Soft Pumpkin Spice Cookies – a box of pudding mix makes these cookies extra soft and yummy. A favorite pumpkin cookie recipe!
It’s pumpkin spice season! We love all things pumpkin – pumpkin roll, pumpkin cinnamon roll cake, and savory sausage pumpkin pasta are a few of our favorites.
Well, it’s September now, which means pumpkin season is in full force around here! I love the smell and taste of pumpkin spice, so I bake pumpkin goodies as often as I can.
My cousin gave me the recipe for these incredible pumpkin spice cookies. The secret is a box of pumpkin spice pudding mix. It makes them so soft, and adds yummy flavor. It can be hard to find in stores, so I always grab it when I see it. You can also get it on amazon.
If you’ve ever used pudding mix in cookies before, you know that it makes them turn out perfectly soft every time. These pumpkin cookies are proof of that. Seriously, they are so, so yummy!
We love them with white chocolate chips, but you can use any flavor you like. You could also add nuts. Pecans are my personal favorite, especially if they are toasted. Yummo.
Tips for making pumpkin spice cookies:
- Make sure your butter is softened to room temperature, but not melted. You want it to be nice and creamy when you beat it with the sugars and dry pudding mix.
- If you can’t find the pumpkin spice pudding mix, you can substitute vanilla and up the amount of pumpkin pie spice to 1 1/2 tsp. It won’t be quite the same, but they will still be tasty!
- For a bakery look, use a cookie scoop to place the dough on the cookie sheets, and press a few white chocolate chips into the top of each cookie.
- Some readers have commented that their cookies don’t spread. My pumpkin puree is almost the consistency of applesauce. If yours is more thick, I recommend adding an extra tablespoon or two so that the dough has enough liquid.
I hope you’ll give these cookies a try, they are a must during fall baking season!
Looking for even more yummy pumpkin recipes? Try these:
Recipe for Pumpkin Spice Cookies
Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Pudding
Ingredients
- ¾ cup butter softened
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 3.4 oz box of instant pumpkin spice pudding mix, dry
- ½ cup pumpkin puree I used canned
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 ¼ cups flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 1/2- 2 cups white chocolate baking chips
Instructions
- Cream butter, sugars, and pudding mix in a large mixing bowl. Beat in pumpkin and vanilla.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture with the white chips. Stir till well combined.
- Drop dough by spoonfuls onto silpat lined or lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes.
As Jackie Groves comments above, my cookies did not spread. I made these following the directions to the letter. I use a cookie scoop and the cookies came out of the oven in the same shape as if they had just been scooped only they were baked. I pressed the second baking down and again they kept the same shape as they were before baking. They look nothing like yours In the picture, I am obsessed with pudding cookies and have been making them for several years. The other recipes I use call for baking soda and this one had no baking soda but used baking powder. The taste is great and they are traditionally soft which is a trademark of pudding cookies. I just wanted them to be pretty like yours.
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I’m finding them taking long to cook and staying the same shape as they were when dropped.u
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A few other readers have had the same problem. I think it is that some cans of pumpkin puree are thick, while others are almost an applesauce consistency. If the pumpkin is super thick, it makes the dough a bit dry. Adding a little extra pumpkin should solve the problem. 🙂
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I do t think we can get pumpkin pudding here in Canada. I wonder how caramel/butterscotch would taste. Has anyone tried this?
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Found some pumpkin spice chips to add instead of the white ones! Yummy!
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Oh my, I bet that was amazing! I’ll have to look for those. I’ve never seen them before, but I bet they’d be tasty in a lot of recipes!
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I heard the
Pumpkin pudding was only seasonal when I found it last year so I grab about a dozen boxes.
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Great idea – then you can make them all year round! 🙂
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i picked up several boxes of pumpkin pudding mix the other day!! can’t wait to make these!
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That reminds me that I need to pick up a few more boxes. I like pumpkin all year round, so I need to stock up!
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I’ll bet these are so soft and flavorful, YUM!
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Oh yes, the pudding makes them turn out soft every time!
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These cookies! Dreamy. I love how simple they are, and how tasty. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks Rachel, I’m so glad you liked them!
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I love adding pudding to my cookies, it’s so soft and chewy that way. LOVE this pumpkin version!
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Same here! Pudding really does make for good cookies, and this pumpkin version just may be my favorite. 🙂
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We love pudding cookies! These are delish!
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I made these cookies. They don’t spread. I had to eventually press then down. I think it maybe needs some baking soda. The taste is find, but they were mushy inside before I pressed them.
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Pumpkin puree can have different consistencies, so sometimes that can make the dough too thick. I usually press a few chips into the top of my balls of dough, so they get pressed down. Thanks for letting me know that yours needed to be pressed down to flatten out. 🙂
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Are these supposed to have eggs?
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Nope, no eggs.
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These are GREAT! Highly recommended!
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Thanks so much Mary! I know I have a hard time staying away from them. 😉
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