I’ve made a twist on Classic Snickerdoodle Cookies by adding browned butter and Pumpkin Pie Spice and rolled in a cinnamon-sugar mixture. The result? Soft and slightly chewy cookies, with notes of warm spices– like ginger and allspice. These cookies do NOT have pumpkin puree in them. What they do have are the fall spices that you’d find in a pumpkin pie. These are addictive.
Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies. They are such a classic cookie– kind of a hybrid of a sugar cookie and a cinnamon-sugar “churro”.
They look picture perfect, with their crinkly tops and speckled cinnamon-sugar topping. With the official start of fall fast approaching– I’m thinking more about pumpkin recipes. Yes, I love pumpkin! I got to thinking– can I adapt my Classic Vanilla Bean Snickerdoodle Recipe to have a Fall “vibe”?
Have you ever baked with browned butter? Oh my. When butter is browned, the flavor morphs into a nuttier flavor.
I recommend using a light skillet (or pot) to melt a stick of butter on medium-low heat. Patience, patience! I gently swirl the skillet, keeping a very close eye on the butter. The butter will start to foam, so keep a close watch. Swirl, swirl… ah! There we are. Browned butter. Set that aside to cool a bit. I have one more stick (for a total of one cup) of butter that is softened.
With a mixer, cream together sugar and the softened butter for a minute, or two. Next, add the cooled butter until combined.
The butter/sugar mixture will look creamy and a bit granular. That’s perfect.
You can make your own pumpkin pie spice mixture (see recipe card notes), but I take a shortcut and buy the spice mixture.
While the browned butter is cooling, combined the dry ingredients– all-purpose flour, baking soda, cream of tartar (don’t leave that out, as that’s what puffs up the cookies) and the pumpkin spice mixture. I never overwork my cookie dough. Mix the dry into the wet until just combined– and then using a spatula, finish mixing by hand.
The dough has chilled for about 30 minutes. The cinnamon-sugar mixture is made and the baking sheets are prepared with parchment paper sheets. (I much prefer this method, over greasing my cookie sheets.) My cookie scoops, make uniformly shaped cookie every time.
Scoop some dough, roll it with your hands, then set it into a bowl of cinnamon-sugar. Shake the bowl and the cookie dough is evenly coated. I can fit 12 cookies onto each baking sheet. (This method yielded 36 cookies.)
Bake this in a preheated 350F oven for 11-13 minutes, depending on your oven. I always rotate the cookie sheet halfway through baking– this ensures a more even bake. To test that the cookies are baked, gently press the side of one cookie. If it feels firm, they are done. These look puffy, don’t they? Just wait!
Almost immediately, the cookies will start to sink into perfect flat cookies. Cool the cookies for about 5-10 minutes, before setting them on a cooling rack.
TASTING NOTES: I can’t resist a warm cookie. My first bite: Crispy on the edges, nutty flavor from the browned butter, and notes of ginger with a little cinnamon. Wow! Once the cookies had completely cooled, they became a softer cookie with a little bit of chew. I liked them! I had to quickly package some of them up, and bring them to my neighbor. With just the two of us, 3 dozen cookies could be very dangerous. So, while these don’t taste anything like pumpkin, they aren’t supposed to! I was going for a fall spiced cookie, and that’s exactly what I got– in a good way.
Browned Butter Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodle Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice see note
- 1 cup butter divided
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
For the cinnamon-sugar:
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
For the browned butter:
- On medium-low heat, melt ½ cup butter (1 stick) until melting. Keep a close eye on the butter (About 10 minutes). Once the butter stops foaming, swirl the pan and watch for the golden brown color. Immediately remove from the heat; set aside. TIP: Use a light colored skillet or pan, so you can better see the butter change color.
Dry Ingredients:
- In a medium bowl whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
Batter:
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together both the softened and browned butter and sugar until creamy, 3 to 5 minutes. Stop mixer and scrape down the bowl.
- Beat in eggs on medium speed, one at a time, beating for 1 minute between additions. Stop mixer and scrape down the bowl.
- Beat in vanilla extract Stop mixer and scrape down the bowl.
- Add flour mixture and beat on low speed until just incorporated.
- Stop the mixer, remove the bowl, and finish incorporating ingredients with a spatula. Refrigerate dough, in the bowl, for 30 minutes.
- Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350°Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
For the sugar topping:
- To make the topping: in a small bowl toss together cinnamon and sugar. Spoon dough into heaping tablespoonfuls and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Place on prepared baking sheet and bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until slightly browned around the edges. My cookies took about 11 minutes to bake. Rotate the baking sheet halfway through so that the cookies bake evenly.Do not overbake the cookies. They will look puffy. With you fingertip, gently press the side of a cookie. If it feels firm, they are finished. The cookies will fall flat, a minute or two after removing them from the oven.
- Remove from oven and cool cookies on baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Hi! This recipe looks and sounds delicious. However, I noticed no eggs are listed, yet the instructions refer to adding the eggs one at a time, etc. I checked the vanilla bean snickerdoodle recipe and two eggs were listed for that. Should 2 large eggs at room temp included? Thanks!
Good catch! I apologize that I didn’t add the required 2 eggs for the cookie dough. Thank you for letting me know. Yes, I always use room temperature butter and eggs.