These soft pumpkin sugar cookies are perfect for Fall. They have the perfect balance of pumpkin, icing, and pumpkin spice. Make them today!
Basic sugar cookies are always delicious, and adding pumpkin just makes them even better! I wanted to try my hand at developing pumpkin sugar cookies this year and I love how it turned out! I think it’s the perfect balance of pumpkin and spice with that classic sugar cookie texture and taste.
Not only are these pumpkin sugar cookies delicious, they are super easy. No refrigerating or rolling out dough required. I always hate waiting for refrigeration steps – I just want to eat the cookies!
Creaming the ingredients together is always the key to soft cookies!
And I just love the way the freshly grated nutmeg looks. If you have never purchased whole nutmeg and grated it yourself, do it! It can be purchased online or in specialty food stores. And it is very affordable!
If you’d like to cut these into adorable shapes, you would need to roll out the dough. {How cute are these Fall theme cookie cutters?!? And these sprinkles?!}
But if you’re lazy like me, just scoop rounded tablespoons onto your cookie sheets and flatten them out with the bottom of a glass.
I like mine a little thick, so I leave them about 1/2 inch thick. Just make sure they are all the same thickness or they won’t bake evenly. This dough will not spread out very much at all, so how they go into the oven is how they will come out.
To finish the cookies, I kept the icing basic white and sprinkled the tops with cinnamon. The touch of cinnamon added to the pumpkin flavor and made these soft pumpkin sugar cookies even more perfect!
I didn’t use a cream cheese frosting, I just used my classic sugar cookie frosting which is just a basic powdered sugar frosting.
If you wanted to make it a cream cheese frosting, that would be delicious! In the recipe, just replace the 2 tablespoons melted butter with 1 tablespoon softened butter and 1 tablespoon softened cream cheese. Any way you ice them, these soft pumpkin sugar cookies are to die for.
What are some of your favorite variations on classic soft sugar cookies?
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Soft Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 1/2 cup shortening OR butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 3 1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the Icing
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar enough to make a spreadable icing that won't drip
Instructions
For the Cookies
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).
- In a medium bowl, sift flour, spices, baking soda and salt together, set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream shortening (or butter) and sugar together.
- Add egg and pumpkin puree, mix well.
- Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Scoop tablespoons onto greased baking sheets. Flatten with the bottom of a greased glass to about 1/4 inch thick.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until bottoms are slightly golden brown.
For Icing
- Combine butter, milk, and vanilla.
- Add powdered sugar until the icing is spreadable and won't drip off the cookies.
- Ice cookies and sprinkle with cinnamon to finish.
Recipe Notes
If you'd like to cut these into shapes, you would need to roll out the dough.
I like mine a little thick, so I leave them about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Just make sure they are all the same thickness or they won't bake evenly. This dough will not spread out very much at all, so how they go into the oven is how they will come out.
If you wanted to make the frosting a cream cheese frosting, that would be delicious! In the recipe, just replace the 2 tablespoons melted butter with 1 tablespoon softened butter and 1 tablespoon softened cream cheese.
Sammi Windley says
These are my favorite holiday cookies! Perfect for the fall mood.
Anonymous says
I love all of
Trailerparkdiva says
These look great. Just what I needed to take something different for Thanksgiving. Thanks so much.
Alli says
Thank you! Let me know what you think of them 🙂