These Sourdough Pumpkin Cookies are soft, chewy, with a delicious earthy flavor thanks to the addition of pumpkin puree! A quick one-bowl recipe that tastes even better days after they're baked.
Not just for fall!
Pumpkin gets its time to shine during the fall months, but it’s a great ingredient all-year round! It’s the secret to the perfectly chewy texture of these cookies. Pumpkin binds the ingredients in this recipe together and serves as a substitute for eggs. It adds creaminess to the cookie dough and imparts structure and moisture to the baked cookies. A mixture of spices adds warmth to these cookies which makes them perfect for fall but great anytime of year!
Baking with Sourdough Discard
Sourdough discard adds a great tangy flavor to these cookies. You can use your discard directly from the fridge. Since you are not using it to make bread, your sourdough starter does not need to be activated or fed for it to work in this cookie recipe. Older discard will have a tangier, acidic flavor than freshly-fed sourdough starter. Both will work for this recipe, you’ll get a slightly different result but your cookies will still be delicious!
Cookie Ingredients
- Butter - imparts flavor, richness and tenderness to these cookies
- Pumpkin spice - a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and all-spice
- Granulated sugar - gives structure and adds a little bit of crispness to these cookies
- Brown sugar - adds a rich, molasses flavor and moisture
- Pumpkin puree - binds ingredients together, imparts a lovely chewiness and earthy flavor
- Vanilla - adds flavor
- Sourdough discard - adds moisture and a tangy flavor to the cookies
- All-purpose flour - the low protein content imparts a tender, chewy texture to these cookies
- Baking powder - leavens and tenderizes cookies
- Baking soda - helps with browning and leavening
- Salt - brings out the flavor of the remaining ingredients
- Chocolate chips - these cookies were developed using semi-sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips would taste just as delicious
- Pecans - adds texture and nuttiness to these cookies
Equipment
Step-by-step instructions
Time needed: 1 hour.
- Brown the butter
- Make cookie dough
- Add mix-ins
- Portion out cookie dough using a large cookie scoop
- Lightly flatten out the cookie dough
- Bake cookies at 375 F for 11 to 13 minutes
- Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes
Absolutely! You can make the cookie dough up to 1 week in advance. Store the cookie dough in the fridge before portioning them out.
Freezing Instructions: For even longer storage, portion out your cookie dough and place the balls on a small baking sheet (no need to space them out). Freeze the tray uncovered, for 1 hour, once completely frozen move the frozen cookie dough to a ziploc bag and store for up to 1 month. Bake frozen cookie dough at 375 F for 13 to 18 minutes.
These cookies last about 7 days stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
No, while most cookie recipes benefit from being chilled, like my Sourdough Oatmeal Cookies and Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies. However, these cookies don’t need to be chilled and can be baked straight after mixing.
Homemade pumpkin puree has a different moisture content than canned pumpkin puree. This could add too much water into your cookies and cause them to spread. It’s best to use canned pumpkin.
Absolutely! Simply use the same proportion of freshly fed sourdough starter in the recipe. Your starter won’t add a strong tangy flavor to your cookies, but will still work.
Sourdough Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 113 grams unsalted butter
- 3 grams cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
- 50 grams granulated sugar
- 100 grams brown sugar
- 75 grams pumpkin puree canned
- 7 grams vanilla
- 56 grams sourdough discard
- 160 grams all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Mix-ins
- 162 grams chocolate chips
- 82 grams pecans
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat oven to 375 F. Line two 18 by 13 with parchment paper, set aside.
- Brown butter: Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat the butter until bubbling subsides and the butter begins to smell nutty, you should see a few browned bits of milk solids on the bottom of the pan. Swirl the pan periodically to prevent milk solids from sticking to the bottom. Combine spices and browned butter in a large mixing bowl. Set aside until the butter has cooled slightly.
- Make cookie dough: Stir the brown sugar, granulated sugar, pumpkin puree, vanilla and sourdough discard into the browned butter mixture until no traces of discard remain. Fold flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the rest of the ingredients. Continue mixing until no traces of flour remain.
- Add mix-ins: Fold chocolate chips and pecans into the cookie dough.
- Portion out cookie dough: Using a 3-tablespoon cookie scoop, portion out cookie dough balls and place them on two parchment-lined baking sheets at least 2 inches apart.
- Bake: Lightly flatten the cookie dough using your fingers. Bake the cookies for 11 to 13 minutes or until the tops of the cookies look dry. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
- Enjoy and store: These cookies are best enjoyed once they have completely cooled. They are delicious warm but are even better the next day! Store any leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days.
Notes
Nutrition
lindacrampton7495 says
I like using pureed pumpkin in recipes, but I've never thought of adding sourdough discard to cookies. Your chocolate chip cookies sound and look delicious.
Make It Dough says
Thank you! Sourdough discard gives the adds a tang that compliments the earthy, sugary flavors in these cookies
shellteacup says
So glad I found your blog. I'm experimenting with sourdough at the moment.
Make It Dough says
Welcome! I'm so glad you're here. I'm @makeitdough on Instagram, if you have any questions at all feel free to ask me there!
juleebeans says
I love how you use the pumpkin puree as a substitute for eggs. I've been testing egg replacements and this is such a great idea. Thanks for sharing, your cookies look so yummy. <3
Make It Dough says
Thank you for such a nice comment! Pumpkin puree is a great substitute for eggs especially in these cookies. It actually makes the texture so much better.
Mercede says
I am so glad to find ur page and blog .ur recipes looks great about sourdough cookies .I am going to bake one kind of them eagerly🙏🙏🙏❤❤
Make It Dough says
Thank you! Glad you found some recipes you are excited about. Can't wait to hear what you think!
Tanvi says
If we don't have pumpkin puree, how many eggs would we need? And, my discard is whole wheat only. Would that affect the texture?
Make It Dough says
I'm not sure it could be directly substituted. I have recipe for softbaked chocolate chip cookies on the blog as well that you could try instead. There's only a small amount of starter used so your whole wheat one should be fine.
Stella Haendler says
Most delicious sourdough discard cookies! So glad I found your site 🙂
Make It Dough says
So glad you loved them!