Snickerdoodles get a twist with a little pumpkin spice: Get the Thanksgiving recipe

Let's be real, one of the best cookies is the snickerdoodle. Add some pumpkin spice and snickerdoodles reach a whole new level of flavor.

Before we get started on this recipe, let’s talk spices.

PUMPKIN SPICE TIPS

One of the best things to do before you get into your holiday baking is to check the expiration dates of all your spices, baking soda, baking powder, etc. A surefire way for a cookie disaster is working with the same thing you bought too many years ago. While old spices won’t hurt you, they lose their punch, and in a recipe like this, you want that fresh flavor.

Try this: Pumpkin spice overnight oats are the tasty autumn breakfast you've been looking for

Since pumpkin spice mix is generally used for the holidays and not much else, it makes an easy gift idea. If you want the freshest blend possible, we recommend grinding your pumpkin spice mix yourself.

Pumpkin spice snickerdoodles recipe

Yields 3 dozen cookies

Snickerdoodle dough

• 1-1/2 cups sugar

• 1 cup butter, softened

• 2 eggs

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 3/4 cup bread flour

• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/4 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt

Pumpkin spice dough

• 3 tablespoons maple syrup

• 1/4 cup bread flour

• 2 tablespoons pumpkin spice

Pumpkin spice

• 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

• 2 teaspoons ground ginger

• 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

Exterior dusting

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice

Cream butter and sugar until smooth, roughly 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, beat on low until well mixed. Add dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt) and mix at low speed until well combined.

I like using the paddle attachment if you’re using a stand mixer, as it’s an easy way to make sure the dough isn’t overworked.

Split dough in half, placing half in a bowl and set aside. In the half remaining in your mixer, add maple syrup, additional flour and pumpkin spice mix. If you really love pumpkin spice, you can also search for pumpkin spice-flavored maple syrup to give it an extra kick! Mix on low until just combined.

Chill both doughs for 30 minutes. Once chilled, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Then, roll dough out onto wax paper in long rectangles, about 3 inches wide. Cut in half. Roll into thin logs. Repeat steps for both doughs.

Then, taking thin logs from each dough, cut into 3-inch pieces, twisting and rolling together into a ball.

Roll just enough balls for the baking sheets in the sugar mixture and place two inches apart. If the balls sit too long with the sugar mixture, it just gets absorbed into the cookie dough itself.

Bake at 400 for 8 minutes, rotating pan halfway through for even baking. Cool on pan for 2 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

If you want to share these pumpkin spice snickerdoodles, the cookies should fit perfectly into a wide-mouth mason jar.

Check out these recipes to up your kitchen game: 

• Hard-boiled eggs:  Two easy ways to hard boil eggs to perfection

• Creamy risotto: Pearl couscous is the trick ingredient for creamy risotto

• Fried rice: The secret to making great fried rice at home

• Jambalaya: How to make Cheesecake Factory's Cajun jambalaya pasta at home

• Mustard makes it better: How to use mustard not as a condiment but as an ingredient

• Pasta salad: Perfect every time: The only pasta salad recipe you'll ever need

• Cranberry sauce: Three cranberry sauce recipes you need to try

• Sugar cookies: 'The best sugar cookie I've ever baked.' Here's the recipe.

• Kale can be tough: Raw kale can be tough. Here's how salt can help

This article originally appeared on Grateful: Snickerdoodles get a twist with a little pumpkin spice in this recipe