Brown Butter Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles are delicious as-is, but adding rich brown butter and sweet pumpkin purée makes them taste SO much better! These cookies have chewy edges and the lightest, cakiest centers, all rolled in delicious pumpkin spiced sugar for the perfect autumn treat. They take a little extra effort to make perfectly, but the end result is totally worth it. These pumpkin snickerdoodles are the perfect dessert for any fall gathering, or just a cozy afternoon spent baking your favorite autumn goodies!

For more fall cookie recipes, try Brown Butter Milk Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies, Spiced Apple Pie Cookies, Soft Brown Butter Molasses Cookies, and Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies.

Why you'll love these brown butter pumpkin snickerdoodles

• Pillowy Soft Texture: A classic snickerdoodle is soft enough to melt in your mouth, and these pumpkin snickerdoodles are somehow even softer!
• Cozy Autumn Flavors: All the best autumn flavors like pumpkin and cinnamon are elevated in this cookie recipe by a rich, nutty brown butter.
• Classic Sugar Coating: As all snickerdoodles should be, these cookies are rolled in a healthy coating of spiced sugar. 

Ingredient Notes

• Cream of Tartar: This leavener is key to making snickerdoodles. It makes them perfectly soft and fluffy, just as all snickerdoodles should be!
• Pumpkin Purée: Libby's canned pumpkin is my favorite! Be sure to use pumpkin purée NOT pumpkin pie filling. 
• Pumpkin Spice: Use store-bought pumpkin pie spice or make your own using ground cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg.
• Sugars: You'll need both granulated sugar and either dark or light brown sugars.
• Unsalted Butter: Use high quality European-style butter for best overall flavor.
• Flour: Use high quality unbleached all-purpose flour best results.
• Eggs: Bring your eggs to room temperature quickly by placing them in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes.
• Vanilla: Add a high quality vanilla extract for optimal flavor.

See recipe card for full information on ingredients and individual quantities.

Step by Step Instructions

Here are step by step photos and instructions on how to make this brown butter pumpkin snickerdoodle recipe! For the full ingredient list and method, see the recipe card at the end of this post.

STEP 1: Whisk dry ingredients. In a medium or large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, pumpkin spice, and salt. Set aside.

STEP 2: Brown the butter. In a small saucepan, add 213g (15 tbsp) of salted butter and place over medium heat. As the butter melts, stir it with a rubber spatula to encourage even cooking. Once the butter has fully melted, it will alternate between rapid large bubbles and gentle small foamy bubbles. The butter will be ready once it turns a dark golden color and the fat solids have darkened and settled at the bottom of the pan. Immediately pour into a large bowl, scraping out the fat solids at the bottom, and weigh out to 170g (¾ cup).

STEP 3: Dry the purée. While the butter is browning, press out the moisture in the pumpkin puree. Fold up a few paper towels and place the pumpkin in the center. Take another set of paper towels and press the pumpkin flat to soak up the moisture. Repeat this several times with fresh paper towels until very little moisture comes away and the pumpkin weighs 113g (½ cup).

STEP 4: Whisk brown butter & sugars. To the brown butter, whisk in the sugars until fully combined.

STEP 5: Mix in the wet ingredients. Mix in the dried pumpkin purée, egg, egg yolk, and 2 teaspoons vanilla until smooth and no more lumps of pumpkin remain.

STEP 6: Fold in the dry ingredients & chill. Lastly, fold in the dry ingredients until fully combined. Cover the bowl and chill for one hour. 

STEP 7: Portion the cookie dough. Use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop to portion the cookie dough.

STEP 8: Roll & bake. Roll each cookie dough ball in spiced sugar and place on the baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake the pumpkin snickerdoodles for 8-10 minutes or until just sightly underbaked. Allow to cool completely on the baking sheet.

Expert Baking Tips

• A note on browning butter... Start with a few extra tablespoons of salted butter, since water evaporates as it browns. Also, keep in mind that European-style butter has less water content, so if you're using American-style butter you might want to start with even more butter.
• Press the excess moisture out of the pumpkin purée with paper towels. Add the canned pumpkin purée to folded up paper towels and use more paper towels on top to press it flat. Repeat several times with new paper towels until very little moisture is absorbed. Continue this process until the pumpkin weighs out to 113g or ½ cup. 
• Use a cookie scoop. Use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop to portion the cookie dough into equally sized cookies!
• Chill the cookie dough. To ensure the flour absorbs the brown butter properly and the cookies bake up thick, don't skip the chill time!
• Underbake the cookies! To achieve a gooey, melt-in-your-mouth texture bake the cookies for about 8 minutes or until they're slightly underdone.

All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed with gram measurements so you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), you can make these recipes accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale. 

If this still isn't enough to convince you, I have provided volume measurements in the recipe card. If you are interested in understanding the conversions, this is the best conversion chart.

But trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!

Happy baking! x