This is The Best