These Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cookies are the most delicious blend of two of your favorite flavors into a cookie that is crisp on the outside and nice and buttery on the inside.
We are wrapping up summer right quick my friends! And I must tell you that I am kind of giddy about it. Don’t get me wrong, I love summer, but there is something so refreshing about fall. Pumpkin spice, apple, crisp evenings, crunchy leaves . . . and my kids going back to school might have a tiny bit to do with it.
I just made these last night. The pumpkin and cinnamon are subtle and balanced and these are so moist and chewy! Lots of smiles and compliments so far!
Adding Pumpkin to Cookies
Can I tell you a fun little secret? You can put a pumpkin spin on almost all of your favorite cookie recipes. If it calls for two eggs, you just replace those with one egg yolk and 1/2 a cup of pure pumpkin puree. Genius, no?
From there, I like to add a little cinnamon to enhance the pumpkin flavor. You could even add in some nutmeg too! It works perfectly in these peanut butter cookies.
How to Make Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cookies
Cream the Butter and Peanut Butter
Beat the two together until you get a smooth consistency.
Thoroughly Beat the Sugar
Add in the white and brown sugar. The white sugar will sweeten the cookies and help them spread, while the brown sugar will keep things deliciously chewy. Beat for three to six minutes or until the batter is light and fluffy.
Add in the Pumpkin and Egg
Blend in the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth.
Whisk Together and Add Dry Ingredients
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. dd all of the flour mixture at once and start the mixture on low. When there is no flying flour, turn it up to high until fully combined.
Bake the Cookies
Scoop the cookies into balls and place them on a prepared baking sheet. Use a fork to make the cross-hatches. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the edges start to turn golden brown.
Tips to Make These Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cookies Turn Out Perfect
These tips are pretty standard for all my cookies, but I think they bear repeating.
- Use room temperature butter. This means that you can dent the butter with your finger but you can’t push it all the way through. It will actually still be cold to the touch. (This goes for your peanut butter too! Room temperature!)
- Properly beating the sugar into the batter will create pockets of air that will allow the cookies to puff up in the oven. It will also stretch your batter and make for more cookies. This batter yields 40 cookies for me.
- Don’t pack your flour. See my tips below for measuring flour.
- Your egg yolk should also be room temperature. Put the whole egg in a small bowl of lukewarm water while you are prepping the other ingredients.
- Use a cookie scoop to get uniform cookies so they cook evenly.
- Don’t put your cookies on the baking sheet until you are ready to put them in the oven. This prevents any premature cooking.
Storing and Freezing Pumpkin Cookies
Keep these cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to one week. These cookies also freeze well. Once they have cooled, transfer them to a freezer-safe bag or container and store in the freezer for up to three months.
Freezing Cookie Dough
You can also freeze cookie dough so that you can enjoy a cookie or two fresh out of the oven. Roll the dough into balls and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Put in the freezer for an hour to flash freeze the dough balls, then transfer them to a freezer-safe bag or container and store them in the freezer for up to three months.
You can remove just one or two dough balls to bake, or make the whole batch when ready to enjoy. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 13-14 minutes, or until the edges start to turn golden brown.
If you make these amazing pumpkin peanut butter cookies or any of my other delicious dessert recipes, please leave me a comment and let me know! I love hearing from you!
Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour see note 1 (360 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (202.5 grams)
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature (169.5 grams)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (198 grams)
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed (213 grams)
- 1 egg yolk room temperature
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (113.5 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. Set aside.3 cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and peanut butter until smooth.3/4 cup creamy peanut butter, 12 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat until the batter is light and fluffy, between 3 to 6 minutes.1 cup light brown sugar, 1 cup granulated sugar
- Add in the pumpkin, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Beat until just combined.1 egg yolk, 1/2 cup pumpkin puree, 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Add in the flour mixture and beat on low until it is integrated, turning up the mixer and beating until just fully combined.
- Using a cookie scoop, create 1-inch balls. Place on cookie sheet, approximately 2 inches apart. Use a fork push down one way and then turn the fork pushing down the other way making a hatch mark pattern.
- Bake for 12 minutes, rotating halfway through. The edges of the cookies should be golden brown.
Notes
- If you don’t have a kitchen scale, to measure your flour correctly you will want to scoop the flour into a dry measuring cup using a spoon and then level it off. Â See the full tutorial on that here: How to Measure Flour.
Brandi Young says
Can these be made into Gluten Free?
They look so delicious ????
I haven’t tried it using gluten free flour, if you do let me know how it goes!
Ashley says
I made these using half GF flour and half almond flour…they came out amazing. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
I’m so happy that they worked out with GF flour!
Suzanne says
I am going to make these peanut butter pumpkin cookies next weekend. I will let you know how they turnout.
I hope you love them!
Christine says
Just made these today, Yummy! Thanks for the recipe.
So glad you liked them!
Judy says
Looks like the perfect combination. I am going to make these very soon. I think I will put chocolate chips in half the
batter. Thanks for a great looking recipe. I’m very anxious to try this!
I hope you love them! The addition of chocolate chips sounds delicious!
Shirley says
Perfect cookies. We used all granulated coconut sugar for lower glycemic. The cookies were as described soft and buttery inside and crisp outside. Probably a little darker brown because of the sugar we used. Used crunchy peanut butter because that is what we like. I appreciated the helpful instructions about the butter, mixing the sugar and rotating the cookies during baking time. Really a delicious cookie. We ended up with 5 dozen so we have bags of cookies to share with friends. Thank you.
Oh Shirley, I’m so happy you liked it and came back to tell me!
Sharon Krushel says
Oh so delicious! I had just made peanut butter pumpkin oat flour dog treats and had some pumpkin left over. My husband said the dog treats looked good enough to eat, so I thought I’d better make some cookies so he wouldn’t be stealing Mylo’s! I made them into owl cookies with two chocolate chips for eyes and an almond beak, like the recipe I put on the back of this Owlet card. (I don’t see a way to add a photo to this comment, so I’ve put in a link. There’s a photo on the back of the card.) http://donabonacards.com/shop/blank-cards/owlet/
The cookies were definitely a hit. I gave one to our neighbour’s little girl, and our dog, Mylo, tried to steal it!
I’m so happy you liked them Sharon!
Lori says
I cut back on the white sugar by 1/4 cup
Sooooo yummy ?
Sydney says
Is it okay to use dark brown sugar?
That should work fine.
Sherry says
I substituted 1 cup of old fashioned rolled oats for one cup of flour. I added 1 cup of chocolate chips, because everything is better with chocolate. I didn’t have any butter, so I used shortening, and they came out chewy and delicious.
Kathy says
I used gluten-free All purpose flour, sunflower butter instead of regular peanut butter and granulated sugar substitute. Followed everything else exactly unfortunately they did not turn out well. The taste is OK but they did not bake
Hi Kathy! It’s hard to know how to help you with this recipe, because with the number of changes you made, we are kind of in new recipe territory. I would need to test it and make other changes to support the substitutes you made.