Pumpkin Pie Cookies

by | Payton's Pastries

     The most important ingredient to fall, above all of the apple cider, hay rides, cool weather, and changing leaves (we sadly don’t have that ☹) is pumpkin. If you have not eaten some kind of pumpkin food this fall, then you have been missing out.

This year, our family raided Trader Joe’s of all of the wonderful fall treats that they offer. My personal favorite has to be their pumpkin crème cookies. Those things are the most delicious store-bought cookies I have ever tasted!

But I have to admit that these cookies that I want to share with you might be my new favorite, and they would have to be some next level cookies to top those pumpkin cookies!

No one can argue that fall is not complete without one key pumpkin treat: The classic American pie. This delicious dessert can be found across the country at Thanksgiving tables fall festivals and parties, and just in everyday life to make your day that much better.

But I am a sucker for another classic American dessert: Sugar cookies. I could eat them all day! The amount of frosting is just right for me and I love that certain level of sweetness where it’s not just overpowering, but it’s just enough to get your taste buds working.

​I decided to pair up these two amazing desserts into one. I made…

 

Pumpkin pie cookies!

This festive treat (hopefully) has the likeness and taste of pumpkin pie, but the texture and form of a cookie. I am so excited to share this amazing dessert with you guys!

Just a warning in case you are like me and get the ingredients and get all set up to do it all in one day and then realize that you have to do something out of the ordinary or don’t have a certain tool:

YOU MUST MAKE THE COOKIE BATTER THE DAY BEFORE YOU ARE READY TO BAKE AND DECORATE!

You will want to make sure that you have some of the following tools:

 

  • Stand Mixer

This one is completely optional, but it really does save you a lot of tie and effort if you are in a time crunch or need to double the recipe or something.

I had to borrow one, but you definitely need to get one of these for cookie decorating. I know I will be looking into buying one!

You are probably thinking “Why not get a pumpkin pie cookie cutter?” I personally think that this cookie cutter is the best shape or what you want to be doing.

Once again, this could be an optional one, but when it comes to cutting in butter, this tool makes your life a lot easier!

Ingredients:

 

For the Pumpkin Pie Cookie Dough

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup powdered pumpkin (Hint: This is another term for pumpkin flour. You can order it on Amazon. Although it might alter the taste, you could substitute flour for that if needed)
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
  • 1 large egg
  • 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Pumpkin Pie Royal Icing

  • 3 tablespoons meringue powder
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 6 tablespoons water
  • 1 tablespoon corn syrup
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • Pumpkin gel food color
  • Warm brown gel food color
  • Ivory gel food color

Instructions:

 

Pumpkin Pie Cookie Dough

 

  1. Place flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice into a large mixing bowl. Whisk together briefly. Cut in butter using a pastry blender.

2.   Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of four hours. If not using the same day, the dough can stay in the refrigerator overnight, or you can securely wrap it, place in a Ziploc bag and store in the freezer for up to two weeks. Thaw overnight in refrigerator.

(Hint: I just made it the night before, then took it out of the refrigerator the next morning. Then I made the cookies when I got home from school the next day.

3. When ready to make cookies, heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, roll out to 3/8 inch thick. Using a candy corn cookie cutter, cut out and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

4.  Bake for 5-8 minutes (or 9-12 minutes on an Airbake cookie sheet or until just barely golden brown around the edges. Cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooking rack and cool completely before icing.

Pumpkin Pie Royal Icing

 

  1. Make sure the bowl and whip from your stand mixer is completely clean and grease-free. If necessary, wipe down with a paper towel and lemon juice.
  2. Combine meringue powder, powdered sugar and water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on low speed until incorporated, add in corn syrup, then beat on medium high for 5 minutes.

3. Once royal icing is whipped to desired consistency, separate it into three separate bowls. About 2/3 of the icing will be tinted pumpkin. Add water a teaspoon at a time, until desired flood or 20-second icing consistency. Add pumpkin spice and combine.

Hint: 20-second icing consistency means that if you take a spatula and run it through the middle of the bowl of icing, that it would take 20 seconds to reach normalcy again.​

4. For the pie crust color, mix a small amount of warm brown with ivory to get desired color. Add a small amount of water to the pie crust color, so you have an easy flowing, but still stiffer consistency icing. The smallest amount of icing remains white.

5. Place pumpkin icing into piping bags. (You can use tipless or a #2 piping tip. Place the pie crust icing into a piping bag fitted with a #104 petal tip. Place the white icing in a piping bag fitted with a #16 or #18 piping tip. Cover the open tips with a wet paper towel while piping the pumpkin.

6. Outline and flood the entire cookie with pumpkin icing. Let dry completely pipe the pie crust, with the small side facing out. Pipe a small rosette of white icing for whipped cream. Let dry completely and enjoy!

These cookies are so good and they look really pretty and very festive for the season. I am so glad that I found this recipe from Love and Confections, a great website for any baking recipes that you might want to look at.

 

I hope that these cookies are as much fun to make as they were for me. I also hope that your taste testers enjoy them as much as mine did!

 

Just don’t let them see the decorating process before it is done, or you might get a response like I got from my little brother: “Is that a quesadilla?”.  Hopefully they can identify that these cookies are not, in fact, quesadillas, but little pumpkin pie slices!

 

Happy Baking,

                                                                                      Payton

 

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This