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Pumpkin cheesecake snickerdoodles are a fresh take on a classic cookie! Delightfully soft and filled with tangy cream cheese, these cookies will be sure to get a “WOW!” from your friends and family!
I love any recipe that I can add pumpkin to and these cookies are no exception! If you love pumpkin as much as I do, go ahead and try some of these Muffins, this Bread Pudding, and the most Perfect Pumpkin Bread! You will go crazy for them all!
Reasons These Cookies are the BEST
- A twist on a classic: A pumpkin cheesecake snickerdoodle is a twist on your classic snickerdoodle and takes it to the next level. Filled with all of the same sweet cinnamon flavors, with the addition of a yummy cream cheese mixture in the middle, these cookies are something that you will love!
- Soft: I love a good soft cookie and these snickerdoodles are the best!
- They freeze well: Double the batch and freeze them for up to 3 months!
Soft Pumpkin Cheesecake Snickerdoodles
This recipe is perfect for an after-school snack, a game day treat, or just bringing a treat to your neighbors. Whatever you do, I suggest making more than one batch. They are so good, and they will be eaten up in no time!
Ingredients You Need to Make Pumpkin Cheesecake Snickerdoodles
This delicious ooey-gooey recipe is going to become a staple at your house. Because the base flavor is delicious cinnamon, once you add in some pumpkin and cream cheese, you are making the perfect fall treat! See the recipe card below for a list of exact ingredients.
- All-purpose flour: This combines your ingredients and helps thicken the dough.
- Baking powder: This helps the cookies to rise.
- Salt: This enhances the flavors of all of the ingredients.
- Cinnamon: You can’t have snickerdoodles without a delicious cinnamon taste.
- Nutmeg: Brings that delicious earthy flavor that we all know and love!
- Butter: It’s best to use unsalted butter that is at room temperature for these cookies.
- Sugar: Adds sweetness to the cookie dough.
- Brown sugar: This is the best type of sweetener, and the flavor can’t be beat.
- Pumpkin puree: Don’t confuse this with pumpkin pie filling!
- Egg: Use an egg that is at room temperature.
- Vanilla extract: This adds some flavor to the sweetness.
Filling Ingredients
- Cream cheese: Make sure to set your block out so that it is softened before you use it!
- Sugar: Sweetens up the tangy cream cheese.
- Vanilla extract: Adds some flavor to the sugar’s sweetness.
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- Sugar: Adds sweetness to the spices!
- Cinnamon: Use ground cinnamon and mix it well with the other spices.
- Ginger: Ground ginger will work the best and add in an earthy flavor.
- Allspice: This is the best spice to bring out that fall taste!
Baking Tips
Since these are a bit different than your traditional snickerdoodles, I have come up with a few baking tips to help these turn out just perfectly for you! They are seriously SO good! I can’t wait for you to try them!
- Pumpkin puree: Sometimes, people think that pumpkin pie filling and pumpkin puree are the same thing… they are not! Pumpkin pie filling is mixed with spices and flavors, and you don’t want that for these cookies since you are adding those on your own. A can of pumpkin puree will be orange inside, and all that is listed on the ingredients will be “pumpkin puree.” So make sure that you are getting the right one!
- Chill: Before you ball up the dough and put it in the oven, it’s best (at least in this recipe) to chill your dough and cream cheese filling. This will help your cookies stay fluffy and not spread in the oven!
- Fresh ingredients: For the best results in your baking, make sure that all of your ingredients are fresh! This means that you should be replacing the baking ingredients in your pantry every 3-6 months. They start to lose their flavor and potency after that!
How to Make Pumpkin Cheesecake Snickerdoodles
These homemade pumpkin cheesecake snickerdoodles are easy to make! In fact, bake up a few batches at once so that you have some for later! It will be so simple, and once you see how fast they get eaten, you’ll be glad that you did!
Prep
- Whisk dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. Set aside.
