Description
These soft pumpkin sugar cookies with pumpkin spice buttercream are a fall twist on my classic cut-out sugar cookies. Refrigerating the rolled-out dough in step 4 is imperative. See step 10 for exactly how I decorated the pictured cookies. Instead of the buttercream, try decorating with royal icing, easy cookie icing, or the brown butter icing from these pecan sugar cookies.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed for rolling and work surface
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons store-bought or homemade pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 6 Tbsp (86g) canned pumpkin puree, moisture blotted until reduced to 1/4 cup (60g)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Spiced Buttercream
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 cups (480g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30g/ml) heavy cream, half-and-half, or whole milk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- optional: gel food coloring, for tinting
Instructions
- Make the cookies: In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until the mixture is light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk, vanilla, and blotted pumpkin and beat on medium-high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. The dough should be soft. If it seems too soft and sticky for rolling, beat in 1 more Tablespoon of flour.
- Divide the dough in half. Place each portion on a piece of lightly floured parchment paper or a lightly floured silicone baking mat. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use a bit more flour if the dough seems too sticky. The rolled-out dough can be any shape, as long as it is evenly 1/4 inch thick.
- Lightly dust one of the rolled-out dough portions with flour. (This prevents sticking.) Place the second rolled-out dough portion, still on the silicone baking mat or parchment paper, on top of the first. Cover the dough tightly and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Carefully remove the top piece of dough from the refrigerator. If it’s sticking to the bottom, run your hand under it to help remove it. Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes. Gather the scraps, reroll, and continue cutting until all the dough is used. (Note: It doesn’t seem like a lot of dough, but you get a lot of cookies from the dough scraps you reroll.) Repeat with the second piece of dough. Arrange the cookies 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 11–13 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are very lightly browned and set. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the baking sheets halfway through bake time. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before decorating.
- Make the buttercream: With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream (or half-and-half or milk), vanilla extract, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to medium-high speed and beat for 2 full minutes.
- Decorate the cookies (see next step for how I decorated the pictured cookies): Tint the buttercream with gel food coloring, or leave it white. You can spread it on with a knife or icing spatula. To pipe the frosting, fit a piping bag with a piping tip, and use a coupler if you plan to switch tips.
- For the cookies pictured: Divide the prepared frosting between two bowls. Tint one portion orange and leave the other white; you can also set aside a small amount to tint brown or green for the pumpkin stems. Using a Wilton 4B piping tip, pipe curved lines over each pumpkin-shaped cookie to create the ridged texture shown in the photo. I used a Wilton 21 piping tip with brown frosting for the stems.
- Cover and store decorated cookies at room temperature for 1 day, or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Frosting “soft-sets” on the cookies after a few hours, meaning it will slightly dry on top.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Undecorated pumpkin sugar cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature. You can also freeze the cookie dough (before rolling it out) for up to 3 months. Prepare the dough through step 2, divide in half, flatten each half into a disc (like we do with pie crust), wrap each disc in plastic wrap, place both wrapped discs in a freezer-safe container, and freeze. Thaw the wrapped discs in the refrigerator overnight, then bring to room temperature for about 1 hour. Roll out the dough as directed in step 3, then chill the rolled-out dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour before cutting into shapes and baking.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Food Scale | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Rolling Pin | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack | Gel Food Coloring | Piping Bags (Reusable or Disposable) | Wilton 4B Piping Tip | Wilton 21 Piping Tip | Couplers
- Pumpkin: Measure the pumpkin before blotting it. With paper towels, blot as much of the moisture out of the pumpkin puree as you can before using in this dough. See photo in the post for a visual. Less moisture is a good thing here! After blotting excess liquid, you should have about 1/4 cup (60g) to use in the recipe. Use pure pumpkin (such as canned pure pumpkin), not “pumpkin pie filling.”
- Icing: Instead of the buttercream, try decorating these cookies with royal icing, easy cookie icing, or the brown butter icing from these pecan sugar cookies.
- Can I Double the Recipe? Yes. Double all of the ingredients and divide the dough into 3 or 4 portions in step 3.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.