Many of the delicious foods I associate with fall have one thing in common… fall spices. Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice add that special fall touch to pies, cakes and breads. In addition to the wonderful flavor… spiced baked goods smell oh so good!
These Pumpkin Spice Cutout Cookies are a delicious variation of traditional roll-out sugar cookies, and are just perfect for fall!
I’ve made these cookies both with and without pumpkin, and they are delicious both ways! The first few times I made them without the pumpkin puree (see “notes” in recipe below) because I usually don’t like to open a whole can of pumpkin and just use a small amount. Without the pumpkin, the recipe produces a delicious spiced cookie. But I’ll have to say, I recently made the recipe with the addition of the pumpkin and I loved the cookies even more!
These cookies will remain fresh and delicious at least 5-7 days. Keep undecorated cookies sealed in an airtight container. Layer decorated cookies (after they’ve dried 8-12 hours) between waxed paper or parchment paper in an airtight container, or wrapped in cellophane bags (for gift giving).
When your cookies are baked and cooled, and you’re ready to decorate, make up a batch of Royal Icing.
Along with the royal icing recipe is a basic decorating tutorial, if you’ve never decorated cookies before.
Happy fall baking!
Pumpkin Spice Cutout Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg freshly grated if possible
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks
- 2/3 cup granulated white sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar light or dark
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract best quality available
- 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
Instructions
- In a large bowl bowl, add flour, baking powder and spices. Stir with whisk to combine.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Add both sugars and beat until fully combined and fluffy.
- Add egg, vanilla pumpkin and beat to combine.
- Scrap down the sides of your bowl with a spatula.
- While the mixer is running on low, add the flour mixture, slowly.
- Mix until all of the flour is incorporated, and the mixture begins to ball up and pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- Dump out the dough onto a clean work surface, kneed in any extra bits of flour or dough, and divide the dough into two large balls. Place balls of dough in a plastic bag (or plastic wrap) flatten dough into large disks and place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
- When the dough has chilled, roll out onto lightly floured surface and cut out desired shapes.
- Bake cookies in a pre-heated, 350*F oven, on ungreased baking sheets 9-11 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies.
Is this a soft or hard cookie?
A lot of the texture depends on how you bake them, but in general they are softer than a shortbread type cookie, but maybe not as soft as a “drop” style cookie (like a snickerdoodle might be).
Made these yesterday and kneaded the mixture by hand. Turned out really great, so easy to cut out and baked perfectly.
Thanks!
My 4 year old and I just finished making these! She was pro at rolling out the dough, cutting the cookies and placing them on the trays! They are very good..I cut the sugar a bit, just used 1/4 white sugar and 1/3 brown and I used just 1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice as I had my daughter in mind and she isn’t too fond of spice. they were plenty sweet and were delish! We left them plain – but fun to do the day before Halloween! Thank you for the great recipe!
These are the best pumpkin spice cookies ever. Easy to roll and cut, hold shape excellent without freezing, just the right sweet and spicy… Thank you!
So I tried this recipe and it was awesome. It smelled and tasted great. The only difference is I let it sit over night. The cookies only spread a little.
https://www.instagram.com/p/-lJIPDjYM8/
Are these good without icing? I plan on making them for Thansgiving but don’t have a lot of money to spend on dyes, etc. Thanks!
Yes, I think they’re quite delicious even without icing. These would also be delicious with a glaze such as the maple glaze I’ve shared here, https://www.glorioustreats.com/pumpkin-cookies-with-maple-icing/ As needed just add a bit more milk to thin the glaze.
I was assigned to make leaf-shaped cookies for my daughter’s preschool today. I didn’t want to go with boring plain cookies, and I had a can of pumpkin in the pantry, so I used your recipe. I’m so glad I did. You never know when you read a recipe on the internet if it will work or not, but yours did fantastically! I had petite leaf cookie cutters, so I made dozens of cookies (I lost count). Even the ones I rolled a little too thin were still moist, and not dry and crumbly. Thank you so much for sharing! I’ll definitely “pin” this recipe so I can make it again.
Thanks so much for the sweet comment! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Hi! Could these be made vegan by omitting the egg and using coconut oil instead of butter? Thank you!!
I want to make dough ahead of time, how would I freeze the dough and how long can I keep it frozen til im ready to bake them?
If I bake them and want to store them undecorated, how long can they stay fresh in yhe freezer and/or fridge?
Hi Henry, You’ll find the bulk of your answer here, https://www.glorioustreats.com/faq
I don’t generally freeze my cookies (because they last several days without being frozen), but you can freeze then at most any stage, the dough, cut out (but unbaked) dough shapes, and baked cookies. I do not recommend freezing them after they are decorated.
Happy baking!
Found you and this recipe via Pinterest. Made these plain to take to my husband’s boss’s house for Thanksgiving tomorrow. We are going to let the kids decorate them, a little different spin– dipped in chocolate, then in chopped nuts and/or piped with chocolate and add harvest m&ms. Can’t wait!