These delicious Pumpkin Pie Cookies are a festive fall treat that combines the best of both worlds! From the soft sugar cookie dough to a rich buttercream frosting all cut into the shape and look of a piece of pumpkin pie. These are the best fall cookies and make the perfect way to celebrate the fall season including Thanksgiving gatherings and Halloween parties.
Jump to:
Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen, because I have the perfect fall cookies for you today. These delicious pumpkin pie cookies, using my family’s favorite sugar cookie dough recipe, are frosted with orange, brown, and white buttercream to look just like pumpkin pie slices topped with whipped cream!
They have the perfect autumn look, and because pumpkin pie is a classic holiday dessert, they make the perfect Thanksgiving and Christmas cookies, too! It’s an easy recipe, and it so so festively fall. For more fun fall desserts try these pumpkin sugar cookies or my pumpkin cheesecake bars!
Why You’ll Love This Pumpkin Pie Sugar Cookie Recipe
- Festively Fall. These cookies scream it’s the fall season with their pumpkin pie shape and frosting to resemble the traditional pumpkin pie.
- Easy to Make. They are easy to make using a simple sugar cookie dough and a delicious and rich buttercream frosting.
- Perfect for All Your Fall Entertaining. They’re festive and are perfect to serve at parties, potlucks, family gatherings, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
Ingredients
You’ll only need a few simple baking ingredients to make this recipe. Most if not all of them will be in your kitchen, and anything you don’t have can be found in just a few minutes at your local grocery store.
- Butter and Shortening: This combination of fat makes the perfect cookie dough. The butter adds rich, buttery flavor while the shortening makes the cookies more tender and also taller in height.
- Sugar: The cookies are sweetened with granulated sugar while the frosting uses powdered sugar which makes an ultra creamy cookie frosting.
- Egg: Provides some moisture to the cookie dough while also giving the cookies structure.
- Vanilla extract: Gives the cookies and frosting that homey flavor that makes desserts so comforting.
- Milk: Hydrates the frosting mixture to give it that perfect texture.
- All purpose flour: You can also use a 1-to-1 gluten-free flour blend if you need to make gluten-free cookies.
- Baking powder: Give the cookies a bit of lift. Make sure your baking powder is fresh and not expired!
- Food Coloring: You will need orange, yellow, and brown food coloring to make the icing colors to turn these into pumpkin pie cookies.
Be sure to check the recipe card at the end of the page for the full list and exact quantities.
How to Make Pumpkin Pie Cookies
Making these cookies is a straightforward process that anyone can do. It’s a simple dough recipe, and buttercream frosting only takes a few minutes to make. You’ll be in and out of the kitchen in no time!
- Step 1: Combine the Wet Cookie Ingredients. Mix the butter, shortening, sugar, and egg in a medium bowl. Then, add the vanilla and milk and mix again.
- Step 2: Add the Dry Ingredients. Gradually add the flour and baking soda to the wet ingredients. Mix until the dough is combined.
- Step 3: Roll and Cut. Roll out a small amount of dough to ¼-inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut the cookie dough into triangles.
- Step 4: Bake. Place the triangles on a cookie sheet and bake at 325° F for 10 to 12 minutes until the edges just begin to brown.
- Step 5: Cool. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes. Then, transfer them to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.
- Step 6: Make the Frosting. Cream the butter, milk, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Then, gradually stir in the powdered sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.
- Step 7: Color the Frosting. Add two-thirds of the frosting to a medium bowl and add 2 drops of orange food coloring, 1 drop of yellow food coloring, and 1 drop of brown food coloring and mix. Add the same ratio if the color is too light. Divide the remaining frosting into two small bowls. Add brown food coloring to one of the bowls to make tan frosting and leave the other frosting white.
- Step 8: Decorate the Cookies. Frost the cookies with the pumpkin color completely. Then, pipe the tan frosting on the wide end of the triangle to make the crust, and add a dollop of white frosting in the center for the whipped cream.
Recipe Tips
- Avoid a “floury” taste. Use a a 50/50 mixture of flour and powdered sugar to prevent sticking when rolling out the cookies.
- Don’t overmix. Mix the dough just until combined and no further. Don’t overwork it!
