Description
Pumpkin Spiced Halloween Cookies are soft, pillowy cookies infused with cozy pumpkin spice and topped with cream cheese or royal icing. They’re fun to decorate with ghostly swirls, pumpkins, and spiderwebs, making them perfect for fall gatherings and Halloween parties.
Ingredients
Dry:
All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Baking soda
Fine salt
Pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves)
Wet:
Unsalted butter
Granulated sugar
Light brown sugar
Egg yolk
Vanilla
Pumpkin purée (not pie filling)
Cream cheese frosting:
Cream cheese
Unsalted butter
Powdered sugar
Vanilla
Pinch of salt
Royal icing option:
Powdered sugar
Meringue powder
Water
Vanilla
Gel food colors (orange, black, white)
Decorations:
Halloween sprinkles
Candy eyes
Black gel for faces
Orange and green gels for pumpkin details
Instructions
1. Heat oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin spice.
2. Beat butter with granulated and brown sugars until fluffy. Add pumpkin purée, egg yolk, and vanilla until smooth.
3. Mix dry ingredients into wet just until combined; dough will be soft.
4. Scoop heaping tablespoons, roll into balls, and slightly flatten.
5. Bake 10–15 minutes until set at edges and puffed. Cool 5 minutes on sheets, then rack-cool fully.
6. For cream cheese frosting, beat cream cheese and butter, add powdered sugar and vanilla; tint as desired.
7. Decorate cooled cookies with frosting, piping spiderwebs, pumpkins, or ghosts; finish with sprinkles and candy eyes.
Notes
Blot pumpkin purée with paper towels for chewier cookies.
Cream cheese frosting is plush and tangy; royal icing sets firm for transport and detailed designs.
For gluten-free, use a 1:1 GF flour blend with xanthan gum.
Chill dough briefly for thicker cookies if desired.
Store frosted cookies in the fridge up to 5 days; freeze unfrosted up to 2 months.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Halloween
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 200
- Sugar: 18g
- Sodium: 160mg
- Fat: 9g
- Saturated Fat: 5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 28g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 3g
- Cholesterol: 25mg