Pumpkin Cookies [Tutorial]

Cake Decorating, Cookie Tutorials, Cookies, Fall Recipes / Tuesday, August 27th, 2024

Here’s a fun tutorial for a fall day: pumpkin cookies! These cookies are the perfect thing to make for any fall or harvest party, whether it be for a birthday or just another reason to celebrate the season.

This particular batch of pumpkin cookies was made for my parents’ annual harvest party, which they started years ago when I was a kid. Mom and dad are amazing at hosting, and while they never had a lot of money to do anything super extravagant, I remember their events to be magical.

When I think back over the years, I remember my parents using simple things to make beautiful decorations. Dad created gorgeous fall displays with hay bails, dried corn stalks, multi-coloured decorative corn, gourds, pumpkins, apples, and twinkly lights. Mom created beautiful tables laden with homemade food and generosity. Those events were always filled with lots of memories of food, beauty, and lots of happy children dressed as anything from princesses to super heroes to bumblebees.

As my siblings and I grew older, we started to lend a hand in the ways that we were able. My contribution, on this particular year, was primarily focused in the creation of these pumpkin sugar cookies.

The best kind of cookies to use for these fall pumpkin cookies

Ok ok, so these cookies don’t actually have any pumpkin in them. So what is the cookie underneath that pretty pumpkin design?

The answer is, sugar cookies! For this recipe, I used my basic sugar cookie recipe with an added teaspoon of cinnamon, to give them more of a fall flavour.

To make these cookies, you can use any type of sugar cookie as the base. Here are a few other recipes that would work well for this design:

What kind of frosting to use for these fall themed cookies

These cookies are made with tinted royal icing, which dries completely hard on the surface of the cookie. Royal icing, in my opinion, is the perfect choice for making these pumpkin cookies, both for packaging or stacking without any damage.

How to get that perfectly smooth icing finish

Royal icing has the unique ability to be thinned out with water and then “Flooded” into a pre-piped border. The icing will settle into the piped frame around the perimeter of the cookie, becoming smooth like a glaze. Once it settles, the icing will dry to be completely hard, ready to package or decorate further as you like.

Planning your time for making pretty sugar cookies

Before you start on a project like this one, it’s important to consider all of the steps involved so that you can plan your time appropriately. Here are some tips to make sure that your cookies turn out well:

Read through the recipes and instructions

I always recommend reading through the recipes and the entire tutorial before you begin. Not only will that allow you to make sure you have what you need, it will also give you a very clear idea of what you have left to do and how long it will take you to do it. 

Plan your time

I know it probably looks intimidating, but the 2 day allotted time for making these is mostly drying time. So I say, plan for that! Make sure that you have enough counter space to store these cookies in a flat layer (I sometimes let them rest on a cookie sheet in a cold oven overnight to free up some extra space in the kitchen… just make sure that you leave yourself a reminder to LEAVE THE OVEN OFF if you do store them that way!).

Make the cookies ahead of time

One beautiful thing about these cookies is that they have a marvellous shelf life. I would be comfortable making these as early as a full week before my event!

How long do pumpkin sugar cookies last?

As I mentioned above, these cookies have an fantastic shelf life. I usually don’t like to make them more than a week in advance, just because that makes me feel better about serving them… but I’ll be honest, I’ve kept these cookies at room temperature for several weeks after an event without seeing any signs of spoilage!

The best way to store pumpkin sugar cookies

I recommend storing these cookies one of two ways:

  1. At cool room temperature, individually packaged or in a sealed container
  2. In the freezer, in a sealed container

Both of these ways will work well, and these cookies have a *very* long shelf life. In fact… As much as I feel sheepish to admit it, I’ve sometimes packaged cookies like this in cellophane and then found them tucked in the back of my cupboard completely fine… as long as several months later!

I can’t say that I recommend keeping them that long, but the moral of the story is: these cookies keep very well.

