Best Pumpkin Crinkle Cookies Recipe for Cozy Fall Baking Days
Soft, cake-like pumpkin crinkle cookies with warm fall spice and a cracked powdered sugar top. Ready in about 40 minutes with a short rest, makes about 32 cookies, and they freeze well if you want to bake ahead.
Pumpkin and cinnamon spice are basically the smell of fall, and these pumpkin crinkle cookies bottle that up into one soft, puffy cookie with a crackled white top. They are not thin and chewy like a classic crinkle, pumpkin puree brings a lot of moisture, so these bake up closer to a soft, cake-like cookie, and that is exactly the point.
I started making these on the first weekend the air actually felt like fall. The whole kitchen smelled like pumpkin pie spice while they baked, and the cracked sugar tops make them look like they took way more effort than they actually did.
One thing worth knowing before you start: the dough is soft and a little sticky, that is normal for a pumpkin cookie. Chilling it briefly and using a small scoop makes it much easier to work with and keeps the cookies from spreading flat in the oven.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Soft, puffy texture with a classic crinkled sugar top
- Real pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice in every bite
- No mixer required, just two bowls
- Great for a fall cookie tray or a lunchbox treat
- Freezes well, so you can make a batch ahead for the holidays
- Makes a big batch of about 32 cookies
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour: 2 1/4 cups
- Baking powder: 1 tsp
- Baking soda: 1/4 tsp
- Salt: 3/4 tsp
- Pumpkin pie spice: 2 tsp
- Light brown sugar: 1 cup, packed
- Granulated sugar: 1/2 cup
- Large eggs: 3
- Canned pumpkin puree: 1/2 cup (not pumpkin pie filling, the two are mixed up often and pie filling is already sweetened and spiced)
- Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
- Unsalted butter: 4 tbsp, melted and cooled
- Granulated sugar: 2/3 cup, for rolling
- Powdered sugar: 1 cup, for rolling
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Pumpkin puree: canned pumpkin puree works best here. Homemade or fresh-roasted pumpkin puree tends to hold more water, and that extra moisture is one of the most common reasons these cookies spread thin and flat instead of staying puffed.
- Butter: melt it and let it cool to room temperature before mixing it in. Warm butter makes the dough looser and stickier than it needs to be.
- Double sugar coating: roll the dough ball in granulated sugar first, then in powdered sugar. The granulated sugar underneath gives the powdered sugar something to grip, so it stays white and visible instead of melting into the dough as the cookie bakes.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Mix the Dry Ingredients
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
Step 2: Mix the Wet Ingredients
In a large bowl, whisk the brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, pumpkin puree, and vanilla until smooth. Whisk in the cooled melted butter.
Step 3: Bring the Dough Together
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture just until no streaks remain. The dough will be soft and a little sticky, that is normal for this recipe. If it feels too loose to hold a rounded shape even after resting, fold in up to 2 more tablespoons of flour.
Step 4: Rest the Dough
Cover the bowl and let the dough rest in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes. This isn’t a long chill, just enough to firm the butter back up, and it makes a real difference in how easy the dough is to scoop and how well the cookies hold their shape in the oven instead of spreading flat.
Step 5: Coat and Shape
Scoop the dough into rounded tablespoon-sized balls using a small cookie scoop. Roll each ball first in granulated sugar, then in powdered sugar until fully coated. Place them at least 2 inches apart on the prepared sheets, about 12 per pan.
Step 6: Bake
Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, until the cookies are puffed and the tops have cracked open. They will look soft in the center, that is correct, they firm up as they cool. If your cookies came out flatter than expected, the dough likely needed the chill step or the pumpkin puree was on the wetter side.
Step 7: Cool
Let the cookies cool on the pan for 10 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
Tips for the Best Results
- These bake up soft and a little cake-like rather than thin and chewy, that’s the nature of a pumpkin cookie with this much puree in it, not a sign anything went wrong.
- Coat the dough balls generously in powdered sugar. A thin dusting tends to disappear into the cracks as the cookie bakes and puffs.
- Pumpkin puree color varies a bit can to can, so your cookies may look slightly lighter or darker than another batch. That’s normal and doesn’t affect the flavor.
What to Serve With It
- A mug of chai or spiced apple cider
- A scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside a warm cookie
- A fall cookie tray with Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies
- Coffee with a splash of cream
Pumpkin Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
Method
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in a bowl.
- Whisk brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, pumpkin, and vanilla in a separate bowl, then whisk in the cooled butter.
- Fold dry ingredients into wet just until combined. Add up to 2 tbsp more flour if the dough is too loose to hold its shape.
- Chill the dough 20-30 minutes.
- Scoop into tablespoon-sized balls, roll in granulated sugar then powdered sugar, place 2 inches apart on parchment-lined sheets.
- Bake at 350°F for 11-13 minutes until puffed and cracked.
- Cool on the pan 10 minutes, then move to a wire rack.
Notes
- Use canned pumpkin puree, not pie filling, and not fresh-roasted puree, which tends to be wetter and can cause the cookies to spread flat.
- Roll the dough in granulated sugar before the powdered sugar so the white coating stays visible instead of melting in during baking.
- Nutrition is an estimate calculated from the ingredients and will vary with brands and portion size.
These pumpkin crinkle cookies taste like everything good about fall baking without any fussy steps. The cracked sugar tops make them look bakery-special, but the dough comes together in two bowls with no mixer needed.
If you are stocking up for the holidays, these freeze beautifully, baked or as dough balls, so it’s worth doubling the batch. If you give these a try, I would love it if you left a star rating and a comment below so other readers know what to expect.
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