Brown Butter Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Published: Friday, October 31, 2025
½ c. salted butter
½ c. packed brown sugar
½ c. granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg white
¼ c. pumpkin puree
1½ c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice*
1 tsp. cream of tartar
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
For rolling:
¼ c. sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk constantly during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to crackle and foam, and then brown on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma.
Immediately transfer butter to a bowl to prevent burning, scraping all of it out of the pan. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
With an electric mixer (or you can mix by hand), mix the cooled brown butter, brown sugar and regular sugar until well combined and creamy. Beat in the egg white, vanilla and pumpkin puree until well combined.
In a separate medium bowl whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. With an electric mixer on low speed, slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 1-2 hours so that the flavors meld together.
Preheat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix ¼ cup sugar and the 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a bowl. Measure about 1½ to 2 Tbsp. chilled dough and roll into a ball; then roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture and place 2" apart on cookie sheet. Bake 11-14 minutes or until cookies are just slightly golden brown around the edges. Cool cookies on baking sheet for 5-10 minutes then remove and transfer to a wire rack. —Makes about 14 cookies.
*Note: If you don't have pumpkin pie spice, you can make your own by using the following spices in the dough:
1½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. ginger
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. cloves or allspice
Return to Top of Page