Our Test Kitchen Experts Say These Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies Capture the Essence of Fall

These pumpkin cheesecake cookies are described as 'fall in a bite' by culinary expert and test kitchen pro Linda Brewer. She suggests pairing them with a cozy chai latte for the ultimate autumn experience.

Golden-brown pumpkin cheesecake cookies, perfectly baked to perfection.

Dotdash Meredith Food Studios

Ingredients for Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies

All the ingredients for making pumpkin cheesecake cookies neatly arranged on a kitchen counter.

Dotdash Meredith Food Studios

Here’s everything you’ll need to make these pumpkin cheesecake cookies:

Cream cheese: This recipe starts with a package of cream cheese.
Sugars: These sweet cookies call for powdered sugar, white sugar, and brown sugar.
Vanilla: Vanilla extract takes the flavor up a notch.
Pumpkin: You’ll need ½ cup of canned pumpkin.
Flour: All-purpose flour gives the cookie dough structure.
Pumpkin pie spice: Use store-bought pumpkin pie spice or make your own spice blend.
Baking soda: Baking soda acts as a leavener, which means it helps the cookies rise.
Salt: A pinch of salt enhances the overall flavor.
Butter: Butter adds richness and flavor.

Test Kitchen Tips

This recipe was crafted in our test kitchen. Here are some expert tips and tricks to help make your baking experience smoother and more enjoyable:

Pressing the pumpkin is the key here. This will make the dough easier to work with and prevent your cookies from spreading too much in the oven.
It is also important to have your cream cheese filling mounds frozen solid when forming the cookies. This is just so your cookies are easy to form.

Baking Tip

When freezing and handling the cream cheese mounds, remember these helpful test kitchen tips:

Before removing the cream cheese from the freezer, portion out your dough in step 11.
Wrap your dough around the cream cheese before coating it in sugar.
If the cream cheese starts to soften, return it to the freezer right away.
Once the dough is wrapped around the cream cheese, no need to worry about it thawing before baking the cookies.