Say hello to fall baking with these easy and delicious frosted pumpkin cookies. Soft pumpkin cookies flavored with cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice smothered in a tangy cream cheese icing. If you can’t decide between a cake and a cookie, these are made for you!
Ingredients for Frosted Pumpkin Cookies
Pumpkin Cookies
- Unsalted butter – Room temperature for easy creaming.
- Brown sugar – Light brown sugar, packed.
- Granulated sugar – For additional sweetness.
- Egg – Large egg, room temperature.
- Vanilla extract – Pure vanilla extract adds great flavor to the cookies.
- Pumpkin puree – Be sure it is pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling. The only ingredient should be pumpkin. Pumpkin puree will give the cookies great pumpkin flavor and also add moisture.
- All-purpose flour – To accurately measure, fluff the flour before scooping and level the measuring cups.
- Baking soda + baking powder – Leavening agents to help the cookies puff up and spread.
- Salt – Helps bring out the flavor in the cookies and provides some contrast to the sweetness.
- Cinnamon + pumpkin pie spice – Warm spices that give the cookies that classic pumpkin spice flavor. No pumpkin pie spice? No problem! Check out my blog post on how to make it yourself!
Cream Cheese Icing
- Unsalted butter – Room temperature for easy creaming.
- Cream cheese – Also room temperature so it blends well with the butter.
- Powdered sugar – Also known as confectioners’ sugar or icing sugar. Powdered sugar adds sweetness to the frosting.
- Salt – A pinch of salt balances out the sweetness of the frosting.
- Vanilla extract – Pure vanilla extract adds amazing flavor to cream cheese frosting.
Tools & Supplies to Make Frosted Pumpkin Cookies
How to Make Frosted Pumpkin Cookies
Pumpkin Cookies
To make the pumpkin cookies recipe, I recommend using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or an electric hand mixer.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet pan with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer or bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream unsalted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add egg, vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree. Mix until well combined. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl!
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined. Again, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Turn the mixer to medium speed and mix the batter for about 30 seconds until the batter is well combined and smooth.
- Portion the batter using a large cookie scoop (3 tablespoons) and place onto the prepared baking sheet pan. Allow room in between the cookies for spreading.
- Bake the cookies for approximately 12 minutes on the prepared cookie sheet pan. The cookies are done baking when they are puffed up and the cookies bounce back when gently touched on the top.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the pan for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Cream Cheese Icing
For the cream cheese icing, use an electric hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.
- Cream unsalted butter and cream cheese for a few minutes until smooth, creamy, and well combined.
- Add powdered sugar. Mix on low speed until fully combined with the butter/cream cheese mixture.
- Add in salt and vanilla extract. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Turn the mixer to medium speed and whip the cream cheese icing for a few minutes until it is smooth.
Frosted Pumpkin Cookies Recipe Tips
Creaming the butter and sugars
A key step in this cookie recipe is to cream the butter and sugar together for a few minutes until it becomes light and fluffy. This step is important as it helps create the perfect cakey, fluffy texture to the pumpkin cookies. Start with room temperature butter to make creaming easier. Whip the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium to medium-high speed, scraping the bowl occasionally. The mixture is well creamed when the butter appears light and creamy.
Pumpkin puree
Be sure you are using pumpkin puree as opposed to pumpkin pie filling. The only ingredients in pumpkin puree should be pumpkin. The can might be labeled 100% pumpkin. If there are any other ingredients other than pumpkin in the can, it will not work.
Pumpkin pie spice
Pumpkin pie spice is a spice blend of warm spices including cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cloves. This gives the cookies that traditional pumpkin spice flavor that is irresistible. If you can’t find pumpkin pie spice, you can make your own! Check out my blog post on how to make pumpkin pie spice at home! If you want to skip all that, just replace the pumpkin pie spice with cinnamon and it will still taste amazing.
Use a cookie scoop
I highly recommend portioning the cookie dough onto a prepared baking sheet pan with a large cookie scoop. The cookie scoop will ensure that all the cookies have the same amount of batter so they will bake evenly and be uniform in size. Portioning with a cookie scoop also helps create round cookies!
Round cookies
A cookie scoop with help create round cookies but inevitably, they are going to make a little wonky. Once the cookies come out of the oven, use the back of a spoon to gently press the edges of the cookies to create a rounder shape. Then, let the cookies cool on the pan for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting the cookies
To frost the cookies, you can use a piping bag or spread the cream cheese icing with a small offset spatula. For these cookies, I did a combination of both! Pipe a large dollop of the icing on top of the cookie. Use a small offset spatula to spread the icing and create a swirl.
Storing and serving
Frosted pumpkin cookies can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days. The cookies and be served chilled or at room temperature. If you would like them to be at room temperature, remove from the refrigerator about an hour before serving.
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Frosted Pumpkin Cookies
Equipment
- Stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and whisk attachment or electric hand mixer
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cookies
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 cup pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- ½ tsp cinnamon
Cream Cheese Icing
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 4 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 1 ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
Pumpkin Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet pan with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer, cream unsalted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl occasionally.
- Add egg, vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree. Mix until well combined.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined. Again, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Turn the mixer to medium speed and mix the batter for about 30 seconds until the batter is well combined and smooth.
- Portion the batter using a large cookie scoop (3 tablespoons) and place onto the prepared baking sheet pan. Allow room in between the cookies for spreading.
- Bake the cookies for approximately 12 minutes. The cookies are done baking when they are puffed up and the cookies bounce back when gently touched on the top.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the pan for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Cream Cheese Icing
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer, cream unsalted butter and cream cheese for a few minutes until smooth, creamy, and well combined.
- Add powdered sugar. Mix on low speed until fully combined with the butter/cream cheese mixture.
- Add in salt and vanilla extract. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Turn the mixer to medium speed and whip the cream cheese icing for a few minutes until it is smooth.
- Spread or pipe the cream cheese frosting on top of the pumpkin cookies.
Notes
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