Baking with pumpkin can be challenging because of the the high amount of moisture it has but I thought it would be a great idea to create a Fall crinkle cookie version. And guess what! They are delicious and although the dough can be a little bit sticky to work with I will give you some tips so you can make this process easier.

Important tips for great pumpkin crinkle cookies:

• Your eggs should be at room temperature.
• Use pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling.
• Patience. You have to chill the dough in the fridge. If you don’t chill the dough, your cookies will be a mess and will spread. You will get better results if you chill the dough overnight. You can keep the dough in the freezer too.
• Don’t use warm cookie sheets to bake the cookies. If you just have one cookie sheet, wait, let the sheet cool before using it again.
• And finally, roll them very good in powdered sugar. If you don’t roll them in enough powdered sugar, your won’t get crackle tops.

Let’s start with the recipe and don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @Pastry_Tales because I just posted the videos of how to make these delicious cookies.

Yield about 15 regular size cookies

(Just double the ingredients if you want a bigger batch)

Ingredients

For the cookie dough

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 vegetable oil

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup white granulated sugar

1 egg at room temperature

3/4 cup pumpkin puree NOT pumpkin pie filling

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the sugar coating

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions

1.- In a small bowl mix: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.

2.- We have to  remove some of the moisture from the pumpkin puree. Spread the pumpkin puree on  layers of paper towels and press down squeezing the moisture out of (you have to do this 2 times) . After this process you have to end up with 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (not less not more). Set aside.

3.- In another bowl and using an electric mixer beat: sugar, oil, egg. Mix for 1 minute. Then, add vanilla and pumpkin puree, mix for another minute. Add in dry ingredients and mix in low speed until everything is well combined (about 1-2 minutes). Your dough is going to be very sticky and you won’t be able to make your cookie balls right now. Wrap your dough in plastic wrap and let it chill overnight in the freezer or fridge.

Next morning…

5.-Preheat oven to 350 F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Make balls of dough with your hands (about one inch size). Coat each ball in powdered sugar, coat them good! If your hands get dirty, wash them and start rolling again. If the dough gets soft quick, place it into the fridge again.

** This dough is sticky so please have patience, if you can’t roll the balls with your hands, grab a small spoon, scoop some of the dough and roll it into the powdered sugar forming a ball**

What I usually do is cut my dough in half, work just with that and let the other part in the fridge until ready to use.

6.-Place all the sugar coated cookie balls onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for about 12 minutes. After baking, take the baking sheet out of the oven and let the cookies cool for about 2 minutes before placing them on cooling racks. Let the cookies cool completely.

Enjoy!