High altitude tested, pumpkin shaped sugar cookies frosted with maple buttercream icing. These no spread cutout pumpkin sugar cookies are soft and buttery, subtly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg for a delicious fall treat.
You might also love these iced maple leaf sugar cookies, toasted hazelnut Christmas cookies, and almond shortbread cookies.
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Why You’ll Love These Cookies
Easy to Make. The cookie dough comes together quickly and easily in a food processor. And you don’t need any special tools to ice them, just a small offset spatula.
No Spread Recipe. With no leavening in the dough, these cookies don’t spread or lose their shape as they bake, making them perfect for cutout cookies.
Perfect for Fall. Fall is when I love to bake all the pumpkin things. And these cute little cookies are as delicious as they are adorable.
Not Too Sweet. The cookies themselves are not overly sweet, so they’re ideal for decorating with sweet buttercream or royal icing.
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
Cookies
- All-Purpose Flour. The flour provides structure and binds the dough together.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens the cookies. The fine texture of the powdered sugar, as opposed to the coarser texture of granulated sugar, makes a smooth, soft dough that bakes into beautiful, smooth-textured cookies.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Butter. Adds richness and flavor.
- Vanilla. Flavor.
- Milk. Moisturizes the dough, pulling it all together.
- Pumpkin. Use plain canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Spices. A blend of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice and nutmeg adds warmth and flavor to complement the pumpkin.
These pumpkin sugar cookies are rich and buttery, and not at all too sweet, making them ideal for decorating with royal icing or buttercream frosting. You’ll notice that there is no leavening or eggs in the dough, so this is a “short” dough, similar to shortbread cookies, that hold their shape perfectly, without rising or spreading while baking.
Buttercream Icing
- Butter. Adds richness and flavor.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the frosting.
- Maple + Vanilla Extracts. The maple extract adds lovely flavor to these cookies, as well as colors the icing a little. Of course, you could add any flavor of extract that you like.
- Cinnamon + Nutmeg. The spices complement the flavor of the maple icing perfectly. I always freshly grate whole nutmeg – it’s quick and easy to grate, and the flavor and scent is fantastic.
Instructions
Make the Cookie Dough
- On a plate, blot the pumpkin dry with paper towels. You may need to change the paper towels 6-7 times to remove enough moisture from the pumpkin. When the pumpkin is dry enough, barely any moisture should transfer to the paper towels, and the pumpkin will be reduced from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup.
- In a food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, salt and spices to combine. With the food processor running, drop the butter pieces in one at a time, pulsing until evenly dispersed.
- Add the vanilla, milk and the dried pumpkin puree, then process the dough until it comes together into a ball.
- Dump the dough out, knead in any excess bits of flour, and wrap the dough in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Cut the Cookies
- Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Flour a clean work surface, and flour the dough lightly as well. Roll the dough out evenly to between 1/4-1/8 inch thick. Cut as many cookies as you can, and set the cut cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet, spacing them 2 inches apart. Gather up the scraps of dough, re-roll the dough, and continue cutting cookies. Using a 3-inch pumpkin shaped cutter, you should be able to cut around 27 cookies.
- Refrigerate the cut cookies for 30 minutes. Chilling the cut cookies helps to keep the cookies from spreading while they bake, so they maintain their shape.
Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake the chilled cookies for about 12 minutes. The baked cookies will not spread, but should have tiny flaky layers around the edges, and if you gently turn one over, there should be no appearance of raw or wet dough on the bottom. If steam inside the dough has caused any of the cookies to slightly puff up, just gently press it flat again with the back of a spatula.
- Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for several minutes, and then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
Decorate with Buttercream
- With an electric mixer, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar, meringue powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add the extracts. Beat for 4-5 minutes until very light and fluffy, scraping the bowl occasionally. Only add the milk if needed for desired consistency.
- To decorate your pumpkin cookies, you’ll only need a small offset icing spatula with a tapered tip. You can spread the frosting on as thick or as thin as you like. I spread on a fairly thin layer, then dragged the tip of the spatula through the icing to create the curved grooves of the pumpkin.
- If you like, fit a piping bag with a coupler, and use tip #352 to pipe small leaves and tip #2 to pipe curly vines.
Perfect Sugar Cookie Tips
- Making sugar cookie dough is really quick and easy if you use a food processor. But I’ve made this dough many times using just a bowl and pastry cutter, as well. So however you make the dough, the end result will be just as delicious.
- Keep your butter and ingredients cold, and don’t over-handle the dough. Cool dough that hasn’t been overworked makes soft, tender, flaky sugar cookies.
