These Slice and Bake Pumpkin Sugar Cookies are the ultimate Autumn treat that goes down well for Halloween too. They are buttery sugar cookies with a pumpkin design baked right inside, a warming touch of pumpkin spice and a perfect crunch that makes the cookies simply delightful. They are surprisingly easy to make, no piping bag, no complicated sugar work, just a clever dough trick that reveals a pumpkin design in every slice.
These cute sugar cookies are the perfect treat to kickstart your Autumn baking. And while they look absolutely stunning, they are actually really easy to make, with no complicated steps and a foolproof dough that works every single time.
Unlike other cookies that spread in the oven, sugar cookies are perfect if you are looking to bake specific designs. I used a similar dough for my Halloween Stamped Cookies and my Christmas Star Cookies with excellent results.
With this dough you get uniform, precise slices that reveal a stunning pumpkin design, which would be quite hard to achieve with any other cookie dough. There is no need to go through messy piping work that requires precision and a lot of extra ingredients.
Plus, these pumpkin sugar cookies can be enjoyed throughout the Fall season, including Halloween. You can either leave them as they are, or use icing to turn the pumpkins into Jack-o-Lanterns for an extra spooky touch.
The pumpkin spice adds a warming, earthy touch which reminds me of the classic pumpkin pie, luxurious, wonderfully spiced and so delicious.
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Note!
Go to the recipe card at the bottom of the post for exact quantities and detailed instructions!
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Ingredients overview - the orange dough
- food colouring - go for a food colouring that is closest to a pumpkin shade of orange. I highly recommend Sugarflair food colouring, the paste is strong and achieves the best results, a liquid food colouring simply isn't strong enough
- butter - I usually go for salted butter, make sure it's at room temperature so it can be creamed easily
- flour - you can go for plain flour, we don't need any raising agents for these kind of cookies
- sugar - granulated sugar does the trick here
- egg - is the binding agent, and also makes the dough smooth and elastic, and prevents it from spreading
- pumpkin spice - adds a touch of Fall and lots of flavour, alternatively you can use ground cinnamon or mixed spice if you are in the UK
Ingredients overview - the regular dough
- apart from the food colouring, we use exactly the same ingredients and the same amounts
Step-by-step photos and instructions
- start by making the orange cookie dough - in a large mixing bowl, add the soft butter and sugar, and use a hand mixer to cream them together
- add the egg and beat again
- add the pumpkin spice, orange food colouring and sift the flour in
- knead it into a smooth dough that does not stick to the hands
- cover the dough in clingfilm and refrigerate for 10 minutes
- to make the regular cookie dough, follow the same steps, but don't include the food colouring
- refrigerate the dough
- roll out the orange dough, and use a small pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter to cut out shapes
- stack them up together to form a log, then carefully cover the log in clingfilm
- freeze for at least 15 minutes until the dough is solid
- roll the regular dough, and cover the pumpkin dough in it to have a log shape
- refrigerate the log for 10-15 minutes
- use a sharp knife to cut the log into slices
- arrange the slices on 2 baking sheets and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes
Expert tips
Freezing the pumpkin shapes ensures a neat design, it would be pretty hard to get a smooth finish if the shapes are soft. It just needs to be solid enough for the regular dough to wrap them nicely, no need to be too frozen that it's impossible to slice.
Stack the pumpkin shapes tightly, you may need to brush them with a bit of water if they don't stick together too well. If there are gaps in between the shapes, the slices won't look as neat.
Chilling between steps is another crucial step, if the dough softens too much, not only the pumpkin shapes won't look neat, but the cookies might also spread in the oven. It sounds like a lot of chilling and a lot prep, but it's worth it.
I whole-heartedly recommend paste food colouring for an intense colour that stays vibrant even after baking. Liquid colouring tends to fade in the oven, resulting in a not-so-pretty finish.
Other Autumn cookies you might like
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Slice and Bake Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the orange dough
- 100 g soft butter ( 7 tbsp, 0.44 cups)
- 100 g granulated sugar (½ cup)
- 250 g plain flour ( 2 cups)
- 1 medium egg
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice ( or mixed spice in the UK)
- ½ teaspoon orange Sugarflair food colouring (paste)
For the regular cookie dough
- 100 g soft butter (7 tbsp, 0.44 cups)
- 100 g granulated sugar (½ cup)
- 250 g plain flour (2 cups)
- 1 medium egg
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice (or mixed spice in the UK)
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Instructions
- To make the orange cookie dough, add the soft butter and sugar to a mixing bowl, and use a hand mixer to beat them together until creamy.
- Add the egg and beat again.
- Add the food colouring, pumpkin spice and sifted flour, and knead it into a soft dough that does not stick to the hands.
- Cover the dough with clingfilm and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- To make the regular cookie dough, follow the exact same steps, but do not add food colouring.
- Flour the work surface, and roll the orange dough.
- Use a small pumpkin-shape cookie cutter to cut out pumpkins.
- Stack the shapes neatly and tightly to form a log, or 2 smaller logs if it is more managable this way.
- Cover the logs with clingfilm and freeze for at least 15 minutes or until the log or logs are solid.
- Roll the regular cookie dough, and wrap it around the frozen pumpkin shapes, making sure you cover well all the gaps.
- Roll the whole log back and forth to smooth it out and have a nicely round log.
- Cover the log in clingfilm and refrigerate again for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Use sharp knife to cut even slices that reveal a pumpkin design in the middle.
- Arrange the slices onto 2 baking trays.
- Refrigerate them for a further 5 minutes.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are lightly brown.
- Leave the cookies to cool down slightly onto the baking trays, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool down completely.
Video
Notes
- Freezing the pumpkin shapes ensures a neat design, it would be pretty hard to get a smooth finish if the shapes are soft.Â
- Stack the pumpkin shapes tightly, you may need to brush them with a bit of water if they don't stick together too well. If there are gaps in between the shapes, the slices won't look as neat.
- Chilling between steps is another crucial step, if the dough softens too much, not only the pumpkin shapes won't look neat, but the cookies might also spread in the oven.Â
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