If you love cozy fall flavors, these soft sourdough pumpkin spice cookies need to be on your bake list. With a soft, cakey texture, these sourdough pumpkin cookies will warm your heart with their gentle kiss of pumpkin, warming spices and sweet maple glaze. Perfect to gift and share, or enjoy in those special moments with your favorite coffee.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe!
- Fermented Cookie Dough – this sourdough pumpkin cookie recipe allows you to ferment the dough in the refrigerator for up to 2 days which makes them the perfect prep-ahead cookie.
- 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!).
- Pumpkin Puree – I love making a batch of these cookies, along with a batch of sourdough pumpkin waffles. Together they use a whole can of pumpkin puree.
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.
- Sugar – I’ve used granulated sugar and light brown sugar in the cookies themselves and then powdered sugar to create the glaze.
- Egg
- Sourdough Discard – You can use sourdough discard or active starter, it won’t make too much different to the end result. Just note that older, more acidic discard will give a strong flavor to the cookies than using active starter.
- 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 Salt
- Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger and Cloves – you can use a teaspoon or two of pumpkin pie spice if you prefer.
- Maple Syrup – This is mixed with powdered sugar to create the glaze poured over the top of the cookies.
How To Make Soft Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cookies
When I was testing this recipe, I made the cookies both with a stand mixer and by hand with a whisk. Honestly, there was no noticeable difference in the texture or flavor, so I decided there was no point making things more complicated than they needed to be. A bowl and a whisk are all you need for this one.
In a large bowl, start by whisking together the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and an egg until fairly smooth. Then add the sourdough starter, pumpkin and vanilla, whisking until the batter is light and fluffy.
On top of the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients, gently folding together with a spatula to form the cookie dough. The mixture might feel a bit wet at this stage but don’t panic. Pop the dough into the fridge, covered with plastic wrap, for a minimum of 2 hours to firm up.
Kate’s Pro Tip
Chill The Cookie Dough
These sourdough discard pumpkin spice cookies work best when you chill the cookie dough in the fridge for at least a few hours. It firms it up and makes it much easier to scoop.
The dough will be fine in the fridge, covered, 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.
Once the dough has firmed up, use a cookie scoop to form balls of dough (I’ve used a 2 tablespoon scoop) and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper around an inch apart. These cookies don’t spread too much, particularly because the dough is cold.
Bake for around 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. The cookies will still be soft when you remove them from the oven. They will firm up slightly as you let them cool on the tray. After 10 minutes, transfer them to a wire rack to cool fully.
While the cookies are cooling, add powdered sugar, maple syrup, softened butter, vanilla extract and cinnamon to a small bowl and whisk together until a thick glaze is formed. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled pumpkin spice cookies and allow it to set for around 30 minutes 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). I do recommend not glazing them if you’re going to store them as the moisture can seep out of the glaze making it sticky.
They freeze really well. I prefer to freeze them un glazed and then add the glze once they have thawed. You can also freeze the balls of cookie dough and bake them when you need them.
Want More Sourdough Cookie Recipes?
Soft Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cookies
Equipment
- Cookie Scoop
- 2 Cookie Trays (lined with parchment paper)
Ingredients
Wet 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
Dry Ingredients
- 400 g All-purpose Flour
- 4 g Baking Soda
- 3 g Cinnamon, (1 tsp)
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- 2 g Ginger, (1 tsp)
- 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
- ½ tsp Cinnamon
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together butter, white and brown sugars and egg.
- Now add your sourdough starter, pumpkin puree and vanilla to the butter mixture and whisk through until really well combined.
- On top of the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients. Stir to create the cookie dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to firm up.
- Once the dough has firmed up, preheat your oven to 190ºC (375ºF) and line 2 cookie trays with parchment paper.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop out balls of cookie dough onto a cookie tray leaving around an inch in between each cookie.
- 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 until a thick glaze forms. Drizzle over the cool cookies.
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.