My soft pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting are absolutely packed with warm fall flavor. They’re easy to make, perfectly spiced, and topped off with a smooth, tangy frosting. The ultimate fall cookie, it’s perfect for bake sales, your Thanksgiving dessert table, or cozy nights in.
These pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting are the perfect cookies to make your kitchen smell like fall. They’re perfectly light and cakey with just the right amount of spice, topped with a luscious cream cheese frosting that adds just the right tangy balance. They’re sweet, but not too sweet, tender and melt-in-your-mouth, and the perfect dessert for lovers of pumpkin cake and pumpkin bars.
I first shared this recipe over ten years ago, but have since made a few tiny tweaks to make the cookies even more flavorful and delicious.
Why You’ll Love this Recipe:
- Bakery-style texture: These are soft, thick, and cake-like cookies, with a fluffy texture that’s a stark contrast to my many flatter, chewy cookies (if you’re looking for one of those, try my pumpkin spice cookies instead).
- Perfectly spiced. A full tablespoon of pumpkin spice vigorously mixed with the butter and sugar amps the flavor, making the cookies richly spiced (an important change from the earlier version, which only used a teaspoon of spice mixed in with the dry ingredients!).
- Beginner friendly. No fancy equipment or special techniques needed, the steps are straightforward and the ingredients basic (though the flavor is anything but).
What You Need:
- Pumpkin puree. Make sure you’re using pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling (which has added sugar and spices, which will throw off your results). A bit annoyingly, these are usually sold right next to each other in similar orange cans so it’s easy to accidentally grab the wrong can! If you want to use homemade pumpkin puree, make sure it’s not too watery… see my FAQ section below.
- Sugar. My pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting use a blend of regular granulated and brown sugar for the bases, and primarily powdered sugar to thicken the frosting, as well as a bit of brown sugar to deepen the flavor and add a fall flair.
- Pumpkin spice. Store-bought is totally fine, but I like to make a homemade pumpkin spice blend. I also like to grate a bit of fresh nutmeg or cinnamon over the cookies after they’ve finished baking, or you can add some colorful sprinkles!
- Cornstarch. The pumpkin adds a nice cakiness to the cookies, but to make them even more soft, tender, and melt in your mouth we add a bit of cornstarch, too. This is also a key ingredient in my copycat Lofthouse cookies.
SAM’S TIP: With many of my pumpkin cookies, I blot the pumpkin (I use paper towels to absorb the excess moisture) to keep the cookies chewy and not cakey. With this recipe, we lean into the moisture of the pumpkin to intentionally create a lighter, slightly cakier cookie, so there is no blotting needed.
How to Make Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Step 1: Make the dough. The dough comes together simply; cream the butter, sugar, and spices then add the eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin, and then the dry ingredients. This is a thicker, sticky dough, and even though you’ll chill it for an hour it still may be a bit sticky when you roll it.
- Step 2: Chill, scoop, bake. Let the dough chill for an hour (or up to 2 days), scoop and roll into smooth balls, then bake. Immediately after baking, gently flatten each cookie; this helps make them a bit more tender (a trick we use in my double chocolate chunk cookies) and gives you a flat surface for adding the frosting.
- Step 3: Make the frosting. This is a simple cream cheese frosting that comes together in a single bowl. If you’re looking for an alternative, you could try my vanilla frosting (basically a buttercream) or make things super flavorful with my brown butter frosting.
- Step 4: Decorate the cookies. Once the cookies have cooled, pipe or smear the frosting over the cookies. If you’d like, add a sprinkle of freshly grated cinnamon, nutmeg, or colorful candy sprinkles (or homemade sprinkles) while the icing is freshly applied.
FAQ
Yes, typically after 48 hours. I recommend refrigerating (or even freezing) the cookies if you plan on storing them beyond 2 days.
Yes… but there’s a “but”. Homemade pumpkin puree is a bit trickier and less consistent. It’s usually more watery than the storebought stuff, which can throw off the dough making the cookies too soft and cakey. If your heart is set on using homemade, make sure it’s been processed properly and is thick; you can blot it with paper towels to remove any excess moisture if needed.
It is not. Honestly, I don’t have a Crumbl nearby and so I don’t follow them closely or even know what they have on their menu at any given time. If they have a pumpkin cookie with cream cheese frosting, I’ve never tried it. That being said, these are fun, gourmet cookies that can absolutely hold their own against any pink-box bakery cookie (psst: so can my apple pie cookies, pumpkin cheesecake cookies, blueberry muffin cookies, and more!) .
More Recipes To Try:
In addition to these pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting, I have a lot of pumpkin recipes lined up for you this season, including pumpkin pie and pumpkin cinnamon rolls and quite a few in between. Let me know if there are any other pumpkin recipes you’d like to see!
Enjoy!
Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) light or dark brown sugar firmly packed
- 1 Tablespoon pumpkin spice
- ½ cup (130 g) pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 ¼ cups (405 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon corn starch (or cornflour in UK)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon table salt
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 6 ounces (170 g) cream cheese softened
- 6 Tablespoons (85 g) butter softened
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar tightly packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups (400 g) powdered sugar
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- In KitchenAid (or using an electric hand mixer) cream together butter, sugars, and pumpkin pie spice on medium-high speed, until well-combined1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar sugar, ½ cup (100 g) light or dark brown sugar, 1 Tablespoon pumpkin spice
- Add pumpkin puree, egg and egg yolk, and vanilla extract and beat on low-speed until combined.1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ cup (130 g) pumpkin puree
- In separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, corn starch, baking powder, and salt.3 ¼ cups (405 g) all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon corn starch, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¾ teaspoon table salt
- Gradually (with mixer on medium-low speed) stir the dry mixture into wet ingredients, pausing occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that all ingredients are well-combined.
- Cover dough with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for 1 hour.
- Shortly before dough has finished chilling, preheat your oven to 350F and prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper.
- Remove dough from refrigerator and roll into 2 Tablespoon-sized (42g) balls. Dough may be a bit sticky.
- Place on cookie sheet at least 2″ apart and bake on 350F for 12-13 minutes.
- Immediately after baking, use the (clean) bottom of a glass or measuring cup to gently flatten each cookie.
- Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using an electric mixer and a large bowl), beat together cream cheese, butter, and brown sugar until well-combined.6 ounces (170 g) cream cheese, 6 Tablespoons (85 g) butter, 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- Stir in vanilla extract and salt, and then scrape down sides and bottom of bowl and beat briefly once more to ensure all ingredients are well-combined.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Gradually, with mixer on low-speed, stir powdered sugar into frosting until completely combined (pausing occasionally to scrape down sides and bottom of bowl).3 cups (400 g) powdered sugar
- Once cookies have cooled completely, spread or pipe icing over the tops of cookies. Add a sprinkle of fresh grated nutmeg, cinnamon, or even some fun colorful sprinkles, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
I originally shared the recipe for these Frosted Pumpkin Cookies over on my friend Holly’s site, Spend with Pennies, back in 2016. i’ve made a few small tweaks to the cookies to make them a bit more flavorful, and have taken new photos.
Pat Ellis
Enjoyed making this Lofthouse type cookie. My dough turned out sticky and I’m wondering if I should have added more flour. I placed a small square of waxed paper under the glass as I flattened them, and that worked well. Icing was divine! Fun to have a decorated cookie for Thanksgiving.
Sam
Hi Pat! I’m glad you still enjoyed them! If they didn’t spread too much in the oven then you don’t need to add any more flour. 🙂
Anna
Probably some of the best cookies I’ve ever had. Seriously, they were like pumpkin bread in a cookie shape! Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies so much, Anna! 🙂