How to package sugar cookies for party favours

In my opinion, the best way to package these cookies for party favours is to put them into clear cellophane bags, sealed with a tie twist and tied with ribbon. Or alternatively, you can package them in a cellophane bag and then put them into these adorable individual cookie boxes, which can be personalized with custom stickers or ribbon.

Tips for making perfect sugar cookies

There are a few tips I like to offer for making great decorated/themed sugar cookies

Make them ahead

One of the worst feelings on earth is running out of time to do all of the things when you are planning a large event! Thankfully, these cookies are easy to make well ahead of time, so I recommend that if you’re planning an event where you’re doing it all… Take a load off of yourself and get these done ahead of time! This way, if anything goes wrong, you have time to fix it before your big day.

Freeze the cookies before you bake them

I always tell people that if they’re making pretty themed cookies, one of the best ways to save time and stress is to roll and cut the cookie dough ahead of time, and then bake the cookies from frozen. This will prevent the cookie shapes from spreading and warping too much in the oven, allowing your cookies to have a clean, crisp shape when they are baked.

Try to get thickness consistent

You can actually buy a rolling pin with little guards on the ends (like this one), which prevent you from rolling your dough too thin or too thick. The idea behind that is that it will keep your dough a consistent thickness, allowing your cookies all to look the same when they are done and to bake at the same amount of time per pan (rather than having thinner cookies get darker and thicker ones turn out underbaked).

While I’ll readily admit that I don’t usually do this when I make cookies (although I do have and appreciate a rolling pin like that!), I do always try to keep my thickness consistent. Believe me, it does make a difference!

Cookie recipe variations

If you want to spice up your cookies, you can literally spice them up by adding spices, nuts, seeds, or flavourings to make them more special. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I added cinnamon to these pumpkin cookies taste like fall, and they were delicious!

A note about this pumpkin cookie tutorial

These photographs were taken long before I ever set to the task of making a tutorial! So while the directions are consistent with the original task of making these cookies, the amount of icing needed (and amounts to be coloured) are approximate. The number of cookies you will get from this tutorial are also approximate, as it will depend on the exact size of your cookie cutters for how much icing you will need to cover them.

That said… Are you ready to get started?

For this tutorial, you will need:

Print

Pumpkin Cookies

This tutorial for making pumpkin themed sugar cookies is a sweet, beautiful way to dress up your holiday season!

Course Dessert
Cuisine American, Canadian
Keyword pumpkin cookies, sugar cookies
Prep Time 2 days
Servings 20 cookies
Author Naomi

Ingredients

  • 1 recipe prepared Classic Sugar Cookies, cut with circle and pumpkin cutters see notes for links
  • x2 recipe Royal Icing see notes for the recipe post link
  • 1 each gel food colouring in yellow, green, and brown
  • 6 12-inch piping bags
  • 1-4 couplers
  • 1 #2 piping tip
  • 1 #3 piping tip
  • 1 #5 piping tip
  • 2 large cookie sheets to work on
  • 1 roll parchment paper to work on optional
  • 1 clean rag
  • 1 package pins or toothpicks
  • 1 pair scissors

Instructions

  1. Bake the cookies according to the recipe instructions, using a 3" circle cookie cutter, 4" circle cookie cutter, and 2-3" pumpkin cookie cutter to cut the cookies.

    While the cookies are warm, stamp the centres of the large circle cookies with your pumpkin cookie cutter, to leave the impression of a pumpkin shape on the surface. Cool completely, and set aside.

  2. Prepare the royal icing according to the recipe instructions, and spoon a little bit of white royal icing (about 1/2-3/4 cup) into a small or container. Cover tightly and set aside, and cover the rest tightly with a lid, sheet of plastic, or a damp cloth to keep it from drying out until you are ready to use it.

  3. When you are ready to start decorating, divide the rest of the icing between 2 bowls. Cover one bowl with a damp tea towel while you colour the other one.

