Description
Soft, pillowy pumpkin cookies made with real pumpkin puree and warm fall spices. These tender, cake-like cookies are perfect for autumn baking and can be enjoyed plain or with cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough:
- 1/2 cup butter (I use salted, but unsalted works)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (dark gives more flavor)
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (Libby’s brand)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/3 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
Cream Cheese Frosting (if you want it):
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- Tiny pinch of salt
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 350°F and grab some parchment paper for your baking sheets. I learned this the hard way – skip the parchment and you’ll be scraping cookie bits off your pans for weeks.
- Beat the butter and brown sugar for about a minute until it looks fluffy. My stand mixer makes this super easy, but a hand mixer works fine too. You’ll know it’s ready when the color lightens up.
- Add the egg, pumpkin, and vanilla and mix until everything’s combined. Don’t freak out if it looks a little orange and lumpy – that’s normal.
- Toss in your spices – the pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. I always forget the salt, so I actually measure it out first now.
- Dump in the flour and mix just until you can’t see any white streaks. Seriously, don’t overthink this part. The dough should look like thick cake batter.
- Chill time – if your dough is super sticky (this happens when my kitchen is warm), I stick it in the fridge for 20 minutes. If it’s cooperating, skip this step.
- Scoop onto your prepared sheets – I use a cookie scoop for even sizes, but a spoon works too. Leave about 2 inches between cookies because they spread a little.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until the edges look set but the centers still seem a bit soft. They’ll look underbaked, but trust me on this one.
- Let them rest on the hot pan for 5 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack. This prevents them from falling apart.
- Frost if you want – I usually eat half the batch plain and frost the other half for the kids.
Notes
The biggest lesson I learned was about pumpkin puree brands. Libby’s is more consistent than store brands, which can be watery. If your dough seems too wet, add flour one tablespoon at a time until it holds together.
These cookies are meant to be soft and tender, not crispy. If you accidentally overbake them, stick a piece of bread in the storage container overnight – it’ll soften them right up. I learned this trick from my grandmother, who never met a cookie she couldn’t fix.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 145
- Sugar: 12g
- Sodium: 95mg
- Fat: 4g
- Saturated Fat: 2.5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 1.5g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 25g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 2g
- Cholesterol: 20mg