- Beat butter, eggs, and sugar: In a mixer with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Blend and mix together: Blend in pumpkin puree, beat in egg, and then add vanilla. Slowly add dry ingredients on low speed just until combined. Cover and chill the dough for an hour.
- Make the filling: To make the cream cheese filling, blend cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together. Chill for an hour.
- Prep and baking sheets: Preheat oven to 350 and line your baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and spices for the coating and set aside.
Bake
- Make cookies: To make the cookies, take a tablespoon of the cookie batter. Flatten it like a pancake and place a teaspoon of the cream cheese in the center.
- Add cream cheese mixture: Form another tablespoon of the cookie batter into a flat pancake shape and place on top of the cream cheese. Pinch the edges together, sealing in the cream cheese, and roll into a ball. Roll in the cinnamon sugar coating and place on the prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart.
- Flatten dough: Repeat until the dough is gone, and flatten the cookie dough balls with a heavy-bottomed glass or measuring cup.
- Bake and cool: Bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes or until the tops start to crack. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack. Enjoy! These pumpkin cheesecake snickerdoodles are the best!
Storing Leftovers
If you have some pumpkin cheesecake snickerdoodles that didn’t get eaten all at once, here is how you can store them for later! That way, you can eat them all week long!
- Refrigerator: Because these cookies have cream cheese in them, don’t store them on your counter. Place your cooled cookies into an airtight container and leave them in your fridge for up to a week!
- Freezer: Store your cookies in a sealed, airtight container or freezer ziplock bag. Label the bag with the date, and then you can store them for up to 3 months! Just thaw them in the fridge before you want to eat them.
More Delicious Pumpkin Desserts to Try
If you loved these pumpkin cheesecake snickerdoodles, then it’s your lucky day! I have come up with a few more pumpkin desserts that I think that you will love as well! They are all amazing to add to your Autumn pumpkin recipes.
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Pumpkin Cheesecake Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
- 3¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Filling Ingredients:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Cinnamon-sugar coating:
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- dash allspice
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a mixer with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Blend in pumpkin puree, beat in egg, and then add vanilla. Slowly add dry ingredients on low speed just until combined. Cover and chill the dough for an hour.
- Blend cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together to make the cream cheese filling. Chill for one hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line your baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and spices for the coating and set aside.
- To make the cookies, take a tablespoon of the cookie dough. Flatten it like a pancake and place a teaspoon of the cream cheese in the center. Form another tablespoon of the cookie batter into a flat pancake shape and place it on top of the cream cheese. Pinch the edges together, sealing in the cream cheese, and roll into a ball. Roll in the cinnamon sugar coating and place on the prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart.
- Repeat until the dough is gone and flatten the cookie dough balls with a heavy bottomed glass or measuring cup.
- Bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes or until the tops start to crack. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Could these be kept in a tin overnight after baking? Must they be refrigerated?
I made these, and although the dough was sticky, it was still workable without flour. You need to refrigerate the dough between baking batches, so it is easier to work with. They are really good, and the only thing I would do differently is make more filling next time.
How many cookies does this recipe make? Because I know it says 24 servings but is that 1 cookie for a serving?
I was able to get about 24.
I just stumbled upon this recipe and your site today – let me just say these look amazing – love using pumpkin!
For those having a problem with the dough being sticky, I use a little bit of powdered sugar rather than flour on my hands which could make for a drier product
I seldom comment but these are wonderful and most of all your website and how you write your recipes with such precision is so amazing!! I just love how you add each little detail so nobody has to guess what to do if they are confused. Thank you!
Do you think these would taste okay without the cream cheese filling?
Yeah I think they would still be great!
I made these today but not feeling the best I was not up to the challenge of the cream cheese center. I have made pumpkins cookies in the past, however, with this recipe mine did not turn out as orange aka pumpkin color or taste much like pumpkin at all. Kind of like a plain cookie with the snickerdoodle coating. Really disappointed, as I love pumpkin recipes.
