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Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

Pumpkin sugar cookies with a tender cut-out crumb and easy orange cream cheese frosting. Chilled dough bakes into perfectly set edges after rolling to a 1/4-inch thickness.
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Chilling 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 37 minutes
Servings: 24 cookies
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Calories: 210
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Pumpkin sugar cookies
  • 3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 0.5 tsp baking powder
  • 0.5 tsp baking soda
  • 1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 0.25 tsp salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 0.25 cup pumpkin puree (blotted very dry)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
For cream cheese frosting
  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 0.25 cup butter
  • 3 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 orange food coloring

Equipment

  • 1 sheet pan

Method
 

Make the cookie dough
  1. Beat the softened butter and granulated sugar until smooth. Mix in the blotted pumpkin puree, then beat in the egg and vanilla until fully combined.
  2. Fold in the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt. Stop mixing as soon as no dry streaks remain.
  3. Divide the dough and refrigerate for 1 hour. Chill until firm enough to roll without sticking.
Bake the cookies
  1. Preheat the oven to 350F (177C) and line a sheet pan if needed. Roll the chilled dough to 1/4 inch thickness and cut into circles or pumpkin shapes.
  2. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are just set. Remove to a rack and cool completely before frosting (the surface should feel room-temperature, not warm).
Frost and decorate
  1. Beat the cream cheese frosting ingredients until smooth and evenly colored with orange food coloring. Frost the cooled cookies and decorate as desired (let frosting set for a few minutes before serving).

Notes

For clean shapes, reroll scraps once and keep the dough cold between cut-outs. Store baked unfrosted cookies in an airtight container for 3-4 days; frosted cookies keep 2-3 days in the fridge. Freezing: freeze baked cookies (unfrosted) up to 2 months, then thaw and frost. Dietary swap: use a 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour blend in place of regular flour for a gluten-free version (check that it includes xanthan gum).