High altitude pumpkin pie cookies, made with soft sugar cookies, spiced pumpkin pie filling and pretty piped whipped cream or buttercream on top.
You might also love these recipes for pumpkin crumble coffee cake, frosted pumpkin blondies, and pumpkin bread.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
A Little Pumpkin, Lots of Crust. If you’re someone who likes lots of “crust”, aka, soft sugar cookies, with a little bit of pumpkin filling, then you’ll love these pumpkin pie cookies.
No Chill Dough. Since there’s no need to chill the dough before baking the cookies, this recipe comes together quickly.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- All Purpose Flour.
- Powdered Sugar and Light Brown Sugar.
- Eggs.
- Pumpkin. As with all my pumpkin recipes, you need canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Butter.
- Spices. Vanilla extract, salt, ground cinnamon, cloves, ginger, allspice and nutmeg.
Instructions
Getting Ready
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cookie Dough
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, corn starch, powdered sugar, baking powder and salt, until well combined.
- Add the cold butter pieces, and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture until very small pieces of butter remain, and the mixture is crumbly.
- Add the vanilla and egg, and stir in to moisten the dry ingredients, then use your hands to work the moisture in until it comes together into a soft dough. Tip: If you’re having a hard time getting the dough to come together, you may need to add more moisture, with a very small amount of milk. This dough also comes together quickly and easily with a food processor instead of a pastry cutter.
- Use a large cookie scoop with a release lever (2 1/2 – 3 tbsp capacity) to scoop 13 portions of dough. Roll each portion of dough into a smooth ball, and place several inches apart on the baking sheet.
Filling
- In a bowl, combine the pumpkin, egg, brown sugar, vanilla and spices.
- Whisk together until smooth.
Assembly and Bake
- Use the bottom of a tablespoon measuring spoon to indent the cookie dough balls.
- Spoon the pumpkin filling into the indents. You may have a little filling left over, but you can fill the cookies full.
- Bake the cookies for about 15-17 minutes until the edges are set. These cookies don’t become very brown when baking.
- Cool on the baking sheet for one minute, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Whipped Cream or Buttercream
- To decorate your cookies, you can use either whipped cream or buttercream.
- My recipe for Perfect American Buttercream is stable at room temperature, and looks super pretty piped onto the cookies. This is a good option if the cookies are going to be sitting out for hours. I used piping tip 1M to pipe drop flowers and ruffles on the cookies.
- For more of a “pie experience”, make a batch of Stabilized Whipped Cream. Dollop or pipe the whipped cream generously on top of the cookies before serving.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
The baked cookies should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 3-6 months.
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High Altitude Pumpkin Pie Cookies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Large Cookie Scoop with Release Lever (2 1/2 – 3 tbsp capacity)
- Food Processor or Pastry Cutter
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¾ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
Filling
- ½ cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1 large egg
- 3 tbsp light brown sugar
- â…› tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- â…› tsp ground cloves
- â…› tsp ground ginger
- â…› tsp ground allspice
- â…› tsp ground nutmeg
Instructions
Getting Ready
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cookie Dough
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, corn starch, powdered sugar, baking powder and salt, until well combined.
- Add the cold butter pieces, and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture until very small pieces of butter remain, and the mixture is crumbly.
- Add the vanilla and egg, and stir in to moisten the dry ingredients, then use your hands to work the moisture in until it comes together into a soft dough.Tip: If you're having a hard time getting the dough to come together, you may need to add more moisture, with a very small amount of milk. This dough also comes together quickly and easily with a food processor instead of a pastry cutter.
- Use a large cookie scoop with a release lever (2 1/2 – 3 tbsp capacity) to scoop 13 portions of dough. Roll each portion of dough into a smooth ball, and place several inches apart on the baking sheet.
Filling
- In a bowl, combine the pumpkin, egg, brown sugar, vanilla and spices.
- Whisk together until smooth.
Assembly and Bake
- Use the bottom of a tablespoon measuring spoon to indent the cookie dough balls.
- Spoon the pumpkin filling into the indents. You may have a little filling left over, but you can fill the cookies full.
- Bake the cookies for about 15-17 minutes until the edges are set. These cookies don't become very brown when baking.
- Cool on the baking sheet for one minute, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Whipped Cream or Buttercream
- To decorate your cookies, you can use either whipped cream or buttercream.
- My recipe for Perfect American Buttercream is stable at room temperature, and looks super pretty piped onto the cookies. This is a good option if the cookies are going to be sitting out for hours. I used piping tip 1M to pipe drop flowers and ruffles on the cookies.
- For more of a "pie experience", make a batch of Stabilized Whipped Cream. Dollop or pipe the whipped cream generously on top of the cookies before serving.
Notes
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/
I needed something quick to make for a Friendsgiving pot luck. I thought these were so cute! I am in Colorado Spring and was nervous they would spread with all the butter in them but they did perfect! No spilling of the pumpkin filling! I was very impressed. I am not a pumpkin pie fan but I loved these! Would recommend!