They were quite nice, however mine did not have an overtly pumpkin flavor or orange color. Maybe my organic pumpkin choice yields a milder cookie? I also made a batch as directed sans the cheesecake filling – they came out great at same heat and time as the filled variety. Left them at room temperature for 24 hrs (forgot about the cream cheese filling) and did not make anyone ill. Have since refrigerated and frozen the rest. Thank you for this fun recipe, my family and I really enjoyed them!
These look heavenly. I pinned thusly: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/337840409518566199/
ok, I JUST got done making a batch of these beauties… I personally would file this under “the most frustrating cookies you will ever love”.
i’m no greenhorn when it comes to baking, but these really tested my patience.
The stickiness of the dough is what tripped me up. I’m not sure if more flour need to go in or what. I’d flour my hands lightly to try and get my “pancakes, but then ran into occasions where the dough wouldn’t stick to itself and allow for rolling, also causing the sugar dip to not “adhere”.
And if I did get the pancaking right, i’d run into thin spots causing rips. And it’s not like you can unroll or re-roll, not with that gooey delicious cream-cheese filler. So then i’d tease a tiny wad of dough from the bowl and “patch” it up.
I was about ready to let the hockey-temper get the best of me and chuck it all out midway through the first pan, but I LOVE baking, and I love dabbling into the unknown, so I stuck with it, found my zen and “wallah”!
mine look NOTHING like the pics, LOL; sone look “normal”, some are Hulk-sized and ithers are so petie, I question whether I remembered the filling..
victory is delicious.
I was to say Thank you for post this.
As far as the way it’s written. I have to say. I wish you had written into the prep time the chill time. Also if you moved step 3 to step one. I found that the simplest part was the filling. Knock that out refrige it and move on the the cookie.
Now there was a comment Lynne who hit the nail of the head. These cookies tested my patience and I’m a pretty seasoned baker. With culinary school coming soon. But ultimately I think they were good. I made there for my best friends bday so we’ll see. I am glad I stuck to it though.
Mmm.. I’m bringing this recipe to my culinary teacher so we can bake them on Thursday! 🙂 Thank you!
I made these tonight. So good. I was afraid to over fill them. Big mistake. I realized I could put more in them about half way through. The ones with more filling are much better. I also topped some with butterscotch chips… soooo yummy!
Holy moly batman. These were amazing! These were the first cookies that I made since we moved into our new home in June and will totally round out the holidays. It was my test batch before deciding to include it in my Thanksgiving menu…success! Yes the dough was very sticky so I treated it like a pie crust and flowered as I formed into a disk, after putting in the filling, I pressed the corners and used a pumpkin cookie cutter to cut through both disks (which seemed to help seal as well), then instead of rolling in the sugar mixture, I just flipped (gently) to coat and placed on cookie sheet. I used a soft touch with the palm of my hand to flatten slightly. They look so pretty and of course yummy. Thanks for this recipe.
I was kind of dissapointed. But mostly because I wasn’t expectin a cake like like consistancy. Also it was very time consuming. Almost 2 hours to put the cookies together to bake them , not including the prep time of making the batter and chilling it. I really liked the consept of the cooking and they were ok as far as taste but I don’t know if it was worth all the work.
I had a similar outcome in that the cookies were more Casey and a bit dry (not like snickerdoodles) and were quite large. I would love ideas about how to do better!
Can i use fresh ginger?
I’m making these right now and they smell so great! Definitely time consuming so make sure to set some time aside for these. Made the dough & filling last night exactly as stated, chilled over night in fridge & the dough was great to work with. Made 1st one w/ flour on my hand but the sugar coating would not stick too well so tried the next one w/o four on my hands & was just fine to work with & sugar coating stuck well, Had a hard time constructing them so they look more like 2 cookies on top of each other, seam was not well concealed. Tired some as white chocolate chip cookies & others as cut out sugar cookie they turned out well too. I did use Splenda instead of sugar throughout the recipe. Just took out the 1st batch, cookie is more cakey than cookie. Could it have been the sugar substitute? But still yummy but I’ll try sugar next time. Wish mine would look a great as you picture!!