These Soft Pumpkin Cookies are a fall favorite around here. I think these pumpkin cookies are the perfect way to celebrate the fall season!
We just recently realized we’d never shared them with you all on Lovely Little Kitchen. Time to change that, friends!
We both thought for sure they were on here somewhere… If I remember correctly, these Soft Pumpkin Cookies even won first place in a cookie baking contest at church years ago! They are loved by many, for sure.
These are probably the softest, fluffiest pumpkin cookies I’ve ever tasted. They are like little pumpkin-y pillows that melt in your mouth.
I think they probably do fall into the category of a more “cake-like” cookie, which I think some baker’s try to avoid, but to me they are so tender and light, the texture is just perfect.
They are a cross between a cookie and the top half of a muffin.
I love how rolling the dough in powdered sugar gives them that crinkle cookie look, and their resemblance to a snow-covered mountain peak makes them decidedly wintery and cozy.
Sometimes the powdered sugar melts into the dough before you bake it, and won’t be as visible when they come out of the oven. You can roll them in powdered sugar twice if you’d really like to see that powdery crackle.
Does Soft Pumpkin Cookie dough need to be chilled?
The dough for Soft Pumpkin Cookies will be pretty sticky. If you have a cookie dough scoop, you may be able to unload the dough straight from the scoop into the powdered sugar so you don’t have to roll them in your hands. Chilling the dough will help, but they are a little messy, as are most good things!
Can I use fresh pumpkin rather than canned?
Some of us love the convenience of keeping a can of pumpkin puree in the pantry and pulling it out to make Soft Pumpkin Cookies, or the Best Ever Pumpkin Muffins when the craving strikes. But it you have fresh pumpkins available to roast and use in your baking, this is a great recipe to try.
This is the easiest way to roast a pumpkin. Sometimes a freshly roasted pumpkin will have more liquid than a can, so make sure you strain out as much of the liquid as possible. You can set the pumpkin puree in a fine mesh stainer over a bowl for a few hours to catch the drips.
What is the difference between pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie filling?
A can of pumpkin puree will only list pumpkin for the ingredients. Look for 100% pure pumpkin puree on the front of the label.
Pumpkin pie filling is often right next to the pumpkin puree on the grocery store shelf and looks similar but is a very different ingredient. It is already spiced and much sweeter. Because of this they are not interchangeable in recipes.
Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #lovelylittlekitchen
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PrintSoft Pumpkin Cookies
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 12 mins
- Total Time: 32 mins
- Yield: 3 dozen 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
These Soft Pumpkin Cookies are the softest, fluffiest, most tender pumpkin cookies I have ever tasted! They will absolutely melt in your mouth!
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup pure pumpkin
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with non-stick baking spray.
- Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Beat granulated sugar and butter with mixer on medium high speed, then blend in pumpkin, egg, and vanilla until incorporated.
- Gradually mix in flour and dry ingredients. Refrigerate dough for 3-4 hours.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Scoop dough into one inch balls. Roll in powder sugar, place dough balls on baking sheet (12 per sheet) and bake for 11-13 minutes.
- Remove from baking sheet to a cooling rack. When completely cool, store cookies in an airtight container.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cookie
- Calories: 103
- Sugar: 12g
- Sodium: 101mg
- Fat: 2.8g
- Saturated Fat: 1.7g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0.9g
- Trans Fat: 0.1g
- Carbohydrates: 19g
- Fiber: 0.5g
- Protein: 1.2g
- Cholesterol: 12mg
suzanne says
Made these yesterday and they’ve grown on me – enough to make again. I would increase the cinnamon, add a little ginger and reduce the nutmeg (or maybe i grated in too much nutmeg and that’s all I tasted). But the texture is truly ‘cloud-like’, so soft and squishy they are addictive! I chilled for 10 min and really, they weren’t that hard to roll. Made 50 cookies.
Lea-anne says
Hi, sounds amazing. Do you perhaps have a gluten free sugar free alternative? Thanks Lea-anne
Julie says
No I don’t, sorry.
Dina Grimes says
These cookies are so delicious! Fluffy pillows from heaven.
Christa says
Make sure to dip only the top of the cookie in powdered sugar, the bottom of mine burned black after 10 minutes and I think it might be because it had the sugar on the bottom too? 🙁
Cindy McFarland says
OMG This is by far one of the best tasting cookies I have ever made. I added one cup of coconut to the mix and heavily rolled them in the sugar. Talk about melt in your mouth! What a great flavor and texture. Baking for 12 minutes was perfect. I used parchment paper and the bottoms stayed a nice color. I also used 1 cup of blue hubbard squash from my garden instead of pumpkin. You can’t tell the difference. A++++ recipe!!
Julie says
Cindy, I love that you used squash you grew in your own garden to make these! How wonderful. I bet they tasted amazing!
Stephanie says
Mine tasted amazing but they were more muffin textured than cookie….. Did I do something wrong? I thought I followed the recipe correctly….
Tina says
You didn’t put what temperature to bake these on this would be very helpful to know.
Julie says
Instruction number 5 says preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Jamie says
My dough is in the fridge now but I just realized I used the whole 15 oz can of pumpkin instead of a cup! What should I do?
Julie says
Hmm… not sure! You can either give them a try as they are, or add a little more flour to thicken the dough… or double all the rest of the ingredients. Sorry I’m not more help.
Jennifer says
These cookies are Amazing!!!!!!!!! First time through and they came out perfect. Making a new batch this morning 🙂
Julie says
So glad! Happy Thanksgiving, Jennifer!
Barbara says
I did not chill the dough to this recipe. I have a small scoop so I just dropped the dough one at a time into the powdered sugar and swirled the bowl around until the dough was covered, then gently placed it on the cookie sheet. Came out perfect.
Mary says
I made a couple of modifications, using whole wheat pastry flour and reducing the sugar to 1 cup. They turned out perfectly, very light and delicious. Great way to get more vegetables! 🙂
Anthony Allen says
Amazing recipe and looks great!!!Thank you for sharing! can’t wait to try it at home and report back with my results!
Anna says
These were so awesome! Such a hit and I loooove the cake-style cookie. In fact, I am wondering what I can sub out the pumpkin with to still get the same texture result but maybe for a different season? Also seems like not everyone is a pumpkin fan (weird…I know) so just curious! Thanks!!
Julie says
Thank you so much Anna. Interesting question about what to sub to get the cake like texture in a cookie without pumpkin flavor. Cream cheese comes to mind! I don’t think you would sub ounce for ounce, but adding cream cheese to a cookie will definitely make them more cake like in texture. Hope this is helpful!
sanchez says
My grandma make pumpkin cookies every Halloween season, this kind of cake makes me miss her so much. I pinned, and surely will make it later! Thank you Julie!
Julie says
I’m glad the cookies brought back happy memories for you. Thank you for letting me know that the recipe worked well for you. Happy December!
Alexandra says
Can this same recipe be used to make pumpkin bread? Everything seems the same, right?
Julie says
I haven’t made this recipe into a bread, but I do have a recipe for Pumpkin Bread that I love… Here is a link:
https://lovelylittlekitchen.com/easy-pumpkin-bread/
Judy says
I made these for the 1st time today. I used steamed and pureed home grown pumpkin. They were baking really nice, so to the last half of the dough I decided to try some cinnamon chips in them. The 1st half was rolled in powder sugar. Loved them. Of course I went 1 step more and made a glaze using mascarpone cheese (I used all my cream cheese in pumpkin cheese cake bars) a little powder sugar and a few drops of milk. And lightly drizzled it over the cookies. Results AMAZING. Making these again with the 3 different variations and taking them to work.
Julie says
I love how you think, Judy! Thanks for all the great ideas!
Tory Graham says
My husband loved these. He has requested that I bake them in muffin tins for his birthday breakfast in a couple days. I doubled the batch and froze half when I first made them, he thought they were almost better weeks later. This will be a regular November bake for me, thank you!
Vanessa says
These are not only EASY TO MAKE, BUT THEY ARE ALSO VERY YUMMY! This is my quick & easy go to receipe. Ive tried these with and without chilling the dough. They come out AMAZING either way!! I love adding sun dried cranberries!!
Thank You FOR SHARING!!
Stephanie says
Great recipe! SO light and fluffy. It’s possible I almost ate the entire test batch………
Hilery says
I was looking for a pumpkin recipe and found this one and then I saw your picture and we went to college together. Small world nice to see pictures of you And your family. I tried the recipie and somehow missed the cinnamon and they are still amazing. My family already said that this is a keeper recipe. So now I will look forward to having them next time with cinnamon.
Julie says
Hi Hilery! That’s so funny that you stumbled upon my blog and remembered me. Thanks for saying hello, and I’m so glad your family enjoyed the cookies.
Lisa@eatfrysmith says
Thanks for sharing! cant wait to try it