These Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting have all the flavors of Fall. They are soft, sweet, slightly spiced cookies with pumpkin pie spice, and the cream cheese frosting adds that special, sweet, creamy finish.
What we love about these Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
I love Fall baking! I live in Phoenix, where I have to pretend it is getting cooler in September, and I celebrate Fall with whatever I can make with pumpkin and apple. These cookies have been a favorite of ours for a long time. I love the soft texture of the cookies from the pumpkin in them and the warm, slightly spiced flavor from the pumpkin pie spice. This recipe makes 6 dozen cookies, so plenty to share with friends and family, or you can half the recipe if desired, or make some and freeze some.
The cream cheese frosting is an amazing finish to the cookie. I love the tangy sweetness of the frosting and how it complements the cookie. We like to sprinkle these with a little additional pumpkin pie spice, which adds an extra finish of pumpkin spice flavor, or you can have them with just the frosting.
Looking for other Fall recipes? Try our Sweet Potato Salad Recipe, or our Homemade Chicken and Dumpling Soup
What you need to make these Pumpkin Pie Spice Cookies
You will need the following ingredients:
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Salt
- Butter
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Canned pumpkin
- Cream cheese
- Powdered sugar
- Milk
Soft Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting Substitutions
I know what it’s like when you don’t have everything on hand, and the last thing you want to do is run to the store and pick something up. Here are a few ideas to substitute items on the ingredients list if needed:
- You could use store-bought cream cheese frosting if you don’t want to make your own.
- If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, feel free to substitute with cinnamon. If you want to have more spice, pumpkin pie spice’s main ingredient is cinnamon with ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice added, and you can make your own.
- The pumpkin pie spice sprinkled on top is optional; it just adds a bit more of the pumpkin pie spice flavor. That can also be substituted with cinnamon or simply omitted.
- If you don’t have brown sugar, you could use all granulated sugar here.
- I’ve never tried using fresh pureed pumpkin in this recipe, but I would guess that could be a possible substitute.
- You could use half-and-half or cream in place of the milk in the frosting.
Step-by-step Instructions
Step 1. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt until just mixed. Set aside.
Step 2. In a stand mixer or with a handheld mixer in a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add eggs, scraping down the edges of the bowl with a spatula as needed to ensure the dough is evenly mixed. Add vanilla and pumpkin and mix until fully incorporated.
Step 3. Add the flour mixture to the dough, mixing until just combined. Scrape down the edges of the bowl with a spatula to ensure the dough is evenly mixed.
Step 4. Scoop 2 Tablespoons of cookie dough onto cookie sheets, leaving 2 inches between each scoop. I like using a medium-sized cookie/ice cream scoop for this. Bake cookies for 12-13 minutes. In my oven, I like them at 12 minutes, when they are cooked through and a little softer.
Step 5. In a stand mixer or with a handheld mixer in a medium-sized bowl, beat together butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Mix in powdered sugar and salt and beat until smooth. Add vanilla and milk and mix until completely incorporated.
Step 6. Frost the cookies with the icing. I like using an offset spatula for this. I turn the frosting in a circular motion with the spatula to get a little swirl on the icing. If desired, top the iced cookies with a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice.
Tips
- I recommend keeping parchment paper on hand; it is especially helpful when baking cookies. Lining your pan with parchment paper helps prevent cookies from spreading when baking, which in turn helps prevent your cookies from becoming too thin and crispy. The cookies won’t stick to your pan, and pans are much easier to clean up. Also, the parchment paper creates a thin layer between the cookies and the pan, which helps promote even browning and prevents hot spots on your pan that may cause cookies to burn.
- I love using a cookie scoop when making cookies so that the cookies are a uniform size and shape. I use a medium cookie scoop for this recipe, which makes a scoop of about 2 tablespoons. I really like the one from Pampered Chef or this scoop from Amazon works great as well.
- Also, I love my USA pan baking sheets, they cook so evenly, are high quality, and long-lasting.
