3 Easy Pumpkin Cookies Recipes to Try This Autumn

Pumpkin cookies are a soft, warmly spiced autumn bake, made with real pumpkin puree rather than the sweetened pie filling sold in the US, so the pumpkin flavour stays gentle rather than sickly.

The best pumpkin cookies recipe uses just enough puree to keep the crumb tender without making the cookie cakey or wet. Whether you fancy something frosted, something a little healthier, or something you can throw together with a packet cake mix, there is an easy pumpkin cookies recipe here for you.

Below are three tried and tested pumpkin cookies recipes, all converted to UK measures and ingredients so you can start baking straight away.

What Kind of Pumpkin to Use

Use tinned pumpkin puree if you can find it, some larger supermarkets stock it in the run up to Halloween, or make your own by roasting and mashing pumpkin flesh.

If you are making your own, choose a proper eating pumpkin rather than a carving variety. Our guide to pumpkin varieties for carving and eating explains the difference, and either option works well in these easy pumpkin cookies recipes.

Your kitchen will smell incredible with a batch of pumpkin cookies in the oven. Warm spice and baking pumpkin is one of the best smells of autumn, and everyone in the house will want to know what’s baking.

How to Serve Pumpkin Cookies

There is no “wrong” way to serve pumpkin cookies. Enjoy them with a glass of milk, a cup of tea, or your morning coffee, whatever you fancy.

If you fancy more of a breakfast bake, try one of our pumpkin bread recipes instead.

How to Store Pumpkin Cookies

Most pumpkin cookies keep for several days in an airtight container, either on the worktop or in the fridge. To freeze a batch, pop them in a resealable freezer bag and use within two months for the best flavour.

Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing

Expect a soft, cake-like texture from these cookies, finished with a sweet cream cheese icing. This recipe makes 30 pumpkin cookies, which keep for a few days in an airtight container in the fridge.

Ingredients:

For the Cookies:

• 250g plain flour
• ¾ tsp salt
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 245g pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ⅛ tsp ground cloves
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 140g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 large egg
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 150g caster sugar
• 110g light brown sugar

For the Cream Cheese Icing:

• 240g icing sugar
• 115g cream cheese, at room temperature
• 70g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. First preheat the oven to 180C (fan 160C).
2. Lightly grease a pair of 45 x 33cm baking sheets and top with parchment paper.
3. Combine the flour with the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, and cloves.
4. Cream the butter with the two kinds of sugar using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment.
5. Mix in the egg and then the vanilla and pumpkin.
6. Now blend in the flour mixture.
7. Use a 22ml cookie scoop to make 30 cookies.
8. Arrange them about 5cm apart on the prepared baking sheets.
9. Bake one baking sheet at a time for about 14 minutes, or until the pumpkin cookies are set.
10. Let them cool completely.
11. Beat the cream cheese and butter using an electric mixer.
12. When the icing is fluffy, mix in the vanilla and icing sugar.
13. Frost the cookies once they are completely cool.

Healthy Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

If you are after healthy pumpkin oatmeal cookies, this recipe is a great one to try. The result is soft, light cookies with just the right amount of chewiness.

You will need rolled oats to make these pumpkin cookies (US recipes sometimes call these “old-fashioned oats”). If you have extra puree left over after opening the tin, our guide to using up leftover pumpkin has plenty more ideas.

The chocolate chips are optional, though they go really well with the pumpkin and oats. Swap in dark chocolate chips for a less sweet version, or try peanut butter chips for something different.

Ingredients:

• 100g caster sugar
• 110g brown sugar
• 115g butter, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• ¼ tsp salt
• 125g pumpkin puree
• 125g plain flour
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 70g rolled oats
• 90g dark chocolate chips
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method:

1. Cream the butter with the sugar in a bowl, then mix in the pumpkin.
2. Combine the oats with the flour, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and bicarbonate of soda.
3. Now combine both mixtures.
4. Do not over mix the batter. Once the flour is not visible, it is mixed enough.
5. Fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Now chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 180C (fan 160C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
8. Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto the parchment lined sheet.
9. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the cookies are set and chewy.

Pumpkin Cake Mix Cookies

Looking for something quick and easy? This pumpkin cake mix cookies recipe could not be more simple. It is a three-ingredient pumpkin cookies recipe that uses cake mix as a clever shortcut.

Use a spiced cake mix and you can make two-ingredient pumpkin cookies instead. As well as the cake mix, you simply need pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice, that is it.

These can turn a little soft if stored for more than a day or two, but a couple of minutes in a low oven crisps them back up.

Ingredients:

• 425g pumpkin puree (a standard tin)
• 480g packet vanilla cake mix
• 1 tbsp pumpkin spice (or mixed spice)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (fan 160C) and lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl.
3. Arrange tablespoon sized pieces of the cookie dough on the greased baking sheet.
4. You should get 12 cookies in total.
5. Press them down a little, but not too flat.
6. Bake for 17 minutes.
7. Let the pumpkin cake mix cookies cool on a wire rack.

Which pumpkin cookies recipe will you try first? Once you have mastered these, branch out into other pumpkin bakes.

Our pumpkin muffin recipes and pumpkin cheesecake recipes are just as popular this autumn.