. Place butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, let the butter melt. As it begins to foam and sputter, turn it to low heat. Stir, and you should see white milk solids at the bottom of the pan. Once those become golden brown and it smells nutty and toasted, turn the heat off and pour into a large mixing bowl. Let cool.
- Step 2: Whisk the granulated sugar, light brown sugar, and maple syrup into the cooled brown butter.
- Step 3: Add the pumpkin puree, egg yolk and vanilla extract. Whisk once more until smooth.
- Step 4: Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Stir until just combined. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Step 5: Preheat the oven to 350°Fahrenheit and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining granulated sugar and pumpkin spice.
- Step 6: Scoop out 2 tablespoons of cookie dough and roll into a ball in your hands. Roll the cookie dough balls into the pumpkin spice sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheet and bake one tray at a time for 10-14 minutes, or until the edges are set but the middles are still slightly underbaked. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire cooling rack.
My Baking Tips & Notes
- Brown Butter: make sure the brown butter has actually browned before taking it off the stove. The milk solids should have turned a golden brown, and it should smell nice and toasty. Make sure you scrape out all the brown bits at the bottom of the pan, that's what will give you that amazing flavor! Next, let the brown butter cool before adding the other wet ingredients.
- Don't Skip Chilling: because these soft pumpkin cookies use melted butter, you'll need to let the cookie dough chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. If you don't chill the cookie dough, they might spread too much in the oven.
- Slightly Underbake: the key to getting a soft and chewy cookie is to slightly undertake the cookies. Take them out of the oven when the edges have set but the middles look slightly underbaked. They'll continue baking on the cookie sheet, giving you slightly crispy edges but super soft middles.
- Scoot Scoot Scoot! Once the cookies come out of the oven, use a large biscuit cutter or a mug or cup to gently scoot the cookies into a perfectly round shape.
Serving Suggestions
- Sandwich cookies: sandwich two of these chewy pumpkin cookies with vanilla ice cream, pumpkin ice cream, or some buttercream!
- Fall Bake Sale: make these pumpkin cookies along with my browned butter pecan cookies for all the fall vibes!
- Leftover Pumpkin: you'll have some leftover pumpkin puree, so why not use it to make a pumpkin spice sauce for coffee or my pecan pumpkin muffins!
Storage & Freezing
Keep the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. To freeze, place in a freezer bag or ziploc bag in the freezer for up to 2 months. Let thaw in the fridge before enjoying!
Made This Recipe?
Make sure to leave a ⭐️ rating and review below! You can tag me on Instagram @alpineella or follow along on Pinterest, Facebook and TikTok!
Thank you!
Ella
Recipe
Soft and chewy pumpkin cookies
Get ready for sweater weather with these homemade chewy pumpkin cookies. Made with brown butter and pumpkin puree, they're made in one bowl.
Equipment
- medium saucepan
- Bowl
- Baking Sheets
- Whisk
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (170 grams) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (220 grams) light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50 grams) white sugar
- 1 large egg yolk room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- ¼ cup (55 grams) pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 cups (240 grams) all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Pumpkin Pie Sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
Ella's Baking Tip!Weigh your ingredients with a kitchen scale for the best results!
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Once melted, increase the heat to medium and let the butter begin to foam. Keep cooking and stirring with a spatula, until the butter begins to brown and gives off a nutty smell (2-3 minutes). Pour into a medium mixing bowl and let cool completely.¾ cup (170 grams) unsalted butter
- Once the brown butter has cooled, whisk in the granulated sugar and light brown sugar as well as the maple syrup.1 cup (220 grams) light brown sugar, ¼ cup (50 grams) white sugar, 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract, along with the pumpkin puree. Whisk until smooth.1 large egg yolk, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, ¼ cup (55 grams) pumpkin puree
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon.1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, 2 cups (240 grams) all purpose flour
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until a dough forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- While the cookie dough chills, preheat the oven to 350℉/175℃ and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop out the cookie dough using a large cookie scoop or spoon so the cookie dough balls are about 2 tablespoons. Whisk together the white sugar and pumpkin pie spice. Roll each cookie dough ball in the sugar.½ cup white sugar, ½ tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- Place on the prepared baking sheets, keeping the dough balls 3-4 inches apart.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10-14 minutes. The edges should be set but the middles will still look underbaked.
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Notes
My recipes have been developed and tested in metric grams. I highly recommend using a weighing scale and measuring out your ingredients the metric way. Click on 'METRIC' above the ingredients list in the recipe card.
Butter: I use European style butter in my recipes.
Salt: If you don’t have kosher salt, halve the amount of salt called for in the recipe. 1 teaspoon kosher salt = ½ teaspoon fine salt. Please note I am using Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt and not Morton Salt, which is a coarse kosher salt. Coarse kosher salt is much too salty for this recipe.
Pumpkin: Make sure you're using 100% pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling.
Storage: keep the baked cookies in a Tupperware for up to 1 week at room temperature. Freeze unbaked cookie dough balls for up to 2 months. When ready to bake, take them out of the freezer and bake at the same temperature as above but for an extra minute or two. Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below! You can also tag me on Instagram @alpineella so I can see what you made!
Diane says
I just made this recipe today and I think these are the best pumpkin cookies I have made! I bake very often, nearly every day, so this is high praise! My favorite part is the browned butter and the pumpkin spice sugar~ My kids LOVED them and I love that the cookies aren’t “cakey”. Thank you very much for sharing your recipe~
Ella says
Thank you so much for your review Diane!
Cristyn Hernandez says
I've been looking for a pumpkin recipe that isn't cake texture, which is mostly what I find while searching. I made these cookies today, and WOW. Exactly what I was looking for! My boyfriend said it was one of the best cookies he has ever had!
Ella says
Thank you so much for your review Cristyn!
Addison says
OMG!! These are honestly the best cookies I think I have ever tried. I also added cream cheese filling and it made the cookie somehow even better 10/10😋
Ella says
Wow, these cookies with a cream cheese filling sounds amazing!!