Description
These Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies are soft, buttery, and packed with warm fall spices. Rolled in a sweet cinnamon-sugar coating, they bake into perfectly tender cookies with lightly crisp edges and soft, chewy centers. Made without pumpkin purée, they deliver all the cozy flavors of pumpkin pie in a classic homemade sugar cookie.
Ingredients
Scale
- For the Cookie Dough:
- 3/4 cup (170 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50 g) packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups (270 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- For Rolling:
- 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Cream Butter and Sugars: In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter, granulated sugar, and packed light brown sugar together on medium speed until creamy, pale, and fluffy.
- Add Egg, Yolk, and Vanilla: Beat in the whole egg, egg yolk, and pure vanilla extract until completely smooth and incorporated. Room-temperature eggs help the ingredients emulsify properly.
- Whisk Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves to ensure even spice distribution.
- Combine Dry and Wet Mixtures: Gradually add the dry flour and spice mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing on low speed just until combined without any dry flour streaks. Avoid overmixing to keep the cookies tender.
- Chill Dough for 1 Hour: Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour to firm up the butter and prevent excessive spreading.
- Preheat Oven and Prep Pans: Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine the 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon for rolling.
- Portion and Roll in Cinnamon Sugar: Divide the chilled dough into 24 equal balls. Roll each ball lightly in the cinnamon-sugar mixture until evenly coated on the outside.
- Flatten and Bake: Place the coated dough balls 2 1/2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets and gently flatten each ball to approximately 1/2 inch thick. Bake for 10–13 minutes, until the edges are set and the tops are no longer glossy.
- Cool and Set: Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes so their soft centers can set before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Why No Pumpkin Purée? These cookies get their iconic flavor from traditional pumpkin-pie spices. Adding wet pumpkin purée would alter the moisture balance, turning a classic sugar cookie into a cakey, wet muffin-top.
- Don’t Skip the 1-Hour Chill: Chilling the dough firms up the butter fat, preventing the cookies from spreading too flat and thin in the oven.
- Fresh Spices Matter: Ensure your ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves are fresh to guarantee a vibrant, aromatic flavor profile.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 155
- Sugar: 10g
- Sodium: 80mg
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated Fat: 4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 22g
- Fiber: 0.5g
- Protein: 2g
- Cholesterol: 30mg