- Cool on the cookie sheet. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet so carry-over cooking time can finish baking them perfectly. This allows the cookies to set up a bit more so they don’t break when you try to remove them from the baking tray.
- Making the frosting look like pie. Frost the entire surface of the cookie with pumpkin-colored frosting. Next, pipe the tan crust-colored frosting in a zig-zag pattern on the wider end of the cookies to mimic the crust. Last, use a large star tip to add a dollop of frosting in the center of the cookies to look like whipped cream.
Storage Tips
Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can store the cookies in the refrigerator for up to a week in an airtight container.
For longer storage, freeze the cookies in single layers separated by parchment paper in an airtight, freezer-safe container for up to a month.
Recipe FAQs
Pumpkin cookies are cookies that are made with pumpkin puree in the dough. These pumpkin pie sugar cookies are plain sugar cookies decorated with colored buttercream frosting to look like pumpkin pie slices.
Unlike some doughs, sugar cookie dough is dense and doesn’t spread very much while baking. There’s no need to refrigerate it before baking.
Sure! You can use any rolled cookie dough that works to cut into shapes so feel free to use your favorite cookie dough or even some pumpkin snickerdoodle dough.
Try This Delicious Pumpkin Pie Cookie Recipe
These pumpkin pie cookies are as adorable as they are delicious. Sweet, buttery sugar cookies topped decorated with buttercream frosting to look like pumpkin pie slices? What could be better? Nothing. The answer is nothing, so give these delicious cookies a try. Once you do, I know you’ll find yourself making them again and again.
More Delicious Pumpkin Recipes You’ll Enjoy
These Cream Puffs Recipe with Pumpkin Mousse are so light and airy, delicious, and are great to make for the upcoming holidays. The pumpkin mousse is scrumptious and when paired with the cream puffs, you have a delicious fall dessert everyone will enjoy.
If you try this recipe and love it, please be sure to leave a 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below and comment! You can also pin it to save it for later. Also, you can follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Remember to “like” or “follow” us on all social media.
Pumpkin Pie Cookies
Ingredients
For the Sugar Cookies
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup shortening
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 3 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoon milk
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
For the Frosting
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup butter, 1 stick
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Orange, yellow, and brown food coloring
Instructions
For the Sugar Cookies
- Preheat oven to 325°
- In a medium bowl, mix together butter, shortening, sugar and egg. Add vanilla and milk. Mix well until combined.
- Gradually stir in flour and baking powder until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
- Roll out a small amount of dough on a floured surface to about ¼″ thick and cut into shapes. Place on cookie sheets and bake until the edges just start to brown. Approximately 10-12 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let sit on cookie sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat until all dough is used.
- Here’s a cookie tip for you…. When rolling out your cookie dough, mix flour and powdered sugar 50/50. Use this mixture and your cookies will taste much better and not leave a flour taste in your mouth.
For the Frosting
- In a medium bowl, cream butter, milk, and vanilla together. Gradually stir in powdered sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.
- To make the pumpkin pie colored frosting, add ⅔ of the white frosting to a medium bowl. Add two drops of orange food coloring, 1 drop of yellow, and 1 drop of brown food coloring. If the color is too light, repeat the amount above. Stir to combine.
- In the two remaining bowls, add white frosting and mix brown coloring to make tan, and leave the third bowl with plain white frosting.
- Frost the cookies once they have cooled completely. Add pumpkin color first, followed by the tan "crust" then add a dollop of white in the center.
Notes
- Avoid a “floury” taste. Use a a 50/50 mixture of flour and powdered sugar to prevent sticking when rolling out the cookies.
- Don’t overmix. Mix the dough just until combined and no further. Don’t overwork it!
- Cool on the cookie sheet. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet so carry-over cooking time can finish baking them perfectly. This allows the cookies to set up a bit more so they don’t break when you try to remove them from the baking tray.
- Making the frosting look like pie. Frost the entire surface of the cookie with pumpkin-colored frosting. Next, pipe the tan crust-colored frosting in a zig-zag pattern on the wider end of the cookies to mimic the crust. Last, use a large star tip to add a dollop of frosting in the center of the cookies to look like whipped cream.
