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These iced Pumpkin Pecan Spice Cookies with cream cheese frosting are tender, lightly sweet, and feature a wonderful nutty flavor. Made with a pumpkin paste and seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, these crisp pumpkin cookies are finished with a simple spiced glaze.
I love this recipe for spiced pumpkin cookies! They’re resemblant of pumpkin sugar cookies because they’re thin and crisp as opposed to cakey like my Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.
Achieving a thin and crisp texture in a pumpkin cookie is no easy task. The high moisture content of pumpkin purée doesn’t lend itself crisp baked goods. It does best in cakes, breads, and bars.
In order to create a chewy yet crisp pumpkin cookie, we have to draw out some of that excess liquid. And that’s the first step in creating spiced pumpkin cookies! The rest of the process is pretty self-explanatory.
Ingredients Needed
- Canned pumpkin purée: NOT pumpkin pie filling.
- All-purpose flour: for the best results, use a kitchen scale to measure the flour.
- Superfine sugar: this is sugar that has a smaller granule size than regular sugar which melts better during baking and makes a crisper cookie. You don’t have to buy superfine sugar, just add granulated sugar to a food processor or blender and process it until finely ground.
- Spices: ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground nutmeg and kosher salt. Or you can use pumpkin pie spice blend.
- Unsalted butter: if you’re using salted butter, skip adding the ¼ teaspoon of salt to the dry ingredients.
- Pecans: make sure you toast them for the best flavor! In addition to the flavor, pecans add a nice tender crispness.
- Cream cheese: let it sit out at room temperature for a but so it’s easier to whisk up into an icing.
- Vanilla extract: pure vanilla is the best!
- Milk: use whatever milk you like or have on hand.
- Confectioners’ sugar: aka powdered sugar. You’ll need this for the icing.
How to Make Pumpkin Cookies Crisp
- Remove excess moisture from pumpkin purée by spreading purée between paper towels and pressing to saturate.
- Combine dry ingredients with sugar (superfine—it helps to create that crisp texture) and spices.
- Add butter and mix until mixture is crumbly.
- Add pressed pumpkin purée, cream cheese, pecans and vanilla; mix until a dough comes together.
- Knead the dough a few times, then roll to 1/8-inch thick between pieces of parchment paper.
- Cut dough out into cookies then arrange on baking sheet and freeze for 10 minutes.
- Bake, cool, ice and enjoy!
Test Kitchen Tips
- To ensure these pumpkin sugar cookies come out perfectly, I recommend you measure out the ingredients by weight. Here is my favorite food scale.
- America’s Test Kitchen came up with a technique that works is game-changer for baking with pumpkin puree. The technique involves pressing the wet pumpkin puree between sheets of paper towels. This technique doesn’t alter the flavor, it simply concentrates it by drawing out the excess moisture.
- Don’t skip pressing the pumpkin! In order to achieve the correct texture (crisp and shortbread-like) you need to press the pumpkin as directed in the recipe. In addition to achieving the desired texture, you’ll also get more pumpkin flavor in the cookie.
- I don’t recommend using fresh or homemade pumpkin puree in this cookie recipe. Baking is more finicky than cooking and any excess moisture can alter the cookie texture.
Storage
These pumpkin spice cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temp for up to 1 week. For longer storage, freeze the un-glazed cookies for up to 2 months.
More Pumpkin Desserts to Enjoy
- Everyone needs a go-to Pumpkin Pie for Thanksgiving and mine has an epic flaky crust!
- Make a sandwich cookie by sandwiching some of our Pumpkin Butter between two cookies! Or make Pumpkin Pop Tarts.
- These Pumpkin Pie Cookies went viral on social media—and for good reason. They are so fun to make!
- You can even swap out sweet potato in favor of canned pumpkin in our Spiced Sweet Potato Cake.
Iced Pumpkin Cookies (Crisp, Not Cakey!
Description
These Pumpkin-Pecan Cookies are tender, and lightly sweetened with a wonderfully nutty note. Made with a pumpkin paste and seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, these pumpkin cookies are the perfect fall treat.
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Ingredients
- 1 cup canned 100% pumpkin purée
- 2¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup superfine sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces and softened
- 1¼ cups pecans, toasted and chopped fine
- 3 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with triple layer of paper towels. Spread pumpkin puree over towels. Press with second triple layer of paper towels until towels are saturated.
- Peel off top layer of towels. Place second baking sheet inside first over pumpkin and flip. Remove top sheet and towels. Repeat if needed to reduce past to ⅓ cup.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with paddle, mix flour, superfine sugar, 1½ teaspoons cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt on low speed until combined.
