Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

by Kayla Berman on September 16, 2022 6 comments

Pumpkin Sugar Cookies are the ultimate fall dessert recipe! Made with canned pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, and a sweet & tangy cream cheese frosting … this easy cookie is soft, thick, dense, and delicious. Full of warm spices and flavor, these will be a pumpkin season family favorite!

Thick, Soft, & Spiced Fall Cookies

Ladies and gentlemen I present to you the perfect fall cookie!

Homemade pumpkin sugar cookies are soft, thick, a little bit dense, and a lot delicious. They are loaded with warm spice and pumpkin flavor.

Plus they are complete with a smooth, simple, and sweet cream cheese frosting. And an extra dusting of cinnamon on top!

Are you drooling yet? Because I most certainly am!

This easy treat is a must make this pumpkin season. I promise the whole family will love these cookies!

Looking for more pumpkin spice and everything nice? I got you covered! Stop by my Pumpkin Spice Protein Balls, Maple Glazed Pumpkin Bread, or Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip next.

Ingredients

This pumpkin cookie recipe is made with a simple ingredients! The baking classics and all things pumpkin of course.

Ingredient Notes

Pumpkin Cookies

Pumpkin Puree: Pure pumpkin purée, not pumpkin pie filling, is a baking staple of mine during the fall season! You will need 1/3 cup. This is a super hot commodity this time of year so if you cannot find a can of pumpkin puree in your local grocery store, here is my favorite to buy online!
Butter: You’ll need 1/2 cup of unsalted butter for these cookies too. I prefer unsalted because you can control the amount of salt in your treat.
Sugar: Sugar cookies need some sugar! These require your classic white sugar. 1 cup to be exact!
Flour: Add 2 cups of all purpose flour to this pumpkin cookie dough.
Egg: Add 1 large egg for moisture and binding.
Vanilla Extract: I think a key flavor in sugar cookies is vanilla, so I like to add a significant amount. 2 tsp is perfect!
Pumpkin Pie Spice: Pumpkin pie spice gives these cookies an incredible warm and rich flavor. It is so good! Add 1 1/2 tsp, or however much you’d like.
Baking Powder: 1/4 tsp of baking powder gives these soft pumpkin sugar cookies the perfect rise.
Salt: Lastly, add 1/2 tsp of salt to the sugar cookie dough. This balances and enhances the flavors!

Cream Cheese Frosting:

Cream Cheese: Cream cheese frosting is my favorite frosting of all time! If a cookie, cake, or any treat has it – i’m eating it. Cream cheese just adds the perfect tang to balance out the sweet. So good! Here you will need 4 oz.
Butter: This frosting also calls for butter. 1/4 cup of unsalted!
Powdered Sugar: 1/4 cup of powdered sugar gives the perfect level of sweetness.
Vanilla Extract: You’ll need 1 tsp of vanilla extract too for that classic taste.

Kitchen Tools

How To Make This Recipe

Pumpkin spice sugar cookies are actually quite an easy recipe! You can truly make the dough, chill it, and bake the cookies in under 1 hour.

You’ll have a perfect cookie and your kitchen smelling like wonderfully, warm pumpkin spice in no time at all!

Step By Step Instructions

Step 1: Set the oven to 350 degrees.

Step 2: Next add the melted butter, pumpkin, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract to a large bowl. Combine until smooth.

pumpkin, butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large bowl

Step 3: Then to the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients – flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and salt. Combine until a cookie dough forms.

Step 4: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for 25 minutes.

pumpkin cookie wet ingredients and dry ingredients

Step 5: Remove the dough from the fridge. Roll into about 1 1/2 – 2 tbsp sized cookie dough balls. Place them on a parchment paper prepared baking sheet. You should be able to make 12-14 cookies.

Step 6: Bake for 18 minutes.

pumpkin cookie dough balls on a cookie sheet

Step 7: While the cookies are baking, make the cream cheese frosting. Add the cream cheese and butter to a medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until evenly combined. Then beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Place the frosting in the fridge until the cookies are baked and cooled.

Step 8: Remove the cookies from the oven and cool completely. Spread about a tablespoon of frosting on the top of each cookie. Then add an extra sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon.

Step 9: Enjoy!

Expert Tips

Have a bunch of leftover pumpkin? Make pumpkin bread, pumpkin bars, pumpkin dip, or pumpkin snickerdoodles.

Chill the dough! This helps the cookies bake properly and it makes the slightly sticky dough easier to work with too.

Line your baking sheet with sheets of parchment paper – this makes for such easy cleanup and minimal mess.

Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool faster.

Refrigerate the frosting before spreading on the cookies. Depending on the softness of your cream cheese and butter, the frosting my turn out a bit runny. Chilling in the fridge will help it thicken up a bit and solidify!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make my own pumpkin spice mix?

Yes! Pumpkin pie spice is typically cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.

Here is a recipe to make your own.

Can I skip the cream cheese frosting?

Yes, totally! If you don’t like cream cheese frosting leave it off, the cookies will still be delicious.

Instead you could try a simple glaze or maybe roll the cookies in cinnamon sugar before baking.

How to best store this pumpkin spice sugar cookie recipe?

Store these cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Since they are topped with cream cheese frosting they can’t be left out or stored at room temperature for more than a couple of hours.

Love this recipe? Check out some similar ones below…

Pumpkin Recipes

Cookie Recipes

Connect With Me!

If you make this pumpkin sugar cookie recipe or any of my other recipes, I would absolutely love to know! Tag me @wellnessbykay on Instagram so I can see and share your recreations.

Love this recipe? Leave a comment and a rating! I love to see and it helps me continue to develop delicious recipes for this blog.