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Sugar cookies just got better with a little pumpkin! This Pumpkin Sugar Cookie recipe creates soft, chewy, lightly spicy glazed cookies that are perfect for Fall and all the way through the holidays! Ever since I posted this recipe back in 2014, people have been going crazy for them. It’s one of my most shared recipes ever. If you love pumpkin, I just know you’ve come to the right place.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe!
I don’t know about you, but I LOVE a good sugar cookie. Especially if it’s soft, spicy, and if pumpkin is involved in some way. Yes, there’s the classic pumpkin pie, pumpkin bars, and even old-fashioned pumpkin donuts, but pumpkin sugar cookies are truly the way to my heart.
This recipe for pumpkin sugar cookies is a simple one using butter, vegetable oil, pumpkin puree a mixture of two sugars, vanilla, spices, and flour. Scooped and pressed onto a baking sheet, these bake up nice and soft and then get taken to the next level with a sweet and spicy glaze.
They are an easy recipe to make, stay soft for days, and are just the right amount of pumpkin flavor, warm spices and sweet. Alone they already amazing, but with the glaze they are so addicting!
Main Ingredients Needed
Here’s everything you’ll need to make these homemade pumpkin sugar cookies!
- Butter + Vegetable Oil – for all of the flavor and moisture.
- Pumpkin Purée– don’t confuse this for canned pumpkin pie filling. Make sure your can says purée!
- Granulated + Powdered Sugar – for sweetness and soft texture.
- Vanilla Extract- for flavor.
- Eggs – for structure and texture.
- All-Purpose Flour – this fills out the rest of the cookies.
- Baking Soda – leavening agent for rising.
- Cream of Tartar – helps with the leavening and also brings a slight tang.
- Salt – to balance out all of the flavors.
- Cinnamon, Nutmeg + Cloves – I used a mixture of these three to create warm and spiced notes. You can also use pumpkin pie spice. Use what you have!
Pro Tip: When testing this recipe, I used all butter, all oil, and then a combination of both and found that using both butter and vegetable oil gave me the texture I was looking for while still giving that buttery flavor. Butter adds flavor and the vegetable oil keeps the cookies moist and soft all the way through.
Homemade Spice Mix vs Pumpkin Pie Spice
For this pumpkin cookie recipe, I use a mixture of nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon in the dough, but do use pumpkin pie spice in the glaze. Either is fine and works perfectly well. Use what you have! Also, if you feel you need to add in a little ginger to make it a true pumpkin pie spice mix, feel free to add that in as well. I just didn’t have any and am partial to cloves over the ginger. To each their own!
The recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and a pinch of cloves. If you want to use Pumpkin Pie spice in place of these, simply use 1 1/2 teaspoons total of pumpkin pie spice.
Glaze vs. Frosting
I love using a simple spiced glaze for these pumpkin sugar cookies made from powdered sugar, water and pumpkin pie spice. It hardens nicely and actually helps to lock in moisture in the finished cookie. They can stack well for easy transport and look great!
If it’s not spicy enough, add in more pumpkin pie spice or a combo of cinnamon and nutmeg.
How to Make Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
This process of baking couldn’t be easier! Using very common pantry ingredients, you only need one bowl and a few minutes! Some comments below say that these pumpkin sugar cookies don’t taste “pumpkiny” enough, so if you want things really screaming pumpkin, use 1 1/2 times the amount of spices in the cookie dough and glaze. I don’t recommend adding in more pureed pumpkin because that will add too much moisture to the cookie. For full recipe details including ingredients and measurements, see the printable recipe card down below. Here are step-by-step instructions for how to make these sugar cookies!
Preheat Oven + Prep Cookie Sheet
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line light colored cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Make the Sugar Cookie Dough
In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, oil, sugars, vanilla, eggs and pumpkin together using an electric mixer or stand mixer, until well incorporated. Next, slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
Bake
Using a cookie scoop, place cookie dough balls onto prepared baking sheets. Press the bottom of a small cup into granulated sugar and press each cookie down to flatten slightly. Bake 8-9 minutes or until the edges are starting to become lightly golden brown. Allow to cool for a couple minutes on the cookie sheet, then move to a cooling rack.
Make the Glaze
While the cookies are baking, combine powdered sugar, water and pumpkin pie spice in a medium bowl. Stir until incorporated and you have a nice smooth and thick glaze. Spread 1 1/2 teaspoons glaze over the top of each cookie while still warm. Let glaze harden 2-3 hours before serving. Or eat them warm with lots of runny glaze. 🙂
Pro Tip: Want to take it to a whole new level? Try my tangy cream cheese frosting or a simple vanilla buttercream. Dust the frosted cookies with a little pumpkin pie spice for a beautiful presentation and extra flavor! So so delicious!
Storing Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
Allow cookies and icing to cool completely to room temperature. By then the icing will have hardened and you’ll have an easier time storing them. Store in an airtight container with good fitting lid. These sugar cookies will stay soft and fresh for up to 5 days.
