Sourdough Pumpkin Snickerdoodles (with cheesecake filling)
These Sourdough Pumpkin Snickerdoodles (with cheesecake filling) are going to be you favorite fall cookie, hands down. Soft and spiced pumpkin snickerdoodle cookie dough filled with cheesecake center, need I say more? Rolled in a spiced sugar coating and baked to perfection, think pumpkin cheesecake meets classic snickerdoodle. They’re festive, cozy, and completely irresistible.
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl or stand mixer bowl - for mixing your cookie dough.
- Electric mixer (stand or hand-held) - for combining dough.
- Spatula - for scraping down bowl.
- Parchment paper or silicone mats - to line cookie sheet to avoid burning.
- Baking sheets - to bake cookies.
- 2-ounce (approximately 2 tablespoons) cookie scoop - for scooping large cookies.
- Smaller 2 teaspoon cookie scoop (optional) - for scooping the cheesecake filling.
- Wire cooling rack - for cooling cookies.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 3 ½ cups (420g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp ground cardamom
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 ½ Tbsp (12g) cornstarch
Wet Ingredients:
- ¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ¼ cups (250g) white sugar
- ⅔ cup (135g) pumpkin purée
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120g) sourdough discard, unfed
Sugar Coating:
- ½ cup (100g) white sugar
- 1 ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp ground cardamom
Cheesecake Filling:
- 6 oz (170g) cream cheese softened
- ⅓ cup (65g) white sugar
- 1 Tbsp (8g) flour
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
Instructions
Step 1: Make the Cheesecake Filling
- Make sure your cream cheese is room temperature. Transfer the cream cheese to a bowl, and add the white sugar, flour, vanilla, and salt.6 oz (170g) cream cheese, ⅓ cup (65g) white sugar, 1 Tbsp (8g) flour, ½ tsp vanilla extract, 1/8 tsp sea salt
- Cream together the ingredients with a hand mixer on high until smooth and creamy.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment, and scoop 2 teaspoon scoops of the cheesecake filling onto the parchment. Freeze the cheesecake filling balls for later. The colder these are, the easier the cookies will be to shape.
Step 2: Make the Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Dough
- Make sure your butter has reached room temperature. Add your butter and white sugar to a bowl and cream for 2 minutes on high until pale and creamy.¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened, 1 ¼ cups (250g) white sugar
- Blot any excess water from your pumpkin puree.
- Add in your pumpkin puree, egg, sourdough discard, and vanilla. Mix with your hand beaters or stand mixer on medium speed until well incorporated.⅔ cup (135g) pumpkin purée, 1 egg, 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract, ½ cup (120g) sourdough discard, unfed
- Whisk together your flour, cream of tartar, cornstarch, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom.3 ½ cups (420g) all-purpose flour, 2 tsp cream of tartar, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp ground ginger, ¼ tsp ground nutmeg, ⅛ tsp ground cardamom, ¾ tsp salt, 1 ½ Tbsp (12g) cornstarch
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix gently until the dough is mixed and no streaks remain. Be careful not to overmix the dough at this point, or the cookies will be tough.
- Scoop your cookies into 1/4 cup balls and transfer to a parchment lined cookie sheet. Chill the dough at least two hours, optimally overnight so they're easiest to shape. If the dough is too wet to scoop, chill for 20-30 minutes first then scoop and chill.
Step 3: Shape the Cookies
- Before you shape your cookies, mix the sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom in a shallow bowl for the sugar coating.½ cup (100g) white sugar, 1 ¼ tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp ground ginger, ¼ tsp ground nutmeg, ⅛ tsp ground cardamom
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Gather your baking sheets with the cream cheese filling and the pre-scooped cookie dough.
- Using your thumbs, shape the cookie dough balls into a bowl shape. Place a cream cheese filling ball into the bowl of cookie dough.
- Place a cream cheese filling ball into the bowl of cookie dough.
- Close the bowl with your thumbs so that the cookie dough covers the cream cheese filling.
- Roll your cookie dough ball in the sugar coating until it's completely coated in the spiced sugar.
- Repeat this step with all of the remaining cookies. See below for photos showing the steps.
- Note: When you scoop the dough and cheesecake filling, you should have 13 cookies and 12 centers. I usually hold back this extra cookie dough ball to use to cover any holes on my cookies if I need to. The less cracks that you have in the cookies, the more the center will hold inside the cookie.
- Place your filled cookies on the 2 parchment lined cookie sheets, I like to do 6 cookies per sheet in 2 by 3 rows. These are larger cookies, so make sure they have plenty of space on the pan!
Step 4: Bake the Cookies
- Transfer the cookie sheets to center racks of the oven. Bake the cookies for 18-20 minutes, checking doneness at this time. If you want a flatter cookie, remove the pans halfway through baking and smack them on the counter before returning to the oven to continue baking. I usually need about 22-24 minutes to get these cookies fully baked, you want the edges to be set and the center to be set (not doughy) but still shiny.
- Remove the cookies from the oven when done baking, and sprinkle with more of the spiced sugar topping. If you want a flatter cookie, you can gently flatten the tops with a flat spatula, just be careful not to squeeze out the cream cheese filling. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack to finish setting for about 30 minutes.
- Enjoy!