  4. Tint the icing in the other bowl with green gel food colouring (one drop at a time), until the colour reaches your desired pigment. Spoon a little bit of the green icing into a piping bag fitted with a coupler and a #3 round piping tip, keeping the rest of the icing covered with a damp tea towel while you work. Pipe the green stems of your pumpkin cookies, and then pipe a border around the perimeter of each circle-cut cookie. Set aside to dry.

  5. Tint the remaining icing with orange food colouring, and then separate out about 1/2 cup of icing into a smaller bowl. Add brown gel food colouring, a drop at a time, until you have a rust coloured orange. Spoon a little bit of the rust coloured icing into a piping bag fitted with a coupler and a #5 round piping tip (again, keeping the rest of the icing covered with a damp tea towel while you work). Pipe the outline of the pumpkin shaped cookies, and around the stamped pumpkin outline on the large round cookies. Set aside to dry.

  6. Thin about 200-205g (about 1/2 of the green tinted icing, and an equal amount of orange) with about 2 to 2-1/2 teaspoons water. Start with 2 teaspoons, and then check your consistency.

    To check to your consistency, scoop a bit of icing out of the bowl with a spoon, and then drop it back in. If the icing you dropped back in sinks in and blends smoothly with the rest of the icing in 10 seconds, it is perfect. If the icing is smooth in less than 10 seconds, it is too thin and will run over the edge of your cookies (in which case, you should add a little more stiff icing to thicken it back up). If it takes longer than 10 seconds (or never blends in completely at all), add more water by the drop, mixing well and re-testing, until it dissolves in 10 seconds (icing that is too thick will not dry with a smooth finish).

  7. Pour the thinned royal icing into 2 piping bags, one for the green and one for the orange. Snip off the tip of the green icing bag with scissors to make a small opening, and carefully allow the icing to flow into the outlines you created for your round cookies, starting on the edges and filling the cookies until the inside of the outlines are full. Use a toothpick or pin to spread the icing into any empty pockets around the outline.

  8. Snip off the tip of the orange icing bag with scissors to make a small opening, and carefully allow the icing to flow into the outlines of the pumpkin shapes, starting on the edges and filling the cookies until the inside of the outlines are full. Use a toothpick or pin to spread the icing into any empty pockets around the outline.

    Drop small dots of the runny orange icing onto the edges of the small round green cookies (as pictured).

  9. Allow the cookies to dry, undisturbed, for at least 12-24 hours.

  10. Re-beat the white and rust coloured royal icing until it has a matte finish and forms stiff peaks with an electric or stand mixer, about 5-10 minutes. Pipe around the outlines of the pumpkins in rust to give the cookies better definition, and add white accents (such as the little while stem curls) as desired. Allow the cookies to dry completely, at least 2 hours.

    Package or serve as desired. These cookies can be made at least a week in advance and stored at cool room temperature.

  11. Note: To keep the icing from drying inside the end of your piping tips when the bags are left between tasks, pipe a small amount of icing out of the tip and allow it to hang off the end. When you a ready to use the bag again, break the dry tip off, and continue working. If any icing is stuck to the outside of the tip, clean it off with a clean rag and continue piping as before.

Recipe Notes

How to Make Pumpkin Cookies [Photos of the process]

Pictured: Stamped large round cookies with the pumpkin cookie cutter shape + flooded small circle cookies.

Outlined pumpkin cookies with rust coloured icing:

Flooded large round cookies with green icing:

Filled orange pumpkin shapes:

Piped orange dots on the small round cookies:

Reinforced rust coloured pumpkin outlines:

Fully decorated and dried cookies in natural light:

Other cookie inspiration:

That’s all for today! If you liked this tutorial, let me know in the comments, or – as always – tag me in your photos on Instagram @naomicakesofficial! I love to see when you guys follow my tutorials, or when you use them as inspiration for your own great ideas.

Thanks for stopping in, and happy decorating!

–Naomi

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