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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.
These look absolutely amazing, and then I saw took under an hour to get these together… after I wrote down what ingredients I would need, I began to redo the directions. They’re two different instances where you have to mix and let something sit for an hour. Why is that not take into account when posting the total time taken to make?
I tried these last night. It took 3 hours to make them and they look like the cheese biscuits from Red Lobster. I am going to say the error was on me somewhere. I probably will not make them again. They were super sticky when trying to make them and ended up very dry.
That is so frustrating! I am sorry they didn’t turn out. I hate when that happens. These cookies are one of my favorites though.
how do your flatten them and not stick to you.
These turned out amazing! I’m making them again, but this time I’m going to try using confectioners sugar instead of granulated in the cream cheese filling. That should just put them over the top.
I just baked these cookies and I realized I should have added more filling to each cookie because I actually had a hard time rolling the dough balls with the filling inside so I started adding less and yes it got easier. Unfortunately almost a cup of filling was left unused 🙁 Other than that they turned out great, they’re delicious although the cookes are almost empty inside. I would like to know how did you managed to really stuff the cokies??
I made these and they came out fine. They were messy but not that bad. I chilled the batter overnight in the fridge and kept it cool while assembling the cookies. There was no need to flour my hands. After reading through the comments I used a generous amount of filling and think that helped. I also made the bottom of the cookie directly on my baking pan which was lined with silicone baking mats, not parchment. After forming dough balls I pressed them onto the mat. The other thing I did differently was use a shaker to sprinkle the cinnamon sugar topping on them and it baked right in. Thank you for posting the recipe, they went over quite well!!
Hi, I’m in the process of making these cookies and like so someone left a comment asking if the Cream cheese filling is used with powder sugar or regular granulated sugar?
Just regular sugar.
I guess I am in the minority. I tried to make these cookies and it was a disaster. I ended up dropping a spoonful of dough on the cookie sheet, flattened them with a glass dipped in the sugar mixture. After they cooled I frosted them with the cream cheese and sprinkled with remaining sugar mixture. This was the first and last time I will make this recipe.
Really? I even remade them yesterday but with caramel and they were AMAZING!! Sorry they didn’t work out!
I am also not a fan of these, but not because of taste but they are much more work than recipes implies…. 42 minutes, really? Dough & filling have to be refrigerated an hour!!! No instructions for newbies about flouring hands to roll dough so doesn’t stick to hands. Time for refrigeration & assembling needs to readjusted!!
I had no problems with the dough being sticky or having to flour my hands. I also made a video to show what the process is like on my FB page and they aren’t as hard as people are making them out to be.
I’ve seen several posts asking about whether the surviving cookies need to be refrigerated. That was my first question, also, and I kept reading hoping someone would answer. Please let us know… Thanks.
Yes if there are any surviving you can refrigerate them. 🙂
Oh My – sure to be a hit at our house! Can’t wait to make these! Thanks for sharing!
I would like to try these cookies for a bake sale, but I can see it will take lots of time, so I would like to know if I could make them ahead of time and freeze them.
Thank you,
This may be a stupid question but, I don’t have a kitchenaid mixer. Can I just use a hand mixer?
Yes that will work!
This may be a stupid question, but I don’t have a kitchenaid mixer, can I just use a hand mixer?
I just made these tonight, and these are pretty labor intensive, so I’m only making 6 cookies tonight and finishing up the batter tomorrow.
The pumpkin flavor is indeed very light, and I’m not very fond of the ginger in the coating. A tsp of cream cheese filling is also not enough for the cookies… so for tomorrow’s batch I will make adjustments and hopefully it’ll turn out better. But overall, the cookie part is bland, though I do love the cream cheese filling, so just need some more of that.
Very creative recipe though.
Delish! Husband saw the picture of these cookies on my pinterest and made a special request that I make these for his birthday (in lieu of birthday cake). I was a little concerned after reading some of the comments, but I used the method suggested by one commenter of rolling the cheesecake filling into little balls and freezing them overnight, and everything turned out beautifully! I made the cheesecake balls and the pumpkin dough on the same night, wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and chilled it in the fridge overnight, and placed the cheesecake balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet on put them in the freezer overnight. The next evening, I preheated the oven, lined a couple more baking sheets with parchment paper, and put the cookies together and baked them. This recipe actually makes quite a bit of pumpkin dough, and I am not a very fast assembler, so I left half of the dough in the fridge while I wrapped cheesecake balls with the first half of the dough. Having everything chilled made the assembly process oh-so-easy. I only lightly floured my hands, and had no stickiness problems whatsoever. The cookies come out soft, cakey, and not overly sweet, which is perfect in our household! If you’re not a big cheesecake fan, you could skip the cheesecake filling all together and still have a delicious pumpkin-spice cookie. Definitely give this one a try!
Thanks for your tip about freezing the cream cheese filling. I made them as the recipe states, and my filling disappeared. They did not look like the picture at all, either. I found it difficult to roll as the filling seeped out. I tried spreading the filling out, baking a batch less time, neither worked. Also, I wasn’t sure how flat to make the “pancake” dough. I made sure to use exactly tablespoon amount of dough. I baked 24 cookies and have dough and filling left over. I’m going to put remainder filling in the freezer and bake the rest later. I think the recipe needs to be modified. Cookies have good flavor.
Thanks for your tip about freezing the cream cheese filling. I made them as the recipe states, and my filling disappeared. They did not look like the picture at all, either. I found it difficult to roll as the filling seeped out. I tried spreading the filling out, baking a batch less time, neither worked. Also, I wasn’t sure how flat to make the “pancake” dough. I made sure to use exactly tablespoon amount of dough. I baked 24 cookies and have dough and filling left over. I’m going to put remainder filling in the freezer and bake the rest later. I think the recipe needs to be modified. Cookies have good flavor.
Thanks for your tip about freezing the cream cheese filling. I made them as the recipe states, and my filling disappeared. They did not look like the picture at all, either. I found it difficult to roll as the filling seeped out. I tried spreading the filling out, baking a batch less time, neither worked. Also, I wasn’t sure how flat to make the “pancake” dough. I made sure to use exactly tablespoon amount of dough. I baked 24 cookies and have dough and filling left over. I’m going to put remainder filling in the freezer and bake the rest later. I think the recipe needs to be modified. Cookies have good flavor.
No bueno! I made these super labor intensive cookies tonight. Bland. Can’t taste the pumpkin and there is not near enough sugar or cream cheese filling in them.
I am sorry that you didn’t like them! They have been turning out great for others. 🙂
I did not see anywhere to print this recipe therefore I was not able to make it.