At the very first sign of cooler weather, a can of pumpkin appears on my shelf and my oven immediately turns on. My pumpkin white chocolate chip cookies are the best cookie recipe I make! A chewy cookie with crisp edges, lots of white chocolate chips, and a dusting of cinnamon sugar to taste like snickerdoodles, these will be your new favorite! No chill time for this dough, and they're made with melted butter, too!
If you've ever made pumpkin cookies before, you will know that most of the time, they come out too soft. I'm not looking for a soft, muffin-like fluffy cookie. I want a cookie with a crisp edge and a chewy center. It should still have the texture of a regular chocolate chippers cookie, even though it has pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice in it!
This recipe for pumpkin white chocolate chip cookies has the classic cookie texture, even though it has canned pumpkin in it. It's also full of pumpkin spice flavor both in the cookie and a light dusting on the outside, making them similar to snickerdoodles. It's truly the perfect cookie, and they're similar to my regular white chocolate chip cookies.
This recipe doesn't require any chilling time for the dough, and it starts with melted butter, so if you don't have time to let butter soften to room temperature, this is the cookie for you!
While the flavor of these is reminiscent of snickerdoodles, they are not true snickerdoodles because they do not contain cream cheese or cream of tartar in the dough. I have a small batch of snickerdoodles if you're here for that.
The Ingredients
- Butter. This pumpkin white chocolate chip cookies recipe starts with melted butter, so it's perfect if you don't have time to defrost butter! I'm using unsalted butter and adding salt to the recipe, but you can use salted butter and omit the ¼ teaspoon of salt.
- Brown Sugar. Either light or dark brown sugar work great here.
- Granulated Sugar. A small amount of granulated sugar for the cookie dough and for rolling the dough balls in before baking.
- Vanilla. I always bake with real, pure vanilla extract.
- Pumpkin Puree. Check your pumpkin labels: we want canned pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling, which already contains sugar and spices.
- Flour.
- Baking Soda.
- Baking Powder.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice. Pre-made pumpkin pie spice is a blend of ground cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice and ginger. Make my homemade pumpkin spice latte with the rest of the jar!
- White Chocolate Chips. Just ⅓ cup of white chocolate chips for the dough, but you can always press a few extras on top to make them look like they came from a bakery.
The Directions
Preheat the oven to 350-degrees Fahrenheit, and have your favorite cookie sheet ready. There is no need to grease or line the pan. In a bowl, combine the melted butter, brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of the granulated sugar.
Mix the butter and sugars together very well, and then add the pumpkin puree and vanilla. Stir again very well until everything is very homogenous. If your pumpkin puree seems overly wet, blot it dry before adding it. Do not make these cookies with fresh pumpkin.
Next, evenly sprinkle the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and ¾ teaspoon of the pumpkin pie spice over the butter mixture.
Stir the dough together until no streaks of flour remain, and then finally, stir in the ⅓ cup of white chocolate chips.
In a small bowl, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and ¼ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. Then, scoop out two tablespoons of dough to form each cookie.
Then, roll each dough ball in the sugar and spice mixture and space evenly on the baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookie puff up and the top appears dry.
These pumpkin white chocolate chip cookies are similar to snickerdoodles, and they will deflate and crackle as they cool. They are the perfect texture, and I'm so happy to share them with you! I do have a regular pumpkin snickerdoodles recipe if you want a cookie without any chocolate.
How to Store Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies:
These cookies keep well at room temperature in an air-tight storage container for a few days. I don't recommend freezing the dough before baking because of the sugar and spice mixture that should stick to the outside. However, if you want to freeze already baked cookies and defrost at room temperature before serving, you can.
Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Best pumpkin white chocolate chip cookies that are fluffy and bake up with a snickerdoodle crust.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided use*
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 3 tablespoons pumpkin puree
- ¾ cup flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, divided use*
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees Fahrenheit, and have a metal baking sheet ready. No need to grease the sheet or use parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, add the melted butter, brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of the granulated sugar. Stir together very well.
- Add the vanilla and pumpkin puree, and stir again.
- Finally, sprinkle the flour, baking soda, baking powder, ¾ teaspoon of the pumpkin pie spice, and salt on top of the pumpkin mixture, and stir very well to combine.
Stir in the white chocolate chips. - Scoop two tablespoons of dough to form each dough ball. In a shallow bowl, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and ¼ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. Roll each cookie dough ball in the mixture, and place on a baking sheet with 3 inches of space between each cookie.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until puffy and the top of the cookies appear dry. They will crack and deflate as they cool. Let cool completely on the cookie sheet before serving.
Notes
*We only need 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar for the cookie dough, and the rest will be used for rolling the cookies in before baking.
*Similarly, we only need ¾ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice for the dough, and we will use the remaining ¼ teaspoon for rolling the dough in.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 162Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 99mgCarbohydrates: 25gFiber: 0gSugar: 17gProtein: 1g
Holly says
These are AMAZING! I’m not a huge fan on pumpkin cookies but these sounded really good so I decided to triple the recipe and make them for work. Yeah, they didn’t make it to work. My husband and I loved them too much to part with them. Thanks for once again, a delicious recipe!
Kim says
These are absolutely amazing! If you haven't tried any of Christina's recipes you are missing out! The small batches gets you in and out of the kitchen in no time and her recipes are excellent! I'm back in the kitchen baking only because of you my friend.
Tyler says
Made these today with my toddler and ohhh yum. The crunch on the outside from the sugar, the soft cookie on the inside… not at all cake-y like most pumpkin cookies! Thank you for this recipe :)
Christina Lane says
Yes, you get it! Down with cake-y cookies! We want chewy, dense rich cookies!
Christine T says
These are fantastic! I also think they would be good w/o the white chocolate. Pumpkin spice snickerdoodles will def be on my holiday cookie list this year, but truthfully good any time of the year. I baked mine a little longer (13-15 mins) as the ten-minute cookies were too gooey for me—Crispy crunchy on the outside but chewy on the inside. Also, with a little more bake time they don't deflate so much.
Kris Marie says
Hi, could I make these into bar cookies that I make in an 8 x 8 pan like your chocolate chip bars? Thank you.