White Chocolate Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

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I had some leftover canned pumpkin pie filling and decided to see what it would be like to bake pumpkin into cookies. I discovered this recipe by Sally’s Baking Addiction and gave it a try. Please note: these cookies require 1/2 hr minimum of chilling time in the fridge!

I took this photo while on my walk in Vancouver yesterday and it looks like we are not the only Halloween enthusiasts in the hood! I came home afterwards and baked these suckers up.

What the heck are snickerdoodles?

Apparently snickerdoodles are sugar cookies that have been rolled in sugar. Needless to say, they are sweet!!! Hey, you learn something every day.

The Recipe

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For the wet ingredients you will need 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 cup white sugar (divided), 1 tsp vanilla extract and 6 tbsp pumpkin puree. Please note I used pumpkin pie filling but this time, puree is the way to go.

For the dry ingredients you will need 1 and 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (divided) and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice:

Here is a quick and easy pumpkin spice formula: 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ginger and 1/4 tsp allspice.

Melt the butter. In a medium bowl whisk melted butter, brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar together until no brown sugar lumps remain.

Whisk in the vanilla and pumpkin until smooth. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon and 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together. Dough will be very soft.

Fold in 1/2 cup white chocolate chips.

Cover dough and chill for 30 minutes. Can be kept in fridge up to 3 days.

Take dough out of the refrigerator. It will be very hard so let sit while you preheat oven to 350F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Roll dough into balls, about 1 1/2 tbsp. Mix together remaining 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Flatten a little and then roll each dough ball generously in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and arrange on 2 baking sheets.

OK, you’re supposed to make into a circle, roll and then flatten but I thought this looked better:

Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. Cookies should look very soft and underbaked.

Allow cookies to cool for at least 10 minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring to a wire rack. I actually moved them to the rack right away and they were super soft!

As a result of flattening the cookie first, I did not get the “cracking” effect but who cares?

Because I used pumpkin pie filling and did not add a lot of the extra pumpkin spice spice mix, mine did not have a ton of flavour other than the white chocolate chips which I found a tad overpowering. If I were to make these again I would use the puree, add the spices separately and add 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of pecans instead.

These are probably the most moist and tender cookies I have ever had! I honestly can not get over the softness but then I removed them from the wire rack early, LOL. Yes, I can’t follow a recipe, even when I am trying to.

I am thrilled that I made these and used up the last of the pumpkin pie filling in time for Halloween! A sweet cookie treat for me and kids will get a ton of candy from us tomorrow. Oh Halloween, you go by too fast!