- Add butter, 1 piece at a time, and mix until dough looks crumbly and slightly wet, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add pecans, pumpkin paste, 2 tablespoons cream cheese (1 ounce), and vanilla and beat until dough just begins to form large clumps, about 30 seconds.
- Transfer cookie dough to counter; knead just until it forms cohesive mass and divide in half. Form each half into disks, wrap disks tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Working with 1 disk at a time, roll dough to ⅛ inch thick between 2 large sheets of parchment paper. Transfer dough, still between parchment, to refrigerator and let chill for 10 minutes.
- Using a 2½-inch cutter, cut dough into shapes; space shapes 1½ inches apart on prepared sheets. Gently re-roll scraps, cut into shapes, and transfer to prepared baking sheets.
- Bake 1 sheet at a time, until cookies are light golden brown, about 10 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking.
- Let cookies cool on sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and let cool completely.
- Whisk milk, remaining ½ teaspoon cinnamon, and remaining 1 tablespoon cream cheese (½ ounce) together in a bowl until combined.
- Add confectioners’ sugar and whisk until smooth. Spread glaze evenly onto cookies (or drizzle) and let dry for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
A smaller cookie cutter (1½-inch round) can be used. Bake for 8–9 minutes. You’ll get about 84 cookies.
If you don’t want to use a mix of different spices, use 1 tablespoon of your favorite pumpkin pie spice.
For the best results, make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature.
Superfine sugar is simply sugar that has a smaller granule size than regular sugar. You don’t have to buy super fine sugar, just add granulated sugar to a food processor or blender and process it until finely ground.
I don’t recommend using a silicone baking mat—the cookies won’t crisp as intended.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookieCalories: 190kcalCarbohydrates: 17gProtein: 3gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 18mgFiber: 2gSugar: 9g
Like this? Leave a comment below!I love hearing from you and I want to hear how it went with this recipe! Leave a comment and rating below, then share on social media @zestfulkitchen and #zestfulkitchen!
This post was made in partnership with America’s Test Kitchen. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. This recipe was shared with permission from America’s Test Kitchen in an effort to promote their cookbook.
This recipe article was originally published on October 5, 2017. It was most recently updated on February 18, 2025 for clarity and helpfulness.
these cookies look amazing! also, thanks for sharing why this recipe works. I love the science behind cooking but have A LOT to learn, so thanks for contributing to my education 😉
Thanks Rebecca! I love how ATK adds “why this recipe works”, I think it helps build knowledge for future cooking endeavors!
What an interesting method to remove moisture from pumpkin! I never would have thought you would be able to remove so much water from paper towels alone- does it take a long time? I”m sure it’s well worth it for the result though- these look amazingly good!
Hi Yvonne!
It actually didn’t take me much time, probably 5 minutes of me actively pressing on it. If you wanted to multitask, you could weigh down the top baking sheet with some heavy cans, that will do some of the pressing for you!
Omg these look so yummy I’m gonna have to try making these at home, and like a bunch of other recipes you have up!
Thanks Stephanie! I hope you enjoy them!
Oh my heavens, this is right up my alley. These look/sound absolutely amazing. I need to make these asap.
A great post and a mouthwatering recipe.
Your photos are so gorgeous! Thank you for sharing the recipe! I’ll save these for our family holiday baking day!
Thank you Hayley! 🙂 I hope you enjoy them!
Love the combo of pumpkin and pecan. And thank you for explaining the process, I am not the best baker but I am trying to learn 🙂
Thanks Heather! I hope the info helps!
These are absolutely incredible! Thanks for a pumpkin cookie that doesn’t have a cakey texture! Now that it is fall, I can’t wait to whip up a batch!
I’m so glad you like them! With this chilly weather, I may have to mix up a batch!
I tried this today. I am wondering about the cream cheese among ingredients.
It says 1 1/2ounce but instruction says 2tablespoon cream cheese. I could not understand it. 1tablespoon cream cheese for glaze.
Could you explain it to me how much cream cheese use?
Hi Rosa,
I understand your confusion. 1 1/2 ounces was listed as a weight because cream cheese comes in 4-ounce blocks. Blocks of cream cheese often have lines designating amounts in ounces (similar to how sticks of butter have tablespoon lines).
Once the cream cheese is measured out and softened, it is then call for in tablespoons to make it easier on the cooke to measure out. However, you could also continue to measure in ounces during the cooking process. The cookies recipe 1 ounce and glaze requires 1/2 ounce. I will add those to the recipe instructions for clarification. I hope that helps!
Lauren
Great recipe with one complaint. I like to do Mise en place, and as a result I mixed all of my spices together before reading the directions. It would be better if the ingredients list specified any splitting necessary.