These pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting are incredibly soft and chewy! They are a must make for fall and are sure to be a crowd pleaser!
Happy October, everyone! I am very excited to bring you these pumpkin cookies today because I have been working on the recipe for the past month! I tried about 5 batches before I got them right, so I hope you love them!
Is anyone having a hard time finding canned pumpkin? I found this recipe where you can make pumpkin puree in the instant pot! You can also make it in the oven, this blog post highlights how to!
My friend managed to find a whole shelf of canned pumpkin at our local Meijer, so I snatched up a few cans. I've also seen it at Trader Joe's in the area.
Ingredients
These pumpkin cookies are made without butter, oil or an excessive amount of sugar. They could be considered a healthy cookie, if you don't want to talk about the cream cheese frosting 🙂
Here is what you will need for them! The recipe makes about 10-12 cookies, depending on how big you make them!
- Egg: Just one egg in this recipe. I haven't tried using flax eggs, but I'm sure I will at some point!
- Canned pumpkin: see above tips for making your own if you can't find any in stores!
- Cinnamon & Pumpkin pie spice: Yes, you need both of these for this recipe! The pumpkin pie spice consists of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and ginger.
- Brown sugar: I prefer dark brown sugar because it has more molasses and a richer flavor, but if all you have is light brown sugar that's fine too!
- Maple syrup: Buy the REAL stuff, so much better than the processed/factory made! The maple also lends a nice bit of flavor to the cookies.
- White whole wheat flour: Yes, you can substitute all purpose flour for the white whole wheat. Except, the cookies might appear a bit more moist than you would expect.
Cream Cheese Frosting
"I think I love carrot cake just because of the cream cheese frosting" - My husband.
I think we can all agree that cream cheese frosting is the holy grail of homemade frostings. It's easy to whip up and has so much flavor. Here is what you will need...
- Cream cheese (I love neufchâtel!)
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla extract
In a small bowl, heat the cream cheese in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir using a spatula and add in vanilla and powdered sugar. Continue to stir until no clumps appear.
If you have a standing mixer, this would be a great use for it!
Once you have the frosting mixed, place in the refrigerator to chill while the cookies are baking and cooling off.
Baking the cookies
Once you have the ingredients mixed together in a bowl, scoop or plop the dough onto some parchment paper on a baking sheet.
One thing to note prior to baking the cookies is that the dough is pretty moist. I took a quarter cup and scooped out the dough onto the baking sheet. They will rise and puff out a bit when baking, so don't place them too close together.
After the cookies are done baking, remove from oven and let them cool off before putting the frosting on.
Can you freeze these pumpkin cookies?
You can freeze them! Just don't put on the frosting before placing them in the freezer.
Will these cookies still be good without frosting?
Heck yes they will! The cookie has a great flavor by itself and if you prefer a less sweet cookie, without frosting is the way to go.
Other fun fall recipes
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Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 12 cookies 1x
- Diet: Low Fat
Description
These pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting are incredibly soft and chewy! They are a must make for the fall season and are sure to be a crowd pleaser!
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup brown sugar (I prefer dark)
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 ¼ cup white whole wheat flour
- Plus extra cinnamon for dusting on top of frosting
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4oz Neufchatel Cheese (cream cheese will also work!)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with cooking oil.
- In a large bowl, whisk egg and add in pumpkin puree, vanilla, brown sugar and maple syrup. Mix to combine.
- In a smaller bowl, combine pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, baking powder and white whole wheat flour. Stir to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix using a spatula. The dough should be moist and difficult to form into a ball.
- Scoop a little less than ¼ cup of the batter onto the baking sheet. Continue to do this until all the dough is scooped. This recipe yields 10-12 cookies.
- Bake at 375F for 13-15 minutes.
- While the cookies are baking, in a small bowl place the neufchâtel cheese. Soften in the microwave for 30 seconds. Add in vanilla extract and powdered sugar. Mix until no lumps appear. Chill in refrigerator until cookies are ready.
- Once the cookies are finished baking, allow them to cool for 5-10 minutes before frosting.
Notes
- Can substitute all purpose flour or whole wheat flour for white whole wheat flour. Although I think white whole wheat will yield the best results.
- Store in refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: dessert
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: american
Made this for book club in the fall and it was an instant hit! The cookies were so soft and delicious.
Amazing!! Thank you Erin!