An aromatic blend of real pumpkin and fall baking spices, topped with a luscious cream cheese icing — these soft pumpkin cookies are the ultimate fall treat!
Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
It happens every year…
We get to September and I start seeing pumpkin recipes all over Facebook. And now I’m craving all things pumpkin!!
Earlier today I pulled a loaf of gluten free pumpkin bread out of the freezer and it was absolutely heavenly with my afternoon coffee.
I try to be disciplined in saving some of my new pumpkin recipes for later in the Fall, but you know what? If I’m this excited about pumpkin season, there’s got to be other pumpkin fanatics out there like me! So today I’m re-sharing this classic recipe that was originally published a few years ago in the early days of my blog. We’ve got new photos and updated instructions with tips to make these the best homemade pumpkin cookies ever!
Here’s the breakdown: these are cake-like cookies made from scratch with real pumpkin and topped with a dollop of decadent cream cheese frosting. Pumpkin and cream cheese…talk about the perfect flavor combination! I know it sounds corny, but these cookies literally do melt-in-your-mouth!
Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Canned Pumpkin
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup Butter, softened
- 8 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Kitchen Supplies Used
For your convenience, I’ve included shop-able ad links to some of the ingredients and supplies used to make this recipe; disclosure policy available here.
- Stand mixer or electric mixer
- Cookie sheets
- Silicone baking mats
This recipe yields about 12-15 cookies.
Instructions
To Prep: Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
TIP: We love these silicone baking mats because they’re non-stick and reusable. You can wash them and use them over and over, plus your baked goods slide right off with no cooking spray needed!
- Using a stand or hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (this might take a minute or two). Add the pumpkin puree, egg and vanilla, and beat to incorporate. In a separate small bowl, sift together the dry ingredients, and then add to the wet ingredients. Mix to incorporate until you have a thick batter.
- Use a Tablespoon sized cookie scoop to measure out the dough onto a prepared baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies start to turn golden brown on the edges. Move to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Use your stand mixer to beat together your frosting ingredients until smooth and creamy (about 2-3 minutes).
- Add a generous dollop of cream cheese frosting to each of your fluffy pumpkin cookies and spread to cover the top of each cookie.
Prep Tips
- When making the frosting, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until you have your desired consistency. If it seems too runny, add more powdered sugar. If it is too thick to spread easily, mix in a Tablespoon of milk.
- I love frosting so I tend to go a little crazy with it! Feel free to use as much or as little as you like, you may have some frosting left over as this makes a big batch!
- Try adding mix-ins to your cookies, such as chocolate chips or chopped pecans.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Cream Cheese Icing Need To Be Refrigerated?
Yes, frosting made with cream cheese needs to be kept refrigerated. I recommend storing your frosted pumpkin cookies in a single layer in an airtight container. They will last 3-5 days in the fridge.
Without frosting, these pumpkin cookies can be stored at room temperature. Again, I recommend a sealed container to keep them fresh as long as possible.
Can You Make These Cookies Dairy-Free?
These easiest way to make a non-dairy version of these cookies is simply to skip the cream cheese frosting. If lactose is the concern, this will pretty much do the trick because even though the cookies are made with butter, butter contains almost no lactose.
If allergies are the concern, you’ll want to use a butter substitute as well. I have not personally tried this, but if you do, let me know how it goes!
More Pumpkin Recipes To Try:
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip
- Chocolate Pumpkin Sheet Cake
- Easy Pumpkin Roll
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes
- Pumpkin French Toast
- Pumpkin Spice Puppy Chow
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Monkey Bread
- Pumpkin Pie Bread Pudding
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies
Grab a Free Printable Copy of Our Fluffy Pumpkin Cookies Recipe
If you love this recipe too, please rate it!
Soft Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
- Electric mixer
- Baking sheet
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cookie Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- ½ cup butter softened
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar as needed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
To Make the Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar and mix until light and fluffy, approximately 2 minutes.
- Add the pumpkin, egg and vanilla, and beat to incorporate.
- In a separate small bowl, stir the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into the flour, and then add to the wet ingredients. Fully incorporate.
- Use a Tablespoon sized cookie scoop to measure out the dough onto the cookie sheets.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges start to turn golden brown. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
To Make the Frosting
- Combine the ingredients for the cream cheese frosting in a a stand mixer or hand mixer to beat until smooth.
- When cookies are fully cooled, add a generous dollop of frosting to each and spread.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Be sure to pin these Cake Style Pumpkin Cookies on Pinterest:
You might also like these pumpkin cookie recipes:
2-Ingredient Pumpkin Cake Mix Cookies
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Laura says
Delicious, soft, pumpkiny cookies.
Does not make 15. I doubled the batch thinking I’d need at least 30 for my party. I just put my 6th dozen in the oven and there’s still plenty of dough.
By my estimates, a batch probably makes closer to 3-4 DOZEN tablespoon-sized cookies, so keep that in mind.
Definitely do recommend though! They’re amazing.