These fun, festive, and flavorful cookies combine pumpkin spice and chocolate for a delicious variation of traditional cut-out cookies. Perfect for Halloween, Thanksgiving, or any fall occasion, these soft, tender, buttery cookies are well balanced by a sweet duo of icings.
Makes about 2-3 dozen jumbo cookies (depending on the size of your cookie cutter)
Ingredients
Pumpkin Spice Cookie Dough
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp pure pumpkin pie extract
Orange food coloring
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Chocolate Cookie Dough
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
⅓ cup dark chocolate chips, melted and cooled
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Pumpkin Spice Icing
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp whole milk
1 Tbsp pumpkin spice coffee creamer
¼ tsp pure pumpkin pie extract
Orange food coloring
Chocolate Icing
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3 Tbsp whole milk
1 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
Directions
Pumpkin Spice Cookie Dough
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy.
Add in the confectioners' sugar and mix until combined. Then add in the egg, extracts, and food coloring and mix until combined. Add in however many drops of food coloring until you reach your desired color. (If you don't have orange food coloring, you can use 1 drop of red and 2 drops of yellow.)
In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until incorporated and a soft dough ball forms.
Chocolate Cookie Dough
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter with the brown sugar on medium speed until smooth and creamy.
Add in the egg, vanilla, and melted chocolate chips and mix until combined.
In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until incorporated and a soft dough ball forms.
Assembly
Preheat oven to 400°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Use a rolling pin to roll out each dough separately on a lightly floured surface into a long, narrow oval or rectangle shape about 1/3-inch thick. Use a sharp knife to cut a straight edge horizontally along the length of each dough. Align the straight edges of the doughs up against each other. Use a rolling pin to join the doughs together and roll out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use a pumpkin cookie cutter to cut the cookies out. (I used a 5-inch pumpkin cookie cutter to create jumbo cookies.)
Place the cookies onto the prepared baking sheets. Gather all of the dough scraps and repeat the rolling and cutting process until all of the dough is used.
Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies look dry on the surface and feel firm around the edges. The baking time will depend on the size of your cookies. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes, then remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
For the icings: In a small bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients for the pumpkin spice icing until smooth. In a separate small bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients for the chocolate icing until smooth. You can add more or less milk to each icing until your desired consistency is reached.
Place the two glazes in separate plastic storage bags with the corners snipped off and drizzle the glazes over the corresponding half of each cookie.
Allow the cookies to dry before serving.
Note: The less you gather and roll out the cookies the better. Otherwise, the doughs get dry and crack when rolled out. If your dough gets too dry, use a spray bottle to lightly mist the doughs with room temperature water and use your hands to gently knead the doughs until the water is completely incorporated.