My mom’s Glazed Pumpkin Cookies were our favorite growing up and they still get compliments everywhere I share them.
I’ve chatted in the past about the ham sandwiches we ate during harvest season while I was growing up and mentioned that meals to the field also required cookies.
These glazed pumpkin cookies were always one of our favorites in the fall. The recipe makes a huge batch and we’d spend an afternoon in the kitchen baking and frosting them all.
Easy Pumpkin Cookies
In reality, these cookies are extremely quick and simple to make, because unlike a lot of other cookie recipes, these cookies don’t require any chilling time.
You can go from mixing all the ingredients, to scooping out the dough onto cookie sheets in a matter of minutes.
These cookies are a staple cookie in my fall baking rotation. I think I’ve probably made a batch every fall since I’ve been married.
Glazed Pumpkin Cookies
To this day, whenever I share these cookies, people love them. They are soft cookies, similar to big, thick sugar cookies.
The recipe makes close to six dozen cookies and thankfully, they freeze well, frosted or not.
I remember sneaking cookies out of the freezer when I was little too. They taste just as good frozen too.
Or maybe that’s just what I told myself because putting them in the microwave for a few seconds would have alerted mom to the fact that a cookie thief was on the loose.
Glazed Pumpkin Cookie Recipe
- In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars until well creamed. Beat in eggs, pumpkin and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet and stir until combined.
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheets. Bake for 13-14 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Do not over bake. Let cool completely.
- To make the glaze, stir together the powdered sugar and enough milk to make a runny, but still spreadable consistency. Spread each cooled cookie with glaze
Pumpkin Cookies
For a few fun variations on these soft pumpkin cookies, try the Toffee Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Glaze, Cream Cheese Frosted Pumpkin Cookies, and the Iced Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies.
Pumpkin Spice Molasses Cookies and Cinnamon Chip Pumpkin Cookies are a couple more terrific options to put on your list.
Don’t forget about Pumpkin Whoopie Pies and Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Pumpkin Spice Buttercream too!
Famous Soft Glazed Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 1 cup butter softened
- 2 cups white sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups solid pack pumpkin
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 4 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
For the Glaze
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 4-8 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars until well creamed. Beat in eggs, pumpkin, and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add dry ingredients to the wet and stir until combined.
- Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheets. Bake for 13-14 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Do not overbake. Let cool completely.
- To make the glaze, stir together the powdered sugar and enough milk to make a runny, but still spreadable consistency. Spread each cooled cookie with glaze
Nutrition
{originally published 9/13/16 – recipe notes and photos updated 8/10/21}
Medha @ Whisk & Shout says
I love how soft baked these cookies are and the simple glaze on top sounds delicious 🙂
Shashi at RunninSrilankan says
Soft cookies are my weakness – these look like little clouds – so scrumptious!
Jess says
I made these cookies last night and brought them to work. They are a hit!! I’ve eaten about 10 since last night! They are so moist.
Kelli says
Do the cookies have to be refrigerated due to the milk in the glaze?
Lisa says
Mallory,
Did you drop or hand roll these to get the nice smooth even texture? Mine at baking now how ver they are all uneven. Sure they’ll taste fine but I like appearance too!
Mallory says
Hi Lisa, I dropped them and smoothed out and odd shaped lumps to get them more round before I baked them.
Linda says
I made these and they had no flavor. All we tasted was flour. Why?
Janet says
Same! I had a totally different taste in mind… then bit into them… disappointed 🙁
Mallory says
Did you spoon and level the flour into the measuring cup? Or scoop up the flour with the measuring cup. Spooning and leveling will give you the right amount. Otherwise you could end up with too much flour in the cookies.
Justine says
I decided to make these for my upcoming family cookie swap. I like the recipe. The cookies taste good. I will warn that my hand mixer did not fair well and fell apart because of t he heaviness. If you can half the batch, I would suggest it your poor hand mixer doesn’t end up dying like mine did.
Emily Hill says
Give me ALL the pumpkin cookies! They’re my favorite!
Natalia says
Pumpkin cookies sound just great … and with this glazing even better! I’ll prepare them for my family for sure! 🙂
Michael Wurm Jr says
Bring on the pumpkin! These look divine. Yum!!
Alli says
These look to die for. Yum!
Sue says
These are wonderful pumpkin cookies. I used to work at Pike Place Market in Seattle and would buy the pumpkin cookies there. These are like that recipe. We like more spice so I used a pumpkin spice and doubled it. Also added the pumpkin spice to the frosting.
Jennifer says
I made these yesterday, the mix is sticky but once I got the hang of it , it was fine. The shapes came out just like the picture. Most importantly they are delicious!! I will definitely make these again.
Sschley says
I made these cookies this year to bring to my parents for Christmas. They were absolutely delicious and everyone in my family loved them. There weren’t any left when it was time to leave.
I decided to add 1/4 tsp of McCormicks butter extract to the glaze, this made a huge difference in the flavor because I love buttercream frosting and I think this helped achieve a similar flavor.
Michelle says
These cookies are a hit! Everyone loves them.
I got a request to make then without egg. What would you suggest as a substitute?
Mary says
I have not made them with an egg substitute. You my try searching google for recommendations.
Erin says
Made these tonight. Exchanged the butter for smart balance, all purpose flour for my gf blend, and milk for almond milk..so gluten and dairy free. They turned out really nice!!
Mary says
Glad to hear that the cookies turned out so well, Erin! Happy baking.