FAQ About Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
When testing this recipe, I used all butter, all oil, and then a combination of both and found that using both butter and vegetable oil gave me the texture I was looking for while still giving that buttery flavor. Butter adds flavor and the vegetable oil keeps the cookies moist and soft all the way through.
Yes! If you want to make these pumpkin sugar cookies now and bake later, you totally can. Wrap the cookie dough tightly in plastic wrap and then place into a freezer safe zip top bag and into the freezer for up to 3 months! When ready to bake, allow to thaw overnight and then bake as the recipe card directs.
You can also freeze these cookies after they’ve been baked. Layer into an airtight container with parchment paper separating each layer. Freeze for up to 3 months.
More Sugar Cookie Recipes!
- Copycat Swig Sugar Cookies
- Frosted Sugar Cookies
- Classic Sugar Cookies
- Lemon Sour Cream Sugar Cookies
- Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
- Sugar Cookie Blossoms
- Sugar Cookie Bars
And if you’re looking for more pumpkin recipes, check out my full list here.
I hope you love these soft pumpkin sugar cookies as much as we do. They are perfect for fall and even through the holiday season! The printable recipe card is down below. Enjoy 🙂
If you make this recipe, I would really appreciate it if you would give it a star rating and leave your review in the comments! If you have a picture of your finished dish, post it on Instagram using the hashtag #laurenslatest and tagging me @laurens_latest.
Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree canned pumpkin
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 large eggs
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- pinch of cloves
for the glaze-
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons water
- 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat and set aside. In a large bowl, stir butter, oil, pumpkin, sugars, vanilla and eggs together until incorporated and smooth.
- Slowly mix in all dry ingredients until completely incorporated.
- Scoop onto prepared baking sheet using 1 1/2 tablespoon scoop and flatten to 1/2 inch thick using the bottom of a glass. If the dough is sticking to the glass, press the bottom of the glass in granulated sugar before flattening. Bake 8-9 minutes.
- While cookies bake, stir all ingredients together for glaze until smooth.
- Once cookies are finished baking, cool 3 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to cooling rack. Spread 1 1/2 teaspoons glaze over each warm cookie. Let glaze harden 2-3 hours before serving. OR eat them warm with lots of runny glaze 🙂
Has any tried making these into bars instead of cookies?
We love this recipe. I have used it two years in a row now. The only tweeking I do is use a tad more spices than it calls for and use all 4 fall spices in the glaze. YUMM
I’ve made these twice in the last week, and both times the texture I get is nothing like what I see in your pictures. What am I doing wrong? I would post my pictures but I don’t see a way to do that here.
Can you use pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves?
Thank you
Yes! Use what you have.
Why can’t I print this?
Are you clicking the printer icon in the picture in the recipe card? I just tried it and it worked for me! After you click that, the printable recipe card should populate so you can print.
I’ve seen a lot of really good reviews and I’m super confused. It’s not a bad cookie. It’s just not good. The texture was a bit dry (which can totally be my fault) but the cookie and icing lacked flavor. Very very bland. I’m super adding extra salt, sugar and spices would bring it up a notch, but I just didn’t like it enough to try again. Sorry ☹️
Just curious as to why you use both oil and butter as ingredients instead of just butter?
Butter adds flavor, oil helps keep the cookies soft.
Very nice cookie with nice glaze. However, if I had not made these myself, I would not have called them pumpkin sugar cookies. There was only the barest hint of pumpkin taste. And yes, I used 100% canned pumpkin.
Hi, i can’t find cream of tartar in my country , can i replace it by more baking soda or baking powder ?
They turned out amazing. Wish I could posts a pic. I added more spice to the glaze and decorated them with Christmas decorations so in the freezer they will go until Christmas.
They turned out great! They taste even better on day 2! It was as if over night the pumpkin flavor really came through. My friends and I couldn’t stop eating them! Great recipe!
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Love these cookies! They are a fall staple in our household now 😊 So soft and the icing makes them just perfectly sweet!
Love love love these cookies! They are a fall staple in our household now 😊
Made these today for my daughter using gluten free flour. I’m not even a pumpkin fan, and they are delicious! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
I made these over the weekend and they are great, I will definitely be making them again! They are so much better than regular sugar cookies, I may bake these for Christmas.
I just did these, I agree, not much flavor, I’m so disappointed.
Can this be made ahead of time and refrigerate the dough? Or can you freeze it?
Thanks
I just tried these today and they are excellent! I am the only one in my family that likes pumpkin, so I made the regular sugar cookies for them and made the pumpkin ones for me 🙂 I will definitely be making these again soon!
This recipe is a true stunner! Everyone I’ve taken them to wants more, wants the recipe, & wants to make a bowl of the icing & eat it plain 😁🎃 Best fall cookies you’re gonna find this side of the pumpkin patch 💯🙌😁
Make sure the butter is very, very soft, as it’s hard to incorporate into the other wet ingredients without using a mixer,. I wish I’d used the mixer to mix butter and oil together.
