BAKE: Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies for the Fall

• Cookies for the Fall… of Everything?
• Pumpkin Spice Sugar Ingredients
• Kitchen Equipment Needed
• How to Make Rolled Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies
• Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies

These pumpkin spice sugar cookies are a rolled cookie dough recipe that bake up crisp and tender, but just sturdy enough for decorating. They have just enough pumpkin spice and pumpkin puree to capture the comforting essence of fall without being overly cloying.

You can leave these cookies plain, glaze them with egg wash for a glossy finish, or decorate them with colorful sugars or icing. Use fall-themed or Halloween cookie cutters, to make these cut-out cookies extra festive, or cut shapes free-hand or using a template or stencils. You can also use this cookie dough for tender tartlet crusts or ice cream cookie sandwiches.

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Cookies for the Fall… of Everything?

(the jump to recipe button is right there ^ if you aren’t here for this little digression… or skip to the next section if you just want the cookies :)

Like many of you nervously watching election results trickle in this November, I was just stress baking through the fall feels last night, and the possible Fall of America or at least whatever was left of my hope for the next few years, I guess? The average age of an empire is about 250 years (add a century or so to that for ancient civilizations in general); so hey, whatever happens we’ve had a pretty good run trying out this whole democracy thing (nervous laughter).

We’re not Chicken-Little, and we certainly weren’t uncritically riding that blue wave or whatever before this, but you’re not alone if you feel like the bottom just dropped out from underneath your expectations or the sky came crashing down on Wednesday. A lot of people are reasonably scared right now (and some of us are terrified, angry, grieving, confused… going through it).

I try to keep things pretty light around here, but food is inherently political, and in our current world, just feeding everyone is a complex interdependent dance of economic and industrial systems, agricultural subsidies, global commerce, and energy expenditure. Self-sufficiency and the cult of individualism is a popular theme for homesteading folks, especially in the US, but it’s just not how humans have lived, ever. People need people, and no one does everything alone.

The irony of how isolated many of us feel despite how interconnected the systems that keep us alive are is not lost on me, and you should still learn to bake bread… but we lost something when we stopped coming together to bake it in community ovens. I’m not suggesting we go back to that, but sharing meals and feeding our neighbors is not just a social thing, it’s a deep human need.

We don’t talk much here about EROI, inequality, ethics, complexity and collapse and a lot of other things (maybe we should? I try to focus on the food and not put anyone off but BOY could we talk about it). Whatever you believe, everybody’s gotta eat (*though some folks want to debate that too, I guess).

Anyway, these pumpkin spice sugar cookies were one positive result of the evening spent anxiously refreshing the results. While these cookies won’t fix everything (hooboy), do whatever you can to try to take care of each other out there y’all, and nourish kindness and empathy wherever you can find it, especially right now.

Courage, friends! And it never hurts to feed that courage (and your community) with cookies and sweetness, and other small comforts whenever you can. Self-soothe a bit, take a break, but get back in the kitchen and keep fighting for the vulnerable, for reason, for public education, media literacy, and sanity amidst the maelstrom of misinformation, because it’s probably gonna get weird, and not in a fun way. Keep your strength up, and be the helpers when you can, we’re gonna need it.

Pumpkin Spice Sugar Ingredients

Kitchen Equipment Needed

stand or hand mixer (optional):

You can absolutely mix these cookies by hand, but a mixer will make the job easier. Use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer with beaters to cream the butter & sugar, and then add the wet ingredients. You can mix the rest of the dough with a stand mixer on low speed, or switch to hand mixing to incorporate the dry ingredients so that you do not overmix your dough.

rolling pin & cookie cutters:

To get thin, uniform cookies, you’ll want a rolling pin, dowel, or wine bottle to roll these out. A bench scraper or thin spatula is also very helpful. You can cut these out into fanciful shapes with small cookie cutters, like this autumn-themed set. Or, you can use a floured juice glass or jelly jar if you don’t have small round or shaped cutters, cut them out freehand with a paring knife or rolling cutter, or use handmade stencils to trace your own shapes.

cookie sheets or half-sheet pans and liners:

I like to bake my cookies on half sheet pans with silicone liners. Parchment paper works great too! If you have non-stick pans, you can use those instead, or use a bit of butter or pan spray on regular pans to make sure that your cookies don’t stick.

How to Make Rolled Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies

mix & chill cookie dough::

• In a medium bowl, mix the spices, flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk or sift to combine thoroughly. Set aside.
• In a large bowl or mixer, cream the softened butter until smooth, then add the sugar. This is easiest with a stand mixer and paddle attachment, but you can use a hand mixer or a sturdy spoon.
• When the sugar and butter are fluffy and well mixed, add the pumpkin, then the egg and mix again until emulsified. Stop and scrape down the bowl, and then add the milk and vanilla. Cream together again until uniformly mixed.
• Add half of the spiced flour mixture and mix lightly on low speed for about 30 seconds, or fold it in gently. Stop the mixer, scrape down the bowl thoroughly, and add the rest of the flour mixture.
• Mix gently or on low just until the flour is combined. You may want to finish mixing by hand, or knead the dough two or three times just until it is combined.
• Wrap the dough tightly in plastic or seal it in an airtight container, and let it rest and chill in the fridge overnight, or at least 2 hours.

roll and cut cookies::

• Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line your cookie sheets with silicone non-stick sheets, parchment paper, or use nonstick sheets (or butter and flour them very lightly as a last resort).
• Working with about a quarter of the dough at a time, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface or a nonstick baking mat. Keep the rest of the dough chilled while you work.
• Roll the dough between ¼” to ½” thick, and use cookie cutters to cut shapes as closely together as possible. Transfer the dough to the cookie sheets, and chill the scraps of dough before re-rolling and cutting the rest of the cookies.

decorate & glaze cookies

• Score the cookies with a butter knife or the back of a spoon to add detail (leaf veins, pumpkin ribs, or other texture) to make your cookies more visually interesting.
• If you’d like glossy cookies, brush them with an egg wash made with one whole egg and about a tablespoon of water before baking. You can also leave them plain, or decorate with royal icing after they have baked and cooled.

bake & cool:

• Bake them for 8-15 minutes, just until they look set and are very lightly golden brown around the edges. Thinner cookies will cook faster and thicker cookies will take longer, and the size of the cookies will also affect baking time, so check early and often! They will still be slightly soft but will firm up as they cool.
• Let the cookies cool slightly, then transfer to a rack or cold cookie sheet with a thin metal spatula. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.