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Frequently Asked Questions
| Can the cookie dough be made in advance? |
| a. The USDA says that cookie dough is safe in the fridge for 2-4 days. Sometimes I make the dough the day before, cover the dough in the fridge, and bake the cookies the next day. Before baking, keep the dough out at room temperature for about 30 minutes, or the dough will be hard to scoop. |
| How to store Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting? |
| a. Store cookies in an air-tight container in a single layer in the fridge. I put parchment paper or waxed paper between layers of cookies if needed. The cookies without the frosting will last in the fridge for 1-2 weeks, and in the freezer for 3 months. The cream cheese frosting may slightly shorten their shelf life. b. I don’t recommend freezing the cookies with the frosting added. I would freeze the cookies and frosting separately in airtight containers. While cream cheese frosting generally freezes well due to the high fat content, the texture of the cream cheese frosting can slightly alter after freezing. Re-whipping the frosting after thawing can help with that, so freeze the cookies and frosting separately, re-whip the frosting, and then frost after thawing. |
Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
35
minutes1
hour12
minutes6
dozen cookies1
hour47
minutesThese Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting have all the flavors of Fall. They are soft, sweet, slightly spiced cookies with pumpkin pie spice, and the cream cheese frosting adds that special, sweet, creamy finish.
Ingredients
Cookies:
4 ½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 ¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 15-ounce can of pumpkin (puree, not pumpkin pie filling)
Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch salt
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line 2-3 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt until just mixed. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer or with a handheld mixer in a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add eggs, scraping down the edges of the bowl with a spatula as needed to ensure the dough is evenly mixed. Add vanilla and pumpkin and mix until fully incorporated.
- Add the flour mixture to the dough, mixing until just combined. Scrape down the edges of the bowl with a spatula to ensure the dough is evenly mixed.
- Scoop 2 Tablespoons of cookie dough onto cookie sheets, leaving 2 inches between each scoop. I like using a medium-sized cookie/ice cream scoop for this.
- Bake cookies for 12-13 minutes. In my oven, I like them at 12 minutes, when they are cooked through and a little softer. The bottom of the cookies may be slightly light brown. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 3-5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- In a stand mixer or with a handheld mixer in a medium-sized bowl, beat together butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Mix in powdered sugar and salt and beat until smooth. Add vanilla and milk and mix until completely incorporated.
- Frost the cookies with the icing. I like using an offset spatula for this. I turn the frosting in a circular motion with the spatula to get a little swirl on the icing.
- If desired, top the iced cookies with a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice. You can use a powdered sugar shaker, a spice strainer or other fine mesh strainer, or sprinkle by hand. Sprinkling from a little higher position creates a more even sprinkle. By hand creates a little lighter sprinkle compared to a strainer.
- Stored iced cookies in the fridge. If freezing some cookies, I recommend freezing them without frosting them, and frosting them when serving.
Notes
- Cookies turn out best when cooked one baking sheet at a time on the middle oven rack.
- I recommend lining your cookie sheet with parchment paper for even browning, to prevent spreading and sticking, and to help with clean up. For more information, read the tip above.
- To measure your flour, spoon the flour into a dry measuring cup and level off the top using a knife or straight-edged utensil for best results.
- It takes 30 minutes to 1 hour for butter to come to room temperature. I recommend just placing the butter on the counter to soften before making the cookies instead of softening the butter in the microwave where the butter can melt. Melted butter in this recipe can cause cookies to flatten more and turn out slightly more dense.
These pumpkin spice cookies look absolutely delicious! Love how the cream cheese frosting adds a creamy touch to those cozy fall flavors.
Thank you so much! Yes, we love the frosting with the cookies here, they taste like Fall to me. I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and leave your feedback, thank you!
These were amazing! Love that you used pumpkin pie spice (arguably my favorite spice blend). Will be making these many more times this fall!
I am so glad you enjoyed these! We love the pumpkin spice in the cookies and sprinkled on top too! Thanks for taking the time to stop by and leave your review!
I love that you recommended using parchement paper. I only have foil. Would that work too?
You can use foil, but it doesn’t have the same non-stick properties that parchment paper has, so cookies may be harder to remove from the pan. Additionally, foil does conduct heat, so the cookies may cook faster and be more browned and crispy on the bottom. I’m not sure if you have a silicone baking mat, but that is a great substitute for parchment paper. Parchment paper is available at Walmart, local grocery stores, or you can buy it online. I like to buy it at Costco because the large roll lasts a really long time. Hope that helps!