This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Albertsons. All opinions are 100% mine.
These delicious pumpkin cookies melt in your mouth! The perfect combination of pumpkin and spices, topped with the BEST cream cheese frosting.
The Best Pumpkin Cookies
Making the best pumpkin cookies is one of our traditions every year along with making Roasted Pumpkin Soup (Bisque) and Pumpkin Snack Cake. We love pumpkin recipes in the fall, both sweet and savory. Once the air starts to feel a little more crisp, we start to crave pumpkin everything!
These cookies are soft and flavorful with the perfect amount of spices. They melt in your mouth! I am not just saying that; they have the most unique texture than any other pumpkin cookie I've had. The creaminess of the frosting just puts them over the top. They are SUCH a deliciously perfect fall treat!
I have perfected this cream cheese frosting over the years. It is a combination between a buttercream and a cream cheese frosting. It doesn't feel heavy, has the perfect flavor and creaminess. I use it on my pumpkin snack cake and gingerbread cake.
Ingredients
I love this time of year when I get to spend more time in my kitchen. I only use the best ingredients including real butter and fresh spices.
When baking for seasons and holidays, the quality of ingredients is always important! They make such a huge difference in the taste and end result. For this recipe, I used ingredients from the Albertsons O Organics® and Signature SELECT™ lines, including the O Organics® pumpkin pie spice.
I always find fun, exciting, seasonal products and ingredients as well as holiday baking and cooking essentials exclusively at my local Albertsons store. They have a wonderful selection, perfect for spoiling friends and family this season. You can also find O Organics exclusively in-store or online at the Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Albertsons, Safeway, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, Tom Thumb and Vons.
Helpful tip: Albertsons also offers Grocery Delivery and DriveUp & Go™ which is always a life saver when I have the littles in tow!
How to Make Pumpkin Cookies
These cookies are pretty simple to make: First the Batter, then the frosting. They take a little longer than a regular drop cookie because of the icing step, but they are totally worth it!
Pumpkin Cookie Batter
The batter comes together pretty easily, especially if you use a mixer.
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Beat butter with an electric mixer on high speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides if needed.
- Add sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice. Beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl.
- Add eggs and vanilla, beating until combined.
- Mix in flour until combined.
- Drop dough, using a 2 tablespoon medium scoop onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes.
Cream Cheese Frosting
The frosting is so simple and delicious!
- Whip butter and cream cheese together in mixer. Butter and cream cheese must be softened first or they will not incorporate smoothly.
- Alternate adding powdered sugar and milk until well combined and nice and creamy.
- Add vanilla.
- Spread frosting on each cookie and sprinkle with an extra little pinch of pumpkin pie spice.
Assembling the Pumpkin Cookies
It is important to make sure the cookies are completely cooled before icing. You can pipe the icing on each cookie if you would like it to be perfect, but I just use a butter knife and slap it on there!
After you ice the cookie, sprinkle a tiny pinch of pumpkin pie spice on each. I just use my fingers for this step- no fancy tools needed. Just a pinch. This step is totally optional, but I like the extra little spice, and of course how pretty it looks!
More Pumpkin Cookie Variations
These pumpkin cookies can act as a base for some great variations! Try some of these to change it up a bit:
- Add maple syrup to the frosting
- chop up walnuts or pecans and add to the cookie batter or frosting.
- Add chocolate chips to cookies.
- Omit the frosting and just eat the cookies plain.
- Make the cookies a little smaller and put icing in between two (to make a cookie sandwich).
- Add a dash of cinnamon to the icing before mixing.
- If you don't prefer cream cheese in your frosting, make a standard buttercream instead.
- Sprinkle cookies with crushed toffee bits.
Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cookie Batter
- 2 cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoons salt
- 4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (plus extra for sprinkling)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 15 oz. pumpkin puree
- 2 eggs
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 oz. cream cheese softened
- 4 tablespoons butter softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 3½ tablespoons whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Pumpkin Cookie Batter
-
Preheat oven to 350°.
-
Beat butter with an electric mixer on high speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides if needed. Add sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice. Beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl. Add eggs and vanilla, beating until combined. Beat in pumpkin. Mix in flour until combined.
-
Drop dough, using a 2 tablespoon medium scoop onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes in preheated oven until tops are set. Allow cookies to cool before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
-
Whip butter and cream cheese together in mixer. Alternate adding powdered sugar and milk until well combined and nice and creamy. Add vanilla.
-
Spread frosting on each cookie and sprinkle with a little pinch of pumpkin pie spice.
Lauren Maier
These cookies are very good. My husband finds them sweet enough to not need any frosting, but I like them both ways. Thanks for this recipe.
Nancy
I’m definitely going to bake these cookies.
Thank you for this recipe.