The Best Fall Dessert at Trader Joe's Comes Pre-Packaged

As a boxed mix enthusiast, I grew up watching my mom get creative with store-bought mixes to make them taste homemade. She’d top brownie mixes with cream cheese for cheesecake brownies or serve boxed pumpkin bread on a beautifully arranged platter during the holidays. Now, I carry on the tradition. Trader Joe’s has always offered some of the best, easy-to-make, one-bowl mixes, and this year, I've found my favorite—the one I can't live without.

What made me stockpile three boxes? Trader Joe’s Pumpkin & Spice Snickerdoodle Cookie Mix, which tastes like it’s straight out of a high-end bakery. These cookies are packed with warm spices—cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and cloves—and the dehydrated pumpkin adds a deliciously rich layer of flavor.

Trader Joe’s Pumpkin & Spice Snickerdoodle Cookie Mix is the Ultimate Fall Dessert

“These are hands down the best store-bought cookies!” raved one fan on Reddit. “My kids baked them last week, and we were all blown away. They’re snickerdoodle experts, and these were phenomenal. We followed the recipe to the letter, and they turned out perfectly chewy, moist, bursting with flavor, and just the right amount of sweetness with a touch of pumpkin. Highly recommend!”

These snickerdoodles lean more into spice than pumpkin, which seems to be the favorite among bakers. One user even posted a picture of her batch and said, 'If you're undecided about these—just get them! They're delicious with a crispy edge and a perfectly soft center. Not too much pumpkin flavor at all.'

How to Make Trader Joe’s Pumpkin & Spice Snickerdoodle Cookies

The best part? These cookies were a breeze to make. Everything came together in one bowl in just a few minutes, and I didn’t even need the electric mixer the box recommended—just a little muscle. I mixed softened butter with an egg, added the pre-measured dry mix, and splashed in a bit of milk to bring it all together into a soft dough.

I used a 1-ounce cookie scoop to form dough balls about 2 tablespoons each, as the instructions recommend. I found it easier to drop the scoop directly into the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat, then place the dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Rolling the dough by hand can be tricky since it tends to stick, but dropping it into the coating first keeps things much cleaner.

The full 12-minute bake time at 375°F results in a cookie that’s almost too crisp, based on feedback from Reddit users and my own testing. One user said, 'The batch baked for 12 minutes got too crunchy once it cooled, but the second batch we pulled out at 9 minutes was perfect—crispy edges with a soft center.'

Another Reddit user shared a useful tip: 'You can’t rely on the 'browning' since the cookies are coated heavily in cinnamon. It’s better to pull them out while they’re still soft, then let them crisp up as they cool. Try checking them at 9 minutes to get a chewier middle with crisp edges and a nice golden base.'

Feeling creative? Try mixing things up with this dough. I spread half of it into a quarter-sheet tray lined with parchment, sprinkled it with cinnamon-sugar, and topped it with marshmallows. The result was a delicious twist on the snickerdoodle—a chewy cookie bar with a toasty, gooey topping. Next time, I’ll add chocolate chunks for a s’mores-inspired treat.