Adorable Pumpkin Cutout Cookies
These pumpkin cutout cookies are absurdly adorable pumpkin sugar cookies made with real pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice. Add a pumpkin icing and easy painted on jack-o-lantern faces, and you have one of the cutest (and tastiest!) Fall cookies.
| Taste | Texture | ||
| Pumpkin, warm spices | Soft |
| Active time | Total time | Yield | Difficulty |
| 20 minutes | 2 hours | 30 cookies | Easy |
I for one am always trying to think of Halloween desserts that aren’t scary. I say no thank you to the blood and gore and instead choose all things pumpkin and anything that uses up Halloween candy. See my Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cookies, and the Ultimate Monster Cookies.
Pumpkin Cutout Cookies Are:
Ingredients For Pumpkin Cutout Cookies
Pumpkin Cutout Cookie Dough
- Butter
- Granulated sugar
- Powdered sugar
- Canned pumpkin
- Egg
- Vanilla paste or vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves), or cinnamon
- Baking soda
- Cream of tartar
- Salt
Equipment
- parchment (ideally pre-cut sheets that fit 1/2 sheet pans)
- 1/2 sheet baking pans
- rolling pin
- pumpkin cookie cutter
- food safe brushes
Pumpkin Icing and Decorations
- Powdered sugar
- Canned pumpkin
- Pumpkin pie spice, or cinnamon
- Water
- Candy eyes
- Black food coloring gel (Chefmaster natural food color or other)
- Clear vanilla extract or vodka
How to Make Pumpkin Cutout Cookies
- Make the Cookie Dough: Beat the butter and sugars together until smooth. Add in the pumpkin puree until you have a loose paste. Add in the vanilla, and egg until just combined. Mix the flour with the pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt in a small bowl. Add the flour into the butter mixture and mix just until the flour disappears.
- Roll the Dough: Scoop the dough into the middle of a sheet of parchment , pressing it with your hands into a rough rectangle. Cover the dough with another piece of parchment , lining up the edges of the paper. Roll the dough between the parchment until it covers the whole bottom piece of parchment. You will not need any additional flour to keep the dough from sticking with this recipe.
- Chill the Dough Sheet: Place the rolled out dough package onto a baking sheet and freeze for 15 minutes. While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C).
- Cutout the Cookies: Peel off the top piece of parchment on the chilled dough sheet (save the parchment!). Press a pumpkin cookie cutter into the dough sheet, cutting out as many pumpkins as you can. Top the dough with the first piece of parchment and then flip the dough sheet over. Peel off the bottom piece of parchment and then remove the pumpkins to parchment lined baking sheets. Roll out any scraps, chilling if needed to keep the pumpkin shapes from distorting.
- Bake the Cookies: Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes until the edges are just starting to color and the centers are set. Let the cookies cool on the hot sheet pans.
- Make the Pumpkin Icing: Mix the powdered sugar, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and 1-2 teaspoons of water to make a thin spreadable icing.
- Ice the Cookies: Spread about a teaspoon of glaze onto each cookie with a spoon. Press two candy eyes into the wet icing. Let the glaze dry completely before painting on the faces. You can turn your oven off and set the cookies back in the oven with the door propped open if you’re in a hurry. Cookies should dry for about 1 hour before the next step at room temperature (about 15 minutes in the warm oven).
- Paint on the Faces: Mix a drop of black food color gel in a small cup with about 1/4 teaspoon of clear vanilla extract or vodka. Dip a small paintbrush into the color and paint on details of faces on your pumpkins. Let the cookies dry completely before serving.
Tips for Making the Best Jack-o-Lantern Cookies
- Let the Icing Dry!: While it’s tempting to paint the faces on when the icing is dry on the top only, it’s best to let the icing dry all the way through. Otherwise, the brush work will create small cracks or divots in the icing as it dries. It doesn’t affect the quality of the cookie, just the aesthetics.
