Pumpkin Sugar Cookies with Maple Icing

Satisfy your pumpkin cravings with these delicious Pumpkin Sugar Cookies iced with a simple sweet maple glaze. These cut-out sugar cookies are shaped like pumpkins and taste like pumpkin and pumpkin spice!

A spin on classic sugar cut-out cookies, these easy pumpkin sugar cookies use rich pumpkin puree, and a blend of warm spices, and are finished off with sweet maple icing for the best pumpkin cookie ever!

These cookies will get you feeling cozy and in the fall spirit! Bake yourself a batch and enjoy it with a cup of coffee for a delicious fall treat.

If you’re looking for more delicious treats to try this fall, try my Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, these soft Pumpkin Pie Spice Pudding Cookies, or make these delicious Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cheesecake Frosting.

Why You Will Love This Recipe

1. A Pumpkin spiced Spin on a Classic – I make lots of plain cut-out sugar cookies, but adding real pumpkin and pumpkin spice to these cookies makes them so special. These are perfect for fall snacks and gifting.
2. The Cookie Cutter is Optional – I wanted these cookies to look like pumpkins so I used a pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter, but you can do any shape that you like! You can even use a glass to make circles.
3. Easy Instructions – Read through the instructions, ingredients, and tips before you get started so that you’re ready to go. This recipe is so easy to make, and you’ll have so much fun making these too.

Key Ingredients

• Flour, Baking Powder, and Salt: These are the dry ingredients of this recipe. Always use all-purpose flour for sugar cut-out cookies. If you’re in the UK, it’s called plain flour.
• Butter and Shortening: We are using a combination of salted butter and vegetable shortening to make these cookies. Both ingredients are fats that are essential to sugar cookies. Salted butter will add a delicious buttery flavor and shortening will make sure that the cookies hold their shape and do not spread too much as they’re baked.
• Egg: One large egg is all we need here. Make sure that the egg is brought to room temperature before it is mixed in the cookie dough.
• Pumpkin Puree: You only need half a cup of pumpkin puree to make this recipe, which makes it perfect to use up leftover pumpkin puree. Canned or homemade pumpkin puree works perfectly fine here.
• Spices: Use a combination of ground cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. If you have pumpkin pie spice, you can use a total of 1 and ¾ teaspoons of it.
• Sugar, and Vanilla: You will need white granulated sugar, and vanilla extract. I personally love pure vanilla extract and that’s what I use. If you prefer imitation vanilla, go for it!
• For the Maple Icing: It’s so simple! All you need is powdered sugar, maple syrup, and milk or heavy cream to make it. I used dark maple syrup, it gives a richer flavor and color but regular maple syrup works fine (the flavor might be milder though).

How To Make Pumpkin Cut Out Cookies

1. Mix Dry Ingredients: In a mixing bowl, sift the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg) together. Set aside.
2. Cream Butter, Shortening, and Sugar: In a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter, shortening, and sugar until fluffy and well mixed. This should take 2-3 minutes. Remember to pause and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. For the Pumpkin Puree: Use a paper towel or a coffee filter to squeeze the moisture out of the pumpkin puree. Discard the liquid.
4. Add the Rest of the Wet Ingredients: Add the vanilla extract and pumpkin puree to the butter mixture. Beat for another minute until well mixed.

1. Combine Dry and Wet: Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing on low speed until combined into cookie dough. Cover the bowl and chill in your fridge for at least 2 hours, or up to overnight.
2. Get Ready to Bake and Roll Out: When the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C, and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Then, lightly flour your surface and roll out the cookie dough to ¼” inch thickness.
3. Cut Out Shapes: Use a floured cookie cutter to cut out desired shapes and place them onto prepared cookie sheets.
4. Bake: Bake the pumpkin cookies in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are just turning a light golden color. Let the cookies cool on the trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Keep in mind that the baking time might vary depending on the size of the cookie, but they’re ready when they’re no longer glossy and they’re slightly puffed.

1. For the Icing: In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the powdered sugar, maple syrup, and heavy cream or milk until well combined. Add the milk/cream gradually until you reach the desired consistency. Then either drizzle it on top of the cooled cookies or pipe it to create a pattern as I did).

Top Tips

• Unsalted Butter: If unsalted butter is what you have available, you can use it and add ⅛ teaspoon of salt instead.
• Chilling is Important: These cookies will spread too much if the dough isn’t cold when you put it in the oven.
• Don’t Overbake: Overbaked pumpkin sugar cookies will be too brown and dry. Pull your cookies out of the oven just as they start to get brown. They will continue to cook a bit as they cool. Also, keep in mind that the baking time varies depending on the cookie size, my cookie cutters were around 2-3 inches and took 10-12 minutes to bake.
• The icing takes about 12 hours to harden, so allow the iced cookies to sit at room temperature overnight and then store them in containers.

Storing Tips

Storing at Room Temp: Keep cookies without icing in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 7 days, or with icing for up to 4 days.

Freezing: You can freeze the cookie dough before cutting, by rolling it out into a rectangle, then wrap it in saran wrap and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw before rolling out and cutting. You can also freeze baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 months.

Other Fall Desserts You Should Try

• Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes
• Pumpkin Spice Pudding Cookies
• Pumpkin Cupcakes
• Candy Corn Marshmallow Squares

I hope that you enjoyed these Pumpkin Sugar Cookies as much as my family did! Save this recipe for the next time you’re craving a pumpkin-spiced treat.