In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar.
Add pumpkin puree, egg yolk, molasses, and vanilla. Mix on low until well combined. Scraping down the edges every so often.
Add flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Mix on low until all combined and you can no longer see the flour. Dough will be sticky. Do not overmix.
Put the bowl with the cookie dough into the refrigerator and let it chill for 30-40 minutes. This will set the dough and make it easier to scoop.
While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl mix together the granulated sugar and ground cinnamon to create the sugar topping for the cookies.
Once the dough is cooled, using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out your cookies. You do not need to roll them with your hands. Gently roll the cookie dough in the cinnamon sugar, coating the entire cookie scoop.
Place cookie dough balls on your baking sheet about 3 inches apart because they will spread.
Between baking I put the raw cookie dough balls back in the refrigerator to stay cool while eachbatch bakes.
Bake in the preheated oven for 9-10 minutes. You will know that your cookies are ready when the edges are baked and the tops of the cookies are starting to crack slightly. The center of the cookie will also look a little puffy but will fall slightly once you remove them from the oven.
This creates that classic snickerdoodle look. Do not overbake! You want them to be slightly undone.
Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 2 minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack. I like to also add a dusting of the cinnamon sugar to the tops of the baked cookies as soon as they come out of the oven.