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For all the pumpkin lovers out there, these soft sourdough pumpkin spice cookies are going to be your new favorites! With a soft texture, these sourdough pumpkin cookies will warm your heart with their gentle fall spice and sweet maple glaze. Perfect to gift and share, or enjoy in those special moments with your favorite hot drink.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe!
Fermented Cookie Dough – this sourdough pumpkin cookie recipe allows you to ferment the dough in the fridge for up to 2 days giving you lots of sourdough benefits.
Pumpkin Flavor – if you love all things pumpkin, you’re going to love the flavor of these sourdough pumpkin cookies, paired with delicious fall spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger.
Delicate Texture – these cookies have a soft, delicate texture, rather than a typical crunchy or chewy cookie texture. They kind of remind me of Pfeffernusse that we eat at Christmas time (but a more pumpkin flavored version!).
Ingredients
- Butter – I have used salted butter in this recipe, for both the cookies and the glaze, but you can use unsalted butter if you prefer. I leave my butter out at room temperature to soften.
- Granulated Sugar
- Light Brown Sugar
- Egg
- Sourdough Discard – You can use sourdough discard or active starter, it won’t make too much different to the end result.
- Pumpkin Puree – this recipe uses pumpkin puree, not to be confused with pumpkin pie filling. Homemade or canned pumpkin puree are both fine.
- Vanilla Extract
- All-purpose Flour
- Baking Soda and Baking Powder
- Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger and Cloves – you can use a teaspoon or two of pumpkin pie spice if you prefer.
- Salt
- Powdered Sugar
- Maple Syrup
Kate’s Pro Tip
Ferment The Cookie Dough
These sourdough discard pumpkin spice cookies work best when you ferment the dough in the fridge for at least a few hours, but the dough will be fine in the fridge for up to 2 days. The longer ferment time makes the dough much easier to handle and improves the flavor and texture of the baked cookies, much like these chewy sourdough chocolate chip cookies and these sourdough gingerbread cookies.
How To Make Soft Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cookies
I have tried to keep this recipe as simple as possible. Through creating and testing this recipe, I tried using a stand mixer and electric hand beaters, but found that it made no real difference to the end product and so I’ve written the instructions using just a fork to whisk the ingredients together. This means that it is a simple recipe to make and creates much less washing up (hands up if you hate washing the paddle attachments and beaters … or is it just me?).
I have used a digital kitchen scale to weigh all of the ingredients. It’s so easy to place a large mixing bowl on top of the scale and weigh everything into the bowl – so much less washing up than using measuring cups!
Let’s Make Soft Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cookies!
In a large bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, brown sugar and egg.
Now add your sourdough starter, pumpkin puree and vanilla to the butter mixture and whisk through until really well combined. The batter should be light and fluffy.
On top of this, add the all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and spices. Mix well to combine and form a cookie dough.
This soft dough might feel a bit loose or wet and that’s ok. Pop the dough into the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours to firm up. You can leave the dough in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Once the dough has firmed up, preheat your oven to 190ºC (375ºF) and line 2 cookie trays with parchment paper.
Using a cookie scoop (or small ice cream scoop), form balls of dough (I’ve made mine 25 g) and place onto the prepared baking sheets around 2″ apart. These cookies don’t spread too much, particularly because the dough is cold.
Bake in the oven at 190ºC (375ºF) for around 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. The cookies will still be soft when you remove them from the oven.
Allow baked cookies to cool on the tray for around 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to firm up further.
Making the Maple Glaze (Optional)
Add powdered sugar, maple syrup, softened butter, vanilla extract and cinnamon to a small bowl and whisk together using a fork until a glaze is formed. You may need to add additional maple syrup if the glaze is too thick (you want it runny, but not too runny so you can still pipe it). Add to a piping bag and drizzle over the soft sourdough pumpkin spice cookies. Allow to set before serving.
How To Store + Freeze
These sourdough pumpkin cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week. I find they store best in a tin or glass jar rather than plastic (I find plastic makes them taste stale after just a few days).
They freeze really well. I prefer to freeze them un iced and then add the icing once they have defrosted. You can also freeze the balls of cookie dough and bake them when you need them.
Want More Sourdough Cookie Recipes?
Sourdough Discard Pumpkin Spice Cookies [with a maple glaze]
Equipment
- Cookie Scoop
- 2 Cookie Trays (lined with parchment paper)
Ingredients
Cookie Ingredients
- 115 g Butter, (softened at room temperature)
- 150 g Granulated Sugar
- 100 g Light Brown Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 100 g Sourdough Starter
- 200 g Pumpkin Puree
- 5 g Vanilla Extract
- 400 g All-purpose Flour
- 5 g Baking Soda
- 5 g Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp Ginger
- 1/4 tsp Cloves
- 2 g Salt, (just a pinch)
Maple Glaze Ingredients
- 120 g Powdered Sugar
- 20 g Butter
- 70 g Maple Syrup
- 5 g Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream together butter, white and brown sugars and egg. I have just done this using a fork however you can use an electric mixer or stand mixer if you prefer. I've tried to keep it super simple and create as little washing up as possible for these cookies! It also makes a kid friendly recipe too!
- Now add your sourdough starter, pumpkin puree and vanilla to the butter mixture and whisk through until really well combined. The batter should be light and fluffy.
- On top of this, add the all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and spices. Mix well to combine and form a cookie dough.
- The dough might feel a bit loose or wet and that's ok. Pop the dough into the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours to firm up.You can leave the dough in the fridge for up to 2 days.
- Once the dough has firmed up, preheat your oven to 190ºC (375ºF) and line 2 cookie trays with parchment paper.
- Using a cookie scoop, form balls of dough (I've made mine 25g) and place onto the cookie sheet around 2" apart. These cookies don't spread too much, particularly because the dough is cold.
- Bake in the oven at 190ºC (375ºF) for around 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. The cookies will still be soft when you remove them from the oven.
- Allow to cool on the tray for around 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.
Maple Glaze (Optional)
- Add glaze ingredients to a small bowl and whisk together using a fork until a glaze is formed. You may need to add additional maple syrup if the glaze is too thick (you want it runny, but not too runny so you can still pipe it).
- Add to a piping bag and drizzle over the sourdough pumpkin spice cookies. Allow to set before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Rate and comment below!
I have some neglected sourdough discard in the fridge, that I thought I would use sooner, but haven’t. It’s about 2 months old. Would it still be useful in one of your cookie recipes? Thanks for your advice.
They were great. Big hit with everyone that tried them, the only thi g i did different from recipe is add pecans and white chocolate chips. Will definitely be making again soon
Great recipe and definitely don’t skip the maple glaze, it adds even more flavor and sweetness.
We loved this recipe! The cookiWe loved this recipe! 😀 The cookies turned out amazing! A keeper for sure!
We managed to freeze some dough balls. Can we bake them from the freezer? Or should we defrost them first?
Thank you for sharing *
es turned out amazing!
So glad you love them! You can bake them straight from the freezer 🙂
These cookies taste great, are very soft, but the dough is VERY sticky to work with to shape into balls.