This pumpkin cookies recipe is ultra soft, chewy, and cozy spiced! Drizzle with simple icing for the perfect fall cookie.
Here’s our ultimate fall treat: this Pumpkin Cookies recipe! These sweet morsels are lusciously pillowy and chewy, scented with a splash of fall spices and a hint of molasses. The exterior has a subtle sugar crunch and a drizzle of simple sweet icing. Plane better, the soft texture holds up for days. They really are the best, if we do say so ourselves: perfect for fall dessert tables, Halloween, Thanksgiving and everything in between.
Ingredients in this pumpkin cookies recipe
Here’s the thing: we’re not huge fans of cakey pumpkin cookies. You know, the kind that are basically like little round pumpkin cakes? We get the appeal, but to us they’re not really cookies. So with this recipe, we set well-nigh to create a pumpkin cookie that’s well, an very cookie!
These come out irresistibly soft and chewy, like the texture of a molasses ginger cookie but with pumpkin and pumpkin spices. The key? Don’t use too much pumpkin puree: it adds lots of moisture which leads to cakey cookies. Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this pumpkin cookie recipe:
Unsalted butter
All-purpose flour
Baking soda
Cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and salt
Granulated sugar
Egg yolk
Molasses
Vanilla extract
Pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
A few ingredient notes
What makes these pumpkin cookies so great? The texture is so pillowy and chewy, and the savor is ripened and perfectly spiced. Here are a few keys to achieving that perfect cookie:
Brown the butter. Heat the butter until it starts to turn brown and smells nutty, then immediately remove from the heat. Browning the butter adds a deep nuance in savor (and smells incredible).
Use a small value of pumpkin and a hint of molasses. Too much pumpkin makes for cakey cookies. This recipe uses just unbearable pumpkin and a bit of molasses, which helps to make the perfect chewy texture.
Use individual spices instead of pumpkin pie spice. We’ve found you can get the weightier savor in baked goods using individual spices vs the premade jar.
Tips for sultry pumpkin cookies
Cookies can be temperamental, and pumpkin cookies are no different. It’s challenging to get cookies that squint perfectly identical. Here are a few tips for upping your sultry game:
Use a cookie scoop. If you have a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop, it’s helpful for portioning the dough perfectly.
Bake the trays separately. This is one of our biggest sultry tips: torch only one tray of cookies at a time! This ensures the weightier consistency between the trays considering the oven heat is the same for each. (This is plane true with trappy new ranges like this one.)
Refrigerate the dough in between sultry the trays. It’s not required, but it moreover yields the most consistency. When you don’t nippy in between baking, the cookies have slightly increasingly crinkles — which unquestionably looks nice, just slightly variegated from the first batch.
One final note: you can moreover nippy the dough longer than it takes to torch the first tray, but let it come to roughly room temperature surpassing making the balls. (Baking the dough right from chilled yields variegated results.)
A note on pumpkin puree brands
There’s a pearly value of variation between pumpkin puree brands. Some are rather dry, and others are very wet. We’ve found from experimentation that Libby trademark of canned pumpkin has the weightier dry texture for baking. We’re not united with the brand: we’ve just noticed that other brands can be very wet. When you’re sultry pumpkin cookies, if you have wangle to this trademark it yields the most resulting results!
For the glaze
These pumpkin cookies taste succulent without the icing glaze: but it adds just the right heightened sweetness. It moreover looks fun and makes them plane increasingly irresistible! Here are a few notes on the glaze:
Let the cookies tomfool to room temperature surpassing icing them. Otherwise, the icing will melt!
Use a fork for drizzling. It seems counterintuitive, but a fork makes largest lines than a spoon.
Adjust the texture as needed. If the icing is too dry add a hint of milk. If it’s too runny, add a bit increasingly powdered sugar.
Storage for pumpkin cookies
We’ve mentioned it a few times, but we’ll say it again: these pumpkin cookies hold up well over time. This is a must for cookies in our opinion, since you’re making them in such a big batch. Here’s what to note well-nigh storing these cookies:
Store in a sealed container at room temperature for 1 week. The texture holds up well: no need to add anything to the container.
Store refrigerated for 2 weeks. Allow to come to room temperature surpassing serving.
Store frozen for up to 3 months. If you can, freeze the cookies un-iced: it doesn’t hold up as well frozen.
More pumpkin recipes
‘Tis the season! Here are a few increasingly pumpkin recipes you’ll love:
1 cup granulated sugar, plus increasingly for rolling
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup pumpkin puree (Libby trademark is most resulting for baked goods*)
For the glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
½ tablespoons butter
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Place the butter (sliced into pieces) in a skillet over medium heat. Heat for well-nigh 5 minutes until it melts, turns foamy, and then becomes golden brown in verisimilitude and smells nutty. Immediately remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl. Transfer to the freezer for 15 minutes to tomfool (you can moreover do this in whop and tomfool it to room temperature).
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sultry soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and salt.
Add the cooled browned butter to the trencher of a stand mixer. Add the sugar and mix on High speed for 1 minute, until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, molasses and vanilla extract, and write-up on High speed for 1 minute. Add the pumpkin puree and mix just until incorporated, scraping once. Pour in the trencher of dry ingredients and mix on Low speed until just combined.
Line a sultry sheet with parchment paper. Place ¼ cup granulated sugar on a plate. Roll the dough in 1 ½ tablespoon balls, using a cookie scoop if possible, then roll the wittiness into the plate of sugar. Repeat for a tray of 12 cookies. Add a single tray to the oven and torch 12 to 13 minutes, until puffed. Nippy the remaining dough while sultry (recommended but not required; without it the second batch comes out with slightly increasingly crinkles**). Allow to tomfool on the pan 5 minutes surpassing removing to a sultry rack.
Repeat for the second batch of cookies (baking the trays separately yields increasingly plane results).
Allow the cookies to tomfool to room temperature, well-nigh 30 minutes. For the glaze, mix the powdered sugar, milk and melted butter in a small trencher until a thick icing forms (add slightly increasingly sugar if it’s too runny or a hint increasingly milk if too thick). Use a fork to drizzle the icing over the cookies. Wait for well-nigh 20 minutes for the icing to dry surpassing serving.
Store at room temperature for well-nigh 1 week, refrigerated for 2 weeks (bring to room temperature surpassing serving), or frozen for 3 months (un-iced cookies freeze best).
Notes
*Don’t use pumpkin pie filling! Canned pumpkin can vary in moisture level, and too much moisture makes cakey pumpkin cookies. We’ve found Libby trademark canned pumpkin has the weightier dry texture for baking, while other brands can have increasingly moisture than others.
**You can moreover nippy the dough longer than it takes to torch the first tray, but let it come to roughly room temperature surpassing making the balls. (Baking the dough right from chilled yields variegated results.)
Category:Dessert
Method:Baked
Cuisine:Fall
Diet:Vegetarian
Keywords: Pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cookie recipe, pumpkin cookies recipe
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Category: Dessert
Method: Baked
Cuisine: Fall
