Slice and Bake Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

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Slice and Bake Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

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.

Prep Time45

Cook Time10

Freezing + Chilling Time45

Total Time1 40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: International

Servings: cookies

Calories: 143kcal

Author: Daniela Apostol

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)

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.
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.

Nutrition