These small-batch pumpkin snickerdoodles are ready to eat in less than 30 minutes. They’re chewy, pumpkin-y, and full of cinnamon snickerdoodle flavor.
Heya, friends. It’s that glorious time of year when we use fall as an excuse to stuff pumpkin into everything. Why yes, I would like some pumpkin in my lattes , my donuts , my pancakes , and my cake .
And today, let’s put some pumpkin in snickerdoodles.
Pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies are everything great about the classic snickerdoodle cookie . They’re chewy with slightly crispy edges, rolled in spicy-sweet cinnamon sugar, and are just a little tangy. But this version has extra fall spices and pumpkin flavor, which makes them that much more irresistible and perfect.
Ingredients
- Baking staples: Most of the ingredients in these cookies are baking staples you probably always have in your cupboard, all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, granulated and brown sugar, and vanilla extract.
- Cream of tartar: Cream of tartar is a classic snickerdoodle ingredient. It gives the cookies that signature snickerdoodle tang and also helps activate the baking soda to help the cookies rise. You can find it with the spices in the spice aisle, and it is a useful ingredient to keep stocked in your kitchen. BUT if you don’t have any, you can omit it.
- Fall spices: These cookies use a combo of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg for added fall flavor. If you have pumpkin pie spice , you can replace these spices with 1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice.
- Butter: This recipe calls for unsalted butter, but you can substitute salted butter with no problems. Just cut the salt in the recipe by half, down to 1/8 teaspoon.
- Egg yolk: Because these are small-batch cookies and there’s so much liquid in the pumpkin puree, you only need an egg yolk. Using a whole egg will make these cookies too moist, and they won’t bake up properly. For ideas on what to do with that leftover egg white, check out my post What to Do With Leftover Egg Whites (I recommend a small batch of pumpkin cupcakes ).
- Pumpkin puree: Pumpkin puree is pure, pureed pumpkin (don’t mix it up with pumpkin pie filling, which is pureed pumpkin with sweeteners and spices). You can usually find it in the baking aisle near the canned pie fillings. This recipe won’t use up an entire can of pumpkin puree, so see my post What to Do With Leftover Pumpkin Puree for storage tips and recipe ideas for the leftovers.
How to Make Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
- To make your cookies, combine cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
- Whisk together all your dry ingredients in a small bowl, and in a medium bowl, combine all the wet ingredients.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until just combined. Scoop rounded spoonfuls of the dough (this should make 8 cookies), and roll into balls.
- Roll the balls in cinnamon sugar and place the cookies on the cookie sheet.
- Use the fleshly part of your palm to gently smash the cookies down to 1/2-inch thick. Don’t skip this step or your cookies will be too thick and won’t look like the ones in the photographs.
- Bake until the cookies look set, allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, and enjoy!
How to Store Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Can I freeze pumpkin snickerdoodles?
Yes! These cookies freeze well. Freeze baked cookies in a freezer bag and keep in the freezer for up to 2 months.
To eat, remove from the freezer and let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes to defrost.
Can I double this recipe?
Yes! This recipe doubles with no preparation changes needed. To change the yield, in the recipe card below, hover over the serving size or click if you’re on mobile, and slide the slider.
More Fall Recipes
- Classic Pumpkin Bread
- Small-batch Pumpkin Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting
- The Best Dutch Apple Pie
- Pumpkin Pancakes
- Small No-bake Marshmallow Pumpkin Cheesecake
Baking Tips
As always, with small-batch recipes, flour measurement is very important for the best results. Be sure to measure your flour by weight or using the spoon and sweep method (stir the flour in your container to fluff it up and then spoon it into your measuring cup, sweep excess off with the flat of a knife). Too much flour and your cookies won’t spread properly.
Ingredients
Cinnamon Sugar
- ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 25g ) granulated sugar
- ▢ 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Cookies
- ▢ 1 cup ( 120g ) all-purpose flour measured by weight or using the spoon and sweep method*
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon *
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
- ▢ Pinch of ground nutmeg
- ▢ 4 tablespoons ( 57g ) unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled*
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 50g ) granulated sugar
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 50g ) brown sugar
- ▢ 1 large egg yolk
- ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 30g ) canned pumpkin puree
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- In a small bowl, stir together sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and spices. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine melted butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar, and whisk until well-combined. Add egg yolk, canned pumpkin, and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.
- Switch to a spoon and stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Scoop rounded spoonfuls of dough (this should make 8 cookies) and roll your dough into a ball.
- Roll dough balls in the cinnamon-sugar mixture until completely covered.
- Place dough on the prepared cookie sheet and use the palm of your hand to smash the dough to 1/2-inch thickness.
- Bake for 10 to 13 minutes, until the cookies look set.
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, until cool enough to handle and transfer to a cooling rack.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
These Small-batch Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting are easy to make and so, so good.
Ready for some pumpkin cupcakes that are soft, incredibly moist, and exactly perfect for fall (or almost fall, whatever)?
This recipe will make four adorable cupcakes, which is the perfect number if you don’t need to make cupcakes today, but there’s a pumpkin cupcake song in your heart.
Ingredients
- Baking staples: Most of the ingredients for these cupcakes are basic baking staples, flour, baking powder, salt, granulated, brown, and powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Pumpkin pie spices: The cupcake batter is spiced with cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. If you have premixed pumpkin pie spice , you can replace these spices with 1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. Vegetable oil: Vegetable oil in the batter along with the pumpkin puree makes these cupcakes extra moist and delicious. Egg white: Since this is a small-batch recipe, you don’t need an entire egg, just the white. For ideas on what to make with the leftover yolk, see my post What to Do With Leftover Egg Yolks (I recommend a small batch of Chocolate chip cookies !). Pumpkin puree: Pumpkin puree is just pure, pureed pumpkin (not to be confused with pumpkin pie filling). You can usually find it in the baking aisle near the canned pie fillings. This recipe won’t use up an entire can of pumpkin puree, so see my post What to Do With Leftover Pumpkin Puree for storage tips and recipe ideas for the leftovers. Butter: You’ll need butter for the cream cheese frosting. I typically recommend unsalted butter for frosting, but salted butter will work, just omit the pinch of salt in the recipe. Cream cheese: My go-to cream cheese brand for baking and frosting is Philadelphia cream cheese . Make sure to allow enough time for your cream cheese to soften at room temperature. Cream cheese that’s too cold will leave cream cheese lumps in your frosting.
How to Make Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Mix the dry ingredients together in a small bowl.
- In a medium bowl, mix wet ingredients together and then stir in the dry ingredients until just mixed. Don’t overmix or your cupcakes will come out tough.
- Transfer the batter to your cupcake pan and bake until cooked through.
- Once cool enough to handle, move the cupcakes to a cooling rack and cool completely before frosting. Don’t try to frost even slightly warm cupcakes or the frosting will melt right off.
- To make the frosting, make sure your butter and cream cheese are at room temperature. Too cold and they will not mix properly for a completely smooth frosting. Beat the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla together until completely mixed. If they aren’t mixing smoothly, let them sit at room temperature for another 10 minutes and try again.
- Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth and creamy. Frost cupcakes and enjoy!
What Frosting Goes With Pumpkin Cupcakes?
Cream cheese frosting is the classic pairing for pumpkin cupcakes. But you do have other options. Try Vanilla Frosting, Chocolate Frosting , or Small-batch Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.
How to Store These Cupcakes
Before frosting, cupcakes can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days. Once frosted, they should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator because of the cream cheese.
Can I Freeze Pumpkin Cupcakes?
Yes. Pumpkin cupcakes freeze pretty well, even if the frosting looks a little smashed after freezing. Place cupcakes on a plate in the freezer and freeze for 20 minutes, until the frosting is mostly frozen solid and then double wrap the cupcakes individually in plastic wrap. Store wrapped cupcakes in a freezer bag or airtight container for up to 2 months.
Allow frozen cupcakes to come to room temperature on the counter for 20 minutes or so before eating.
More Pumpkin Recipes
- Pumpkin Pancakes
- Small Pumpkin Cake
- Small-batch Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
- Pumpkin Donuts
- Small-batch Pumpkin Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Special Equipment
- ▢ Handheld electric mixer optional but convenient
Pumpkin Cupcakes
- ▢ 1/2 cup ( 60g ) all-purpose flour
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon *
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 50g ) granulated sugar
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 50g ) brown sugar
- ▢ 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ▢ 1 large egg white
- ▢ 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ▢ 4 tablespoons ( 2oz ) unsalted butter softened
- ▢ 2 ounces cream cheese softened
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ▢ 1 cup ( 120g ) powdered sugar sifted, plus more as needed
- ▢ Pinch salt
Instructions
Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a cupcake pan with 4 cupcake liners.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine both sugars, vegetable oil, egg white, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture and use a spoon to stir until just combined.
- Divide batter between the prepared cupcake cups, filling about 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 19 to 23 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
- Cool cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, and vanilla, and beat until well-combined and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. If needed, beat in a little more powdered sugar until it reaches your desired consistency. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Buttered noodles are the ultimate fast and easy comfort food. All you need are 15 minutes, and you can have a big bowl of buttery, lightly cheesy pasta ready to go.
When it comes to fast, simple meals, it really doesn’t get easier than buttered noodles. This is a staple of so many people’s childhoods, but if it’s been a while, I’m here today to say you should totally start eating them again as an adult.
They’re quick, cheap, and the perfect uncomplicated lunch or dinner (or snack) when you’re craving some carbs and don’t feel like doing much cooking.
Ingredients
- Pasta: Egg noodles are the classic buttered noodle pasta, but you don’t have to use egg noodles. Spaghetti, fettuccine, and farfalle are all good options.
- Butter: Salted or unsalted butter will work just fine here.
- Salt and pepper: Classic buttered noodles use only salt and pepper, but feel free to sprinkle on whatever spices sound good.
- Parmesan cheese: If you have a block of parmesan, freshly grated parmesan works best as is will melt beautifully into the butter and pasta. But the shredded, bagged stuff will work too, it just might be a little clumpy. Canned parmesan will give the noodles a slightly different texture from fresh, but you can use that as well.
How to Make Buttered Noodles
- Cook pasta in lightly salted water according to package instructions. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pasta to a bowl, but reserve a couple tablespoons of the pasta water. The starchy water will be added back to the pasta in a moment to help the butter and parmesan become a cohesive coating for the pasta.
- Add butter to the hot pasta immediately and stir until the heat from the pasta melts the butter. Add parmesan and hot water and stir until creamy and melted.
- Salt and pepper to taste. Make sure not to add salt until you’ve added the rest of the ingredients because the salty pasta water and parmesan may be salty enough that you need to add very little.
How to spice up buttered noodles?
If you want to make your noodles a little more exciting, try adding one of the following:
- Cooked meat: Add a bit of protein by topping the finished pasta with warmed, cooked meat. Leftover Roasted Chicken works great and chopped ham or sausage (or hot dog) that has been browned in a skillet with a little olive oil is so good. If you want to cook chicken breast to add to your pasta, check out my How to Cook Chicken for Recipes post for my favorite chicken-cooking method.
- Garlic and red pepper flakes: To add garlic and a little spice to your pasta, instead of adding butter directly to the pasta, melt it in a medium skillet. Add one large crushed or minced garlic clove and a couple pinches of red pepper flakes to the melted butter. Cook until the garlic turns golden and aromatic, 30 seconds to a minute, and then remove the pan from heat and toss the pasta and rest of the buttered noodle ingredients together in the hot pan.
- Vegetables: If you have cooked veggies like Roasted Broccoli or Roasted Zucchini , you can just stir them into the finished noodles. If starting with uncooked veggies like broccoli or asparagus, you can chop them into bite-size pieces and cook them along with the pasta. Just add them into the hot pasta water for the last 3 to 4 minutes of cooking time. *This will slightly change the flavor of your pasta water, so if you don’t want your finished pasta to have extra veggie flavor, you can boil the veggies separately or cook them in the microwave .
What goes with buttered noodles?
Serve buttered noodles with a side of crusty bread and your favorite simple veggie side ( Roasted Green Beans or Parmesan Zucchini are great options).
Buttered noodles also make a fantastic easy side dish for meaty mains. This recipe makes enough to serve two as a side dish. Serve alongside Marinated Steak , Country-style Pork Ribs , or Roasted Tri-tip .
How to make buttered noodles without parmesan?
If you don’t have any parmesan at all, you can omit it. The flavor will be slightly less complex, but plain buttered noodles are still a good time.
More Single-serve Meals
- Mac and Cheese for One
- Chicken Noodle Soup for One
- Scalloped Potatoes for One
- Fettuccine Alfredo for One
- Pancakes for One
Ingredients
- ▢ 3 ounces ( about 1 3/4 cup* ) egg noodles or noodles of choice
- ▢ 1 tablespoon ( 14g ) butter salted or unsalted is fine
- ▢ Salt and pepper
- ▢ 1 tablespoon freshly grated parmesan bagged and canned will also work
- ▢ Parsley chopped, optional
Instructions
- In a small pot of lightly salted water, cook noodles according to package instructions. Drain, but reserve a couple tablespoons of the pasta water.
- In a bowl, combine hot pasta, butter, parmesan cheese, and 1 tablespoon of the pasta water. Stir until butter and cheese are melted and pasta is coated. Add more water/salt/pepper to taste. Stir in parsley if desired.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Small-batch Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
Cinnamon Sugar
- 2 tablespoons ( 25g ) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Cookies
- 1 cup ( 120g ) all-purpose flour measured by weight or using the spoon and sweep method*
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon *
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
- Pinch of ground nutmeg
- 4 tablespoons ( 57g ) unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled*
- 1/4 cup ( 50g ) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup ( 50g ) brown sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tablespoons ( 30g ) canned pumpkin puree
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- In a small bowl, stir together sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and spices. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine melted butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar, and whisk until well-combined. Add egg yolk, canned pumpkin, and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.
- Switch to a spoon and stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Scoop rounded spoonfuls of dough (this should make 8 cookies) and roll your dough into a ball.
- Roll dough balls in the cinnamon-sugar mixture until completely covered.
- Place dough on the prepared cookie sheet and use the palm of your hand to smash the dough to 1/2-inch thickness.
- Bake for 10 to 13 minutes, until the cookies look set.
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, until cool enough to handle and transfer to a cooling rack.
- Serve and enjoy!