I don’t know why but mine came out pale, cakey and tasting like flour. I weighed the flour so I’d be sure I had the correct amount. I had to wonder about the 1/4 tsp of baking soda and 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar for 4 cups of flour.. Fortunately the glaze adds a little flavor. Otherwise, no pumpkin flavor and not much spice-y taste.
[…] Glazed Pumpkin Sugar Cookies […]
I made these a couple of weekends ago and they were a huge hit! Thanks for all of your delicious recipes!
These pumpkin cookies sound so good! I can’t wait to try them sometime soon! They look super easy to make too.
I made these for my family and they were a hit! Even my neighbor’s got to get a little treat 🙂
Ok these look amazing! I am totally going to make these for our ward trunk or treat! Thanks for creating such a positive space on Instagram.
Made these cookies the other day and my whole family loved them!! This recipe is a keeper!
These are my all time favorite cookie!!! I love everything pumpkin and my favorite cookie at Christmas is the sugar cookie so this was a match made in heaven! I have made these for a few years now, all autumn long and even throughout the year when the craving arises. My family also loves these cookies so it’s great that they are so quick and easy to make 🙂
This recipe is my favorite fall treat and always requested by family during thanksgiving season! Posting for your 10 year blogging giveaway!
These were the BEST cookies hands down I have had and the easiest to make. I ended up letting the wet ingredients mix maybe a bit too long and they became more of a whipped consistency but they mixed well with the dry ingredients. My only hiccup was the glaze, it proved to be my challenge area, it was really thick and I felt it needed maybe 1 to 1.5T more water but I will test that for myself next time.
I took these to my gym (it’s why we workout, right? 🤷♀️) and EVERYONE loved them and was begging for the recipe. Thank you for creating, posting, and making these delightful little nuggets of happiness! 😊
I made these cookies last fall and they were such a hit my kid’s friends parents were asking for the recipe! Can’t wait to make them again.
These are on my *all things pumpkin* list to try! The look DIVINE! Love your recipes!
these are always a huge hit!
These cookies are delicious! They stayed very soft. My husband and boys loved them! Definitely will make them again.
Thanks for sharing! Do they keep long?
This looks so good! This is a nice way to add some pumpkin at a get together without it being overload!
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The photos looked great but followed the recipe and they came out very cakey and not buttery gooey. I think pumpkin may make them more cake like and not much pumpkin flavor.
[…] These are SO soft! They melt in your mouth. Once again, using real pumpkin keeps them moist and they have me addicted. The best pumpkin cookies ever! […]
I substituted more pumpkin instead of the oil, using a full cup of pumpkin and no oil. I also used 2 teaspoons of pumpkin spice instead if the spices listed. Also added extra vanilla (2 teaspoons total). These cookies had plenty of flavor. The consistency of the finished was a little weird, kind if dense. Not sure if the extra pumpkin and no oil did that ir if that is how they turn out anyway. They were an interesting alternative to cakey pumpkin cookies, which I don’t really care for.
For more pumpkin flavor increase the spice not the pumpkin, the wet pumpkin will change her recipe & cookie texture, adjust the spice ( I recommend adding more cinnamon & nutmeg w a pinch of cloves) , oddly that’s where your pumpkin flavor comes from.
preach it, girl!
These cookies were great but noticed a couple things. I could have / should have doubled or tripled the pumpkin purée as it was just not enough pumpkin flavor at all. Wondering if there’s a way to cook the pumpkin so it reduces and intensifies the flavor before adding it to the cookie batch. I also made them a bit thicker 1/2” and they took nearly 18 minutes to bake. Even at 12 minutes they were still quite raw inside. So if you are going to make these find a way to intensify the pumpkin flavor using your own technique and know that you may have to bake them longer in order for them to be completely cooked through.
Do these need to be refrigerated?
No, they’re fine at room temperature.
I wanted to love these you guys, I really did, but I just could not! 🙁 We were so disappointed in the taste. I think for us it was the glaze mostly. I believe a glaze should taste good on its own and this one never did 🙁 perhaps if it was made with milk instead of water (I’ve never made a glaze with water before) and much much less powdered sugar. The basic cookie itself was just ok, not really anything special. We won’t be making these again. Sorry Lauren! But don’t worry we will try other recipes! I wished this was a winner for us but between our house of six and several neighbors test tasting none of us liked them at all 🙁
I bake a LOT and these were an epic fail! I followed your directions. They had no flavor and were a pale color… Not pumpkin looking at all. VERY DISAPPOINTED 😐
Really tasty cookies!! I learned to mix the butter/sugars together until smooth first before adding the oil/pumpkin/eggs- and added a heaping half cup of pumpkin after reading some of the reviews and they turned out great!! Addicting for sure!
How do you store these cookies?
Once the glaze has set, you can throw these into a zip top plastic bag or air tight container.
Can you substitute with gluten free flour ?
[…] latest has these delicious Soft Pumpkin Sugar […]
[…] If you love pumpkin, you’ll love my other pumpkin recipes: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread, Pumpkin Pull Apart Bread, Pumpkin Cream Pie & Soft Pumpkin Sugar Cookies. […]