Pumpkin Cookie Dough

This edible Pumpkin Cookie Dough combines pumpkin puree, fall spices, and white chocolate chips into a totally safe-to-eat cookie dough. It's easy to make in just a few minutes and will make you want to grab a spoon and dig in!

Jump to:

• 🗒 Ingredients
• 🥣 How to heat treat raw flour
• 🎃 How to make pumpkin cookie dough
• ⏲️ How to store
• 🎉 Variations on recipe
• 👩‍🍳 Can I use alternative flours?
• 🍪 More cookie dough recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

I can't think of many desserts that haven't received the pumpkin treatment these days and for good reason. Pumpkin spice anything is delicious!

Pumpkin cookies are still one of our favorite fall treats (like these pumpkin cheesecake cookies and these pumpkin linzer cookies!), which is why we decided it was time for a edible pumpkin cookie dough recipe.

This cookie dough is packed with pumpkin puree, seasonal spices, and white chocolate chips and is both indulgent and totally safe to eat!

🗒 Ingredients

The ingredients in this pumpkin cookie dough are very similar to the ingredients you'd find in pumpkin cookies. But there are no eggs!

Here's everything you need (be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):

• Unsalted butter
• Light brown sugar: can substitute with dark brown if necessary
• Pumpkin puree
• Vanilla extract
• All-purpose flour: be sure to see notes below on how to heat treat for safety
• Ground cinnamon
• Ground ginger
• Ground nutmeg
• Ground cloves
• Salt
• White chocolate chips: can substitute with semisweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips if preferred.

Most of my cookie dough recipes call for milk, but the pumpkin puree adds enough moisture in this recipe, so you won't need any.

🥣 How to heat treat raw flour

I call this a no-bake recipe because it's a raw cookie dough. However, I do highly recommend you heat treat your flour or buy heat treated flour to use in the cookie dough.

A lot of people don't know that it's actually the flour and not the raw eggs that is often the cause of foodborne illness in raw cookie dough.

Raw flour can have bacteria in it that can lead to illnesses like E. coli (source). To ensure your raw cookie dough is safe to eat, you should always bake your flour before using it.

Luckily, making flour safe to eat raw is easy. And if you prefer not to do it, you can actually purchase flour that's already been heat treated.

🎃 How to make pumpkin cookie dough

Making pumpkin cookie dough is just like making pumpkin cookies. But much easier because after you make the cookie dough, you're done!

Just cream butter and brown sugar on medium speed in the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer. Mix it until it's light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.

Add the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract to the mixture and blend until combined.

And add the flour, along with the ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.

Blend until everything is just combined.

If you find your cookie dough a little too stiff, you can add a tiny bit more pumpkin puree or a little bit of milk.

And fold in the white chocolate chips.

That's it! Your edible pumpkin cookie dough is ready to be dug into. Just like that!

There's something so "naughty" about eating raw cookie dough that makes it so much fun. But since this one is totally safe to eat, you don't have to worry!

It's packed with the perfect amount of fall spices and tastes just like your favorite pumpkin cookie... But even better because you can eat it with a spoon!

This pumpkin cookie dough is the perfect treat to bring to a party (you can serve it in little individual cups) or as a surprise after school snack for kids.

Or just grab a bowl of it and a spoon while you're sitting on the couch watching a movie.

⏲️ How to store

Since this recipe makes a big batch of cookie dough, you'll likely want to store some leftovers.

Just keep it in an airtight container in the fridge and it should stay fresh for about 5-7 days.

You can eat it chilled (it's really good this way!) or let it come to room temperature a bit before enjoying.

🎉 Variations on recipe

There are so many things you can add to this cookie dough recipe to suit it more to your tastes! Here are some ideas:

• Instead of white chocolate chips, consider using semisweet or dark chocolate chips. You can even use cinnamon chips, butterscotch chips, or peanut butter chips if you prefer.

• Add nuts for a little bit of crunch. I especially recommend pecans, walnuts, or pistachios. You can also add pumpkin seeds.

• Add toffee bits for yummy complementary flavors.

• Add festive sprinkles for an even more fun look.

• Try crushing gingersnap cookies to add.

• Add dried cranberries or other seasonal dried fruit of your choice.

• Add mini marshmallows.

👩‍🍳 Can I use alternative flours?

If you don't like all-purpose flour, you can certainly experiment with alternatives in this edible cookie dough! But you should note that all flours taste a bit different and behave differently and you may need to adjust the other ingredients (specifically the amount of pumpkin puree) in the recipe.

Here are some thoughts on a few alternatives:

• Almond flour: Will add a nutty flavor. You'll likely need a little less (or a little more pumpkin).

• Oat flour: May make the dough a bit chewier. You may need to add a bit more pumpkin puree.

• Coconut flour: Will add a coconut flavor, which could be delicious. You'll want to start off with less coconut flour since it absorbs liquid more than all-purpose. If you're interested in this, you can try my coconut cookie dough recipe.

• Whole wheat flour: Will give the cookie dough more of a whole grain flavor. I'd start off with a little less flour.

I love eating edible cookie dough as is, but it's also awesome to turn it into cookie bars, ice cream, s'mores, and more!

This sweet treat recipe is going to become a staple in my fall baking, er, no-baking. I'll be choosing it even over actual pumpkin cookies!

📖 Recipe