Soft Pumpkin Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice to finish them off. The perfect fall treat!
Try these next: Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, Pumpkin Muffins, and Healthy Pumpkin Bread!
author’s note
Pumpkin Cookies That Melt in Your Mouth!
One of the most popular pumpkin recipes on my site is my soft-baked pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. They’re delicious and impossible to resist. But if you’re like my son and not a big fan of chocolate, you need a pumpkin cookie that’s just as good, without the chocolate.
That’s how these cookies came to be! My son loves cream cheese frosting, and I knew these cookies would make his day. What I didn’t expect was for them to become my new favorite cookie too. They’re that good!
They’re thick, chewy, and full of the best flavor and spice.
Ingredients
| Ingredient | Swap / Tip |
|---|---|
| Flour | Spoon & level for accuracy. Too much flour = dry cookies. |
| Pumpkin Purée | Use 100% pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling. |
| Pumpkin Pie Spice & Cinnamon | Make your own blend if you don’t have pumpkin pie spice. |
| Brown Sugar | Use dark brown sugar for deeper flavor. |
| Unsalted Butter | Salted butter works, just cut back on added salt. |
| Cream Cheese (for frosting) | Room temp, full-fat cream cheese works best for stability. |
How To Make Pumpkin Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting
- Mix Dry Ingredients: Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl.
- Cream Butter and Sugars: In another bowl, mix together wet ingredients.
- Combine Mixtures: Mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
- Scoop Dough: Place the dough onto a lined baking sheet and flatten slightly.
- Bake: Cook in a preheated oven until just set.
- Prepare Frosting: Beat together cream cheese, butter, and sugar until smooth.
- Frost Cookies: Frost cooled cookies and enjoy. Store leftovers in the fridge.
Featured Comment
“I’ve made these cookies a few times now and I get compliments every time! They don’t last very long when I take them places. I’ll never use another recipe.”
– Abby
Storage
Can You Freeze Pumpkin Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting?
- Unfrosted cookies: Keep in an airtight container at room temp for 3 to 4 days or in the fridge for up to a week.
- Frosted cookies: Store in the fridge with parchment between layers. Best within 3 to 4 days.
- Freezing dough: Scoop dough balls onto a tray, freeze until solid, then place in a bag for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen with 1 to 2 extra minutes.
- Frosting: Do not freeze. Make fresh when ready to use.
More Amazing Pumpkin Treats:
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Pumpkin Cake Recipe (BEST EVER!)
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Pumpkin Pecan Pie
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Pumpkin Scones Recipe
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Pumpkin Cheesecake Ball
Pumpkin Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting
Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting are soft, delicious, and dusted with pumpkin pie spice to make the perfect fall dessert!
Video
Equipment
- Parchment paper or silicone baking mat
- Stand mixer electric or stand
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2-1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1-1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar lightly packed
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter softened, not melted
- 1 cup canned pumpkin not pumpkin pie filling
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pumpkin pie spice optional
Instructions
- Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat to avoid burned cookie bottoms. Preheat oven to 350℉.
- Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt to a large bowl; whisk to combine and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, cream together butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until smooth and creamy. Add 1 cup pumpkin, egg, and vanilla. Beat until mixture is creamy. Add in dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Avoid over-mixing.
- Optionally, chill dough: Cover tightly and chill dough for 30 minutes up to 10 hours. Chilling is not necessary but makes dough easier to work with and intensifies flavors.
- Use a 1 tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop balls of dough and place them onto the lined sheet pan. Try to smooth or round the balls, but it's okay if they're a bit bumpy (chill in the fridge for additional time if needed for easier rolling). Leave 2 inches of room for each cookie (I only bake 8–10 cookies at a time) and flatten balls of dough slightly.
- Bake for 8-12 minutes (9 minutes is perfect for my oven!), watching carefully to avoid overbaking. I like these slightly underbaked and soft, but the tops shouldn’t be shiny/wet looking at all. Remove and allow cookies to stand for another 3–5 minutes on the sheet pan before removing to a wire cooling rack.
- Meanwhile, make frosting. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the room-temperature (not melted) cream cheese and butter until creamy, about 2 minutes, at medium-high speed. Add powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla. Beat until soft and creamy. Avoid over-beating or you’ll get whipped frosting.
- Generously frost cooled cookies and if desired, sprinkle them with a little pumpkin pie spice.
Final step! Please let us know how it was by leaving a review.
Recipe Notes
Storage: Do not store the cookies in a sealed plastic container. Instead, store on plates loosely covered with foil in the fridge. They’re best eaten the same day or within 2–3 days. After that, they soften too much. Freeze unbaked cookie dough balls for up to 3 months; bake straight from freezer with an additional 1–3 minutes.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 105kcal | Carbohydrates: 16.9g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3.9g | Cholesterol: 13.9mg | Sodium: 67.4mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 11.3g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Really creative things put in this blog, I like this blog.
Thank you! 🙂
Has anyone tried to half this recipe? I only have 1/2 cup pumpkin. Should I omit the egg or maybe just add a yolk? I really need these cookies this morning!!!!!
Absolutely delicious!
Thanks Rhonda! 🙂
Delicious! My oven took about 8 1/2 – 9 minutes to bake them fully. I added some chocolate chip to a portion of the batter, too; they just had to bake a little longer. Super easy to make, and they turned out wonderful. I found that a good indicator if they were cooked all the way through is a slightly golden brown bottom (not to be confused with a dark brown). I didn’t have enough cream cheese, so I made half a batch of frosting instead of the full batch and I had enough frosting for all of them (sans a few, I wanted to leave some frosting-free, but I would’ve had enough frosting had I wanted to frost them). The frosting wasn’t overly buttery or sweet, and the pumpkin spice on top is a nice touch. I’m definitely making these again (especially since my family loved them).
I’m so happy to hear this! Thanks so much Ashley! 🙂
Soo good! Made them and I literally had to give them away to my sister to avoid eating it all myself. Lol I was curious- would I be able to make the frosting in advance? And how far in advance do you think if refrigerated? Thank you!
I’m so happy to hear this Susana! Yes you can absolutely make the frosting in advance! It lasts for up to a week in the fridge in an airtight container. Just make sure to set it out a little bit before frosting so it can come to room temperature to frost easily! 🙂
Soo good! Made them and I literally had to give them away to my sister to avoid eating it all myself. Lol I was curious- would I be able to make the frosting in advance? And how far in advance do you think if refrigerated? Thank you!
Looks delicious…here in the Netherlands we don’t have canned pumpkin…can i use fresh pumpkin?
I used a jumbo egg instead of a large, but the rest I measured out the same. Ended up with cookie sized pumpkin mini breads.
They were still super delicious, and I’m actually pretty fond of this texture. I’ll have to make these again for the upcoming holidays.
Yay! So happy you enjoyed! Thanks Chris! 🙂
These were an absolute hit at my bachelorette girls night. People kept raving about them! I would describe these as similar to the pumpkin muffies at Panera but miniature. Next time I make them, I might consider sandwiching them to make “moon pies”. Only change I made to the recipe was I switched up the icing ratios to have a less rich, less sweet, and fluffy icing. I did about 6 oz butter to 3 oz cream cheese
I am thrilled everyone loved these so much! Thanks so much for your comment! 🙂
These cookies are super delicious made them for my family last week and just couldn’t resist making them again today. Thank you Chelsea.
Yay! I am so happy to hear you guys are enjoying these! Thanks for your comment Tim! 🙂