Pumpkin Coffee Cake Cookies combine the best of two worlds: the soft, chewy goodness of pumpkin cookies and the irresistible crunch of a classic coffee cake streusel. These cookies are a perfect fall treat, bursting with warm, cozy spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. As the leaves turn and the air gets crisp, pumpkin-based desserts take center stage in kitchens everywhere, making these cookies an ideal seasonal indulgence. Whether you’re baking for a family gathering or simply craving something sweet, the comforting flavors of pumpkin and streusel make these cookies a must-have for autumn.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

These Pumpkin Coffee Cake Cookies are a true delight for the senses. The soft, moist pumpkin cookies have a melt-in-your-mouth texture, complemented by the crunchy, spiced streusel topping that adds a satisfying bite. The combination of sweet brown sugar, aromatic spices, and buttery richness makes each cookie a flavorful experience. To top it all off, the light vanilla glaze drizzled over the cookies adds a perfect touch of sweetness, tying all the flavors together beautifully. Whether you enjoy them with coffee or on their own, these cookies are sure to become a favorite.

Recipe Overview and Inspiration

This recipe offers a creative twist on traditional coffee cake by infusing it with beloved fall flavors. The pumpkin puree provides a rich, earthy sweetness, while the coffee cake streusel brings texture and spice. Using canned pumpkin makes the process much quicker and ensures consistency, especially when brands like Libby’s are used, known for their smooth texture. The combination of simple ingredients and easy steps makes this recipe accessible to both novice and experienced bakers. Perfect for a cozy fall afternoon, these cookies capture the essence of autumn in every bite.

Ingredients Breakdown

Streusel Ingredients Explained

Unsalted Butter: The unsalted butter is softened before mixing, ensuring it easily blends with the other ingredients to form a rich and crumbly streusel. Butter adds a luscious richness and a tender texture to the streusel, helping it achieve that perfect, buttery crunch when baked.
Brown Sugar: The molasses in brown sugar provides a deep, caramel-like sweetness that pairs beautifully with the pumpkin pie spice. Its slightly moist texture helps the streusel bind together, creating a deliciously crumbly topping for the cookies.
All-Purpose Flour: Flour acts as the foundation of the streusel, binding the butter and sugar together to form the classic crumbly texture. It also ensures the topping stays light and flaky while baking.
Pumpkin Pie Spice: This warming blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and sometimes ginger adds the signature fall flavor to the streusel, enhancing the richness of the cookies below and creating an inviting autumn aroma.
Salt: A small pinch of salt balances the sweetness from the brown sugar and enhances the overall flavor of the streusel, ensuring it’s not overly sweet and perfectly complements the cookie base.

Pumpkin Cookie Ingredients

Canned Pumpkin Puree: Pumpkin puree adds moisture, flavor, and color to the cookies. It’s crucial to dry the canned pumpkin thoroughly to avoid excess moisture, which can make the cookies too soft and dense. By pressing the pumpkin with paper towels, the excess liquid is removed, leaving behind concentrated pumpkin that gives the cookies their rich flavor and perfect texture.
All-Purpose Flour: Flour plays a critical role in providing the structure and stability for the cookies, ensuring they hold their shape while staying soft and fluffy. It balances the wet ingredients and gives the cookies their signature cakey texture.
Pumpkin Pie Spice: This blend of spices adds warmth and depth to the cookies, complementing the earthy pumpkin flavor. The combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves creates a delicious, comforting flavor that makes the cookies stand out as a quintessential fall dessert.
Baking Soda & Baking Powder: These leavening agents work together to provide the necessary lift to the cookies. Baking powder ensures the cookies rise and stay soft, while baking soda helps create a tender crumb, ensuring the cookies are light and fluffy rather than dense.
Unsalted Butter: Softened butter provides the cookies with a rich, buttery base, helping to keep them moist and tender. Its fat content contributes to the soft texture of the cookies, making them melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
Brown Sugar: Brown sugar not only adds sweetness but also deepens the flavor of the cookies with its molasses notes. Its moisture content helps keep the cookies soft and chewy.
Egg Yolks: Using only egg yolks adds extra richness to the cookies, creating a denser and more tender texture. The yolks also help bind the ingredients together.
Vanilla Extract: This enhances the natural flavors of the cookies, adding a sweet, aromatic depth that complements both the pumpkin and the spices.

Vanilla Glaze Ingredients

Powdered Sugar: This finely ground sugar forms the base of the glaze, creating a smooth and creamy texture that drapes beautifully over the cookies. Powdered sugar dissolves easily in liquid, allowing the glaze to develop the perfect consistency for drizzling.
Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract adds a warm, aromatic note to the glaze, enhancing the flavor of both the cookies and the streusel. Its sweet, floral undertones perfectly balance the spices in the cookies and bring a delightful depth to the glaze.
Whole Milk: The milk serves as the liquid component of the glaze, thinning it out to a drizzle-able consistency. The richness of whole milk ensures the glaze remains creamy, while its slight sweetness adds to the overall flavor. You can adjust the amount of milk to achieve your desired glaze texture, from thick and creamy to light and drizzly.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Making the Streusel

To make the streusel topping, start by combining the softened unsalted butter and brown sugar in a medium-sized bowl. Using an electric mixer on high speed, mix the two until they are fully combined, forming a light, cohesive mixture. This step ensures that the butter evenly coats the sugar for a more consistent streusel.

Next, add the all-purpose flour, pumpkin pie spice, and a pinch of salt. Mix these dry ingredients into the butter and sugar mixture, either with your mixer on a low speed or by hand. The goal is to create large, crumbly pieces that resemble coarse sand or small pebbles. If the mixture is too fine or too sticky, use your hands to lightly press and form larger crumbs.

Chilling the streusel in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes is crucial—it helps the butter firm up, ensuring that the streusel retains its crumbly texture when baked and doesn’t melt into the cookies.

Preparing the Pumpkin Cookies

Preheat and Line Baking Sheets:
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). While the oven heats, line two baking sheets with parchment paper. This step prevents the cookies from sticking to the pan and ensures even baking. Prepping the sheets in advance will save time once the dough is ready.

Drying the Pumpkin:
Canned pumpkin puree can be quite watery, which can lead to overly soft or doughy cookies if not addressed. To dry the pumpkin, spread ½ cup of pumpkin puree on a plate or paper towel. Press gently with another paper towel to absorb excess moisture. Repeat this process 3-4 times until the pumpkin reduces to approximately ¼ cup. The puree should feel thick and dry to the touch, with minimal moisture left. Properly drying the pumpkin ensures the cookies have the ideal texture, balancing moisture without becoming overly soft.

Mixing Dry Ingredients:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Combining these dry ingredients separately allows the leavening agents (baking soda and powder) to evenly distribute throughout the flour. This step ensures the cookies rise consistently and have a uniform texture. The pumpkin pie spice, a blend of warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, is also better incorporated this way, ensuring every bite is flavorful.

Creaming Butter and Sugar:
In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the softened butter and brown sugar together. Using high speed, beat for 1-2 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. This step is key because it incorporates air into the butter, which helps the cookies rise and achieve a tender, soft texture. The brown sugar also provides moisture and depth of flavor, with hints of molasses.

Incorporating Egg Yolks and Vanilla:
Once the butter and sugar are well creamed, add the two egg yolks and vanilla extract. Egg yolks add richness and contribute to the tender texture of the cookies. Beat on medium speed for another 1-2 minutes until the mixture becomes pale and fluffy, ensuring the yolks are fully incorporated. The vanilla extract enhances the flavor profile, giving the cookies a sweet and aromatic undertone.

Adding Pumpkin Puree:
Next, gently add the dried pumpkin puree to the butter mixture. Mix on medium-low speed until just combined. Avoid overmixing, as the pumpkin can add extra moisture, and excessive mixing may result in a dense or gummy cookie.

Combining Wet and Dry Ingredients:
Gradually add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet mixture, mixing on low speed. Stir until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Overmixing at this stage can result in tough cookies, so stop as soon as the flour disappears into the dough. The dough should be slightly sticky but manageable.

Shaping and Baking

Using a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop or a spoon, scoop out dough balls and roll them gently between your hands to form even-sized balls. Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart to allow room for spreading during baking.

With the palm of your hand, gently press down on each dough ball to create a slight indentation. This will help hold the streusel in place. Measure out a heaping tablespoon of the chilled streusel topping and place it on top of each cookie, pressing it down gently into the indent.

Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes or until the edges are set and the streusel has a light golden color. Avoid overbaking to maintain the soft texture of the cookies. If desired, use a round cookie cutter to scoot around the warm cookies to create a perfectly circular shape while they are still soft.

Cooling and Glazing

Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Cooling fully is essential before glazing, as a hot cookie will cause the glaze to melt. Once cooled, drizzle the vanilla glaze over the cookies for the perfect finishing touch.

Tips and Troubleshooting

How to Properly Dry Canned Pumpkin

Drying canned pumpkin is crucial to avoid excess moisture, which can make your cookies too soft or soggy. Start by spreading ½ cup of pumpkin puree onto a plate lined with a paper towel. Press gently with another paper towel to absorb the moisture. Repeat this process three or four more times, replacing the paper towels as needed, until the puree reduces to approximately ¼ cup. The pumpkin should feel thick and not release much moisture when pressed. Properly dried pumpkin ensures the cookies maintain the perfect balance of moisture, creating a soft but structured texture.

What to Do if the Dough Is Too Sticky

If your cookie dough feels too sticky to handle, there are two simple solutions. First, try chilling the dough in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes to firm it up. If the dough remains too sticky after chilling, sprinkle in a small amount of additional flour, a tablespoon at a time, to improve the texture.

How to Perfect the Streusel

For the ideal crumbly streusel texture, ensure your butter is softened but not melted. Properly combine the butter, sugar, and flour until large crumbs form. If the streusel feels too dry, add a touch more butter. Chilling the streusel for 10 minutes before use helps it retain its crumbly structure during baking.

Serving and Storing Pumpkin Coffee Cake Cookies

Serving Suggestions

Pumpkin Coffee Cake Cookies are the perfect treat to pair with a warm cup of coffee, tea, or even hot apple cider. Their spiced, rich flavor makes them an excellent dessert for fall gatherings, whether you’re hosting a brunch, potluck, or cozy family dinner. These cookies are best enjoyed fresh from the oven when the streusel is still crunchy, providing a delightful contrast to the soft, pumpkin-flavored cookie. For the ultimate experience, serve them slightly warm with a light drizzle of vanilla glaze, making each bite a deliciously sweet and comforting indulgence.

Storing the Cookies

To store your Pumpkin Coffee Cake Cookies, place them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. This will help maintain their freshness and keep the cookies soft while preserving the crunch of the streusel topping. If you’d like to store them for longer, you can freeze the cookies (without glaze) in a single layer on a baking sheet, then transfer them to a freezer-safe bag or container. To serve, thaw the cookies at room temperature for a few hours, then drizzle with fresh vanilla glaze before serving to bring them back to their full deliciousness.

FAQs Section

Can I use homemade pumpkin puree instead of canned?

Yes, you can use homemade pumpkin puree in place of canned, but be aware that homemade puree tends to be much wetter. To prevent overly moist cookies, you’ll need to dry the homemade puree even more thoroughly than canned. Follow the same process of pressing the puree with paper towels until most of the moisture is removed. Aim for a thick consistency similar to canned pumpkin to ensure the cookies bake properly without becoming too soft.

Can I make these cookies ahead of time?

Absolutely! You can prepare the dough ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours before baking. Alternatively, you can bake the cookies in advance and store them in an airtight container. If preparing ahead for a special occasion, consider freezing the unglazed cookies. When you’re ready to serve, thaw the cookies, drizzle with fresh glaze, and enjoy.

How do I know when the cookies are done baking?

The cookies are done when the edges are slightly golden, but the centers should still be soft. They may appear slightly underbaked in the middle, but they will firm up as they cool. This ensures a soft, chewy texture with the perfect contrast from the crunchy streusel topping.

What if my streusel isn’t crumbly?

If your streusel isn’t crumbly enough, double-check the consistency of your butter. Softened butter works best—if it’s too melted, the streusel will become dense instead of light and crumbly. Also, ensure you’ve used enough flour to bind the mixture. If the streusel still feels too soft, chill it for a few minutes to help it hold its shape.

Can I substitute other spices for pumpkin pie spice?

Yes! If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice on hand, you can create your own blend using spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. These spices replicate the warm, autumnal flavor of pumpkin pie spice, and you can adjust the amounts to suit your personal preference. A mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves works particularly well.