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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.
Anyone else have more cookies than 24? I measured correctly….but have way more than 24.
I just made them and they came out very dry and cakey. What did I do wrong??
Have not made this recipe yet, but I love all these ingredients. I do have a question before trying: Is the sugar for the cream cheese filling “powered” or “granulated?”
Tried them. Totally underwhelmed. The dough was really hard to manage and so it took a long time to put together. For all the effort and mess, I was expecting amazing results. They were bland and cakey and the cream cheese filling basically blended into the rest of the cookie.
Unfortunately these did not look anything like the picture for me. They look exactly like the ones pictured with Bakeaholic Mama. The recipe appears the same. Did you do something differently? Would appreciate any suggestions on what you did differently given the recipes are the same. My cookies appear exactly like hers as do the texture and consistency – blonde and cake like almost like a soft scone or sugar cookie. I was disappointed 🙁
Not sure when you commented, but it does list Bakeaholic Mama as the recipe source.
To anyone having trouble working with the sticky dough, I use plastic wrap, I cover a plate with plastic wrap, then I cover the bottom of a cup in plastic wrap, I scoop out a ball of dough (I like to use a cookie scoop but greased hands work) and put that ball on the plate, then I smash it with the cup, the dough doesn’t stick to the plastic. I don’t bother making two circles, I just make one circle, put a blob of filling in the center and fold the dough circle in half- kinda like a turnover, then I fold in the sides in and roll it into a ball, roll in the sugar and flatten on the pan. I think plastic gloves would also work amazingly.
I tried doing it the way you suggest after having no success due to the stickiness. It was still sticky but definitely more workable this way.
Are you some kind of witch or something?? Normally when I bake I have a low success rate but I’ve made two recipes off this blog today and both turned out AMAZING. Amazing. These are worth every minute of work, so do like I did and turn on Gilmore girls while you’re flattening, filling and rolling. Make them right now.
I’ve eaten 4 already
I am so glad to hear!!
Do you need to refrigerate the cookies that aren’t eaten?
Can freezer paper or wax paper be used on the cookie sheets, or just Pam spray?
Yes you can use wax paper or parchment paper.
Tried these last night for the first time, they turned out great! The cream cheese was a bit overpowering when they were still warm from the oven, but after they had been stored in the fridge they tasted even better!
Few things… yes, the batter and filling were too sticky to work with. Next time I will add a bit more flour to the batter and powdered sugar to the filling and then put in fridge for a half an hour then freezer for the second half. I think this will make them easier to work with. My only complaint is after baking and trying them, I could not hardly taste the filling. The only thing I can think of to remedy that is to make bigger cookies with more filling in them.
So delicious! Do they need to be refrigerated after baking?
These turned out perfectly for me! Dough was a little sticky but not too difficult to work with. Definitely need a little powdered sugar or flour on your hands when rolling. Great recipe!
I just finished them and I am a little disappointed. They are too sweet and the sweetness covers all the other tastes of the spices.
It wasn’t sticky at all, I don’t know if it was because of the long time in the fridge or maybe german wheat flour has some different effects than all-purpose flour (I don’t know this).
This sounds like a great recipe but shouldnt cream of tartar be included ?Because from what i know snickerdoodles are known for cracks on them and cream of tartar creates signature cracks on the surface. Please answer me sooon due to im really looking forward to making these nice treats for my family and friends in the coming holiday. Thank you
I was SO excited to try these cookies. Love anything pumpkin or cream cheese. But, horrible disappointment! I don’t know what happened but besides being putsy they sure tasted doughy. They didn’t crack like regular snickerdoodles and the cream cheese didn’t look creamy like your photo.