- Since there’s no eggs or leavening in the dough, these cutout sugar cookies don’t spread or lose their shape while baking. But it’s important to chill the cut cookies prior to baking, which also helps them maintain their size and shape when they bake.
Decorating with Royal Icing
Pumpkin sugar cookies with royal icing are also beautiful, and surprisingly easy to do. I have a simple method of dipping the cookies in the icing, with no need for a piping bag.
See these chai spiced sugar cookies for the icing recipe and instructions.
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
Store the leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
These cookies freeze beautifully, so you can bake them in advance and then freeze until you’re ready to decorate them.
You can also make the dough in advance, wrap it well, and freeze for 3-6 months. Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator, then let it warm up at room temperature until you can roll it out.
Note that the icing on these cookies is buttercream, not royal icing. It won’t dry and harden like royal icing, but the the surface of the buttercream will dry a bit and crust over, while staying soft underneath. You cannot stack the frosted cookies without ruining the icing.
For more FAQs on making these cookies, see my original sugar cookies post.
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High Altitude Pumpkin Sugar Cookies with Maple Icing
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
- Food Processor
- Electric Mixer (Stand or Hand-Held)
Ingredients
Cookies
- ½ cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¾ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp milk
Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp meringue powder, optional
- ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 small pinch salt
- ½ tsp maple extract
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp milk or cream, if needed
Instructions
Make the Cookie Dough
- On a plate, blot the pumpkin dry with paper towels. You may need to change the paper towels 6-7 times to remove enough moisture from the pumpkin. When the pumpkin is dry enough, barely any moisture should transfer to the paper towels, and the pumpkin will be reduced from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup.
- In a food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, salt and spices to combine. With the food processor running, drop the butter pieces in one at a time, pulsing until evenly dispersed.
- Add the vanilla, milk and the dried pumpkin puree, then process the dough until it comes together into a ball.
- Dump the dough out, knead in any excess bits of flour, and wrap the dough in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Cut the Cookies
- Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Flour a clean work surface, and flour the dough lightly as well. Roll the dough out evenly to between 1/4-1/8 inch thick. Cut as many cookies as you can, and set the cut cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet, spacing them 2 inches apart. Gather up the scraps of dough, re-roll the dough, and continue cutting cookies. Using a 3-inch pumpkin shaped cutter, you should be able to cut around 27 cookies.
- Refrigerate the cut cookies for 30 minutes. Chilling the cut cookies helps to keep the cookies from spreading while they bake, so they maintain their shape.
Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake the chilled cookies for about 12 minutes. The baked cookies will not spread, but should have tiny flaky layers around the edges, and if you gently turn one over, there should be no appearance of raw or wet dough on the bottom. If steam inside the dough has caused any of the cookies to slightly puff up, just gently press it flat again with the back of a spatula.
- Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for several minutes, and then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
Decorate with Buttercream
- With an electric mixer, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar, meringue powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add the extracts. Beat for 4-5 minutes until very light and fluffy, scraping the bowl occasionally. Only add the milk if needed for desired consistency.
- To decorate your pumpkin cookies, you'll only need a small offset icing spatula with a tapered tip. You can spread the frosting on as thick or as thin as you like. I spread on a fairly thin layer, then dragged the tip of the spatula through the icing to create the curved grooves of the pumpkin.
- If you like, fit a piping bag with a coupler, and use tip #352 to pipe small leaves and tip #2 to pipe curly vines.
Notes
- These cookies freeze beautifully, so you can bake them in advance and then freeze until you’re ready to decorate them.
- You can also make the dough in advance, wrap it well, and freeze for 3-6 months. Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator, then let it warm up at room temperature until you can roll it out.
- Note that the icing on these cookies is buttercream, not royal icing. It won’t dry and harden like royal icing, but the the surface of the buttercream will dry a bit and crust over, while staying soft underneath. You cannot stack the frosted cookies without ruining the icing.
Sorry, I didn’t see the note about no food processor until after I asked my question.
These are REALLY good for a couple of reasons. #1 They taste like pumpkin pie.
#2 They are NOT cakey (thank goodness!)
#3 It’s an excellent recipe to use wirh my embossed rolling pin.
#4 They didn’t spread all over my cookie sheets.
*Which is a good thing. Hot cookie glop in the oven is a pain to clean up.
I made two small tweeks. The first was to use 1 tsp. of pumpkin pie extract & 1 tsp. of vanilla extract. The second was that I used ginger sugar instead of frosting/glaze. The ginger sugar shows off the embossed design really well since it settles into the impression.
Thanks for such a successful recipe!!
So glad you loved them!