Best Pumpkin Cookies – A Couple Cooks

This pumpkin cookies recipe is ultra soft, chewy, and cozy spiced! Drizzle with simple icing for the perfect fall cookie.

Here’s our ultimate fall treat: this Pumpkin Cookies recipe! These sweet morsels are lusciously pillowy and chewy, scented with a burst of fall spices and a hint of molasses. The exterior has a subtle sugar crunch and a drizzle of simple sweet icing. Even better, the soft texture holds up for days. They really are the best, if we do say so ourselves: perfect for fall dessert tables, Halloween, Thanksgiving and everything in between.

Ingredients in this pumpkin cookies recipe

Here’s the thing: we’re not huge fans of cakey pumpkin cookies. You know, the kind that are basically like little round pumpkin cakes? We get the appeal, but to us they’re not really cookies. So with this recipe, we set about to create a pumpkin cookie that’s well, an actual cookie!

These come out irresistibly soft and chewy, like the texture of a molasses ginger cookie but with pumpkin and pumpkin spices. The key? Don’t use too much pumpkin puree: it adds lots of moisture which leads to cakey cookies. Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this pumpkin cookie recipe:

• Unsalted butter
• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and salt
• Granulated sugar
• Egg yolk
• Molasses
• Vanilla extract
• Pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

A few ingredient notes

What makes these pumpkin cookies so great? The texture is so pillowy and chewy, and the flavor is developed and perfectly spiced. Here are a few keys to achieving that perfect cookie:

• Brown the butter. Heat the butter until it starts to turn brown and smells nutty, then immediately remove from the heat. Browning the butter adds a deep nuance in flavor (and smells incredible).
• Use a small amount of pumpkin and a hint of molasses. Too much pumpkin makes for cakey cookies. This recipe uses just enough pumpkin and a bit of molasses, which helps to make the perfect chewy texture.
• Use individual spices instead of pumpkin pie spice. We’ve found you can get the best flavor in baked goods using individual spices vs the premade jar.

Tips for baking pumpkin cookies

Cookies can be temperamental, and pumpkin cookies are no different. It’s challenging to get cookies that look perfectly identical. Here are a few tips for upping your baking game:

• Use a cookie scoop. If you have a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop, it’s helpful for portioning the dough perfectly.
• Bake the trays separately. This is one of our biggest baking tips: bake only one tray of cookies at a time! This ensures the best consistency between the trays because the oven heat is the same for each. (This is even true with beautiful new ranges like this one.)
• Refrigerate the dough in between baking the trays. It’s not required, but it also yields the most consistency. When you don’t chill in between baking, the cookies have slightly more crinkles — which actually looks nice, just slightly different from the first batch.

One final note: you can also chill the dough longer than it takes to bake the first tray, but let it come to roughly room temperature before making the balls. (Baking the dough right from chilled yields different results.)

A note on pumpkin puree brands

There’s a fair amount of variation between pumpkin puree brands. Some are rather dry, and others are very wet. We’ve found from experimentation that Libby brand of canned pumpkin has the best dry texture for baking. We’re not affiliated with the brand: we’ve just noticed that other brands can be very wet. When you’re baking pumpkin cookies, if you have access to this brand it yields the most consistent results!

For the glaze

These pumpkin cookies taste delicious without the icing glaze: but it adds just the right heightened sweetness. It also looks fun and makes them even more irresistible! Here are a few notes on the glaze:

• Let the cookies cool to room temperature before icing them. Otherwise, the icing will melt!
• Use a fork for drizzling. It seems counterintuitive, but a fork makes better lines than a spoon.
• Adjust the texture as needed. If the icing is too dry add a hint of milk. If it’s too runny, add a bit more powdered sugar.

Storage for pumpkin cookies

We’ve mentioned it a few times, but we’ll say it again: these pumpkin cookies hold up well over time. This is a must for cookies in our opinion, since you’re making them in such a big batch. Here’s what to note about storing these cookies:

• Store in a sealed container at room temperature for 1 week. The texture holds up well: no need to add anything to the container.
• Store refrigerated for 2 weeks. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.
• Store frozen for up to 3 months. If you can, freeze the cookies un-iced: it doesn’t hold up as well frozen.

More pumpkin recipes

‘Tis the season! Here are a few more pumpkin recipes you’ll love: