As we continue on our mission to bring you all things pumpkin, this recipe totally captures the flavors and smells of fall. I’ve tried other pumpkin cookie recipes, and have been disappointed with dry cookies with no pumpkin flavor and in the end only served the purpose of a place holder for Halloween-themed sprinkles.
So when Amy Dunphy, a local pastry chef, offered up a pumpkin cookie recipe of her own, I jumped at the chance to try it. Let’s just say that in the end my kids were very happy I did. These cookies are very soft and almost cake-like. I even threw some chocolate chips in the last batch that I baked and the chocolate complimented the pumpkins and cinnamon flavors perfectly. No surprise there, and nor was it a surprise that the cookies with the chocolate chips in them disappeared first.
Soft Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour or King Arthur white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup pumpkin purée
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
What’s Next:
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices in a medium sized bowl.
Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until well combined and fluffy. Next add pumpkin, egg and vanilla. Mix to combine.
Add dry ingredients to butter & sugar mixture and mix until well combined.
Drop by spoonfuls on a cookie sheet and bake 15-20 minutes.
Notes from my experience:
These are really the best pumpkin cookies I have ever made.
Amy recommends creating a glaze to drizzle on top of the cookies and then top with sprinkles. I didn’t have the opportunity to do that because, well, we ate all of our cookies before I had time to make the glaze. But, you can combine 1 cup of confectioners sugar with about 2 tablespoons of milk in a bowl and mix together with a fork until it’s smooth and then put it on top of the cookies. Add some sprinkles and you have even more deliciousness. And if you still think it’s too hard to use a fresh pumpkin from scratch, watch our video below.
Hi Tracy, I followed your recipe and my cookies came out more like muffin tops and cakelike. I’m not sure if I did something incorrectly or if this was the true texture of the cookie. The flavor was great. Any advice.
Hi Pauline,
They are definitely soft and cake-like. Almost like whoopie-pies. Mine weren’t quite like muffin tops- but definitely closer to cake than a traditional hard cookie. The only thing I would consider doing different is baking just a little longer.
Hi Pauline,
So glad that you tried out the pumpkin cookies! I don’t think you did anything wrong. They are a soft cookie!
As Tracy mentioned, try baking for a few more minutes because ovens do vary in temperature. Yours may have needed a few more minutes to make the bottom golden brown. If they tasted great well then I think it was just your baking time. Hope you will give them another try! Happy Baking :-)
Hi. Is it ok to use Libby’s canned pumpkin rather than fresh pumpkin?
Thanks
Libby’s says it’s pumpkin is 100% pure pumpkin, so that should be OK. You just want to avoid canned pumpkin pie filling, since that would have sugar and spices that would overwhelm all the goodness in the recipe.