- Have Fun: Make your faces as silly as possible. Giant mustaches, eyelashes, and exaggerated expressions are all welcome.
- Enlist Kitchen Helpers: Kids LOVE painting cookies. This is a great afternoon project with your kids, who will be infinitely more creative with their faces. Since the work is simple, you can paint a batch of cookies in just minutes.
Storing Pumpkin Cutout Cookies
Like all iced cookies, the cookies will start to soften up once they’re decorated. The cookies are best eaten the day they’re made, but you can keep them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
If you want to work ahead, unfrosted cookies can be frozen in ziploc bags in stacks for up to 3 months.
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Adorable Pumpkin Cutout Cookies
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 30 cookies 1x
Description
These cookies bring the cute back to Jack-o-Lanterns without any of the complicated cutting or worry about making things too perfect. A delicious pumpkin spice pumpkin cookie made with an easy to roll dough, they are just as good to eat as they are fun to make.
Ingredients
Scale
Pumpkin Cutout Cookie Dough
- 1 stick butter, at room temperature (113 g)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100 g)
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar (60 g)
- 2 Tablespoons canned pumpkin puree (28 g)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or vanilla extract
- 2 cups + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (276 g)
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Pumpkin Icing and Decorations
- 1 cup powdered sugar (120 g)
- 2 Tablespoons canned pumpkin puree (28 g)
- 2 teaspoons water
- Candy eyes
- 1/4 teaspoon clear vanilla extract or vodka
- Black food color gel
Equipment
- parchment (ideally pre-cut sheets that fit 1/2 sheet pans)
- 1/2 sheet baking pans
- rolling pin
- pumpkin cookie cutter
- food safe brushes
Instructions
Make the Dough
- Beat the butter and sugars together until smooth. Add in the pumpkin puree until you have a loose paste. Add in the vanilla, and egg until just combined. Mix the flour with the pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt in a small bowl. Add the flour into the butter mixture and mix just until the flour disappears.
Roll the Dough
- Scoop the dough into the middle of a sheet of parchment, pressing it with your hands into a rough rectangle. Cover the dough with another piece of parchment, lining up the edges of the paper. Roll the dough between the parchment until it covers the whole bottom piece of parchment. You will not need any additional flour to keep the dough from sticking with this recipe.
Chill the Dough Sheet
- Place the rolled out dough package onto a baking sheet and freeze for 15 minutes.
- While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C).
Cutout the Cookies
- Peel off the top piece of parchment on the chilled dough sheet (save the parchment!).
- Press a pumpkin cookie cutter into the dough sheet, cutting out as many pumpkins as you can.
- Top the dough with the first piece of parchment and then flip the dough sheet over. Peel off the bottom piece of parchment and then remove the pumpkins to parchment lined baking sheets.
- Roll out any scraps, chilling for a few more minutes in the freezer, if needed to keep the pumpkin shapes from distorting.
Bake the Cookies
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes until the edges are just starting to color and the centers are set. Let the cookies cool on the hot sheet pans.
Make the Pumpkin Icing
- Mix the powdered sugar, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and 1-2 teaspoons of water to make a thin spreadable icing.
Ice the Cookies
- Spread about a teaspoon of glaze onto each cookie with a spoon.
- Press two candy eyes into the wet icing.
- Let the glaze dry completely before painting on the faces. You can turn your oven off and set the cookies back in the oven with the door propped open if you’re in a hurry. Cookies should dry for about 1 hour before the next step at room temperature (about 15 minutes in the warm oven).
Paint on the Faces
- Mix a drop of black food color gel in a small cup with about 1/4 teaspoon of clear vanilla extract or vodka.
- Dip a small paintbrush into the color and paint on details of faces on your pumpkins.
- Let the cookies dry completely before serving.
Notes
No Pumpkin Cutter?: Use a round glass or the ring from a Mason jar instead. The round pumpkins these makeshift cutters create will still make cute jack-o-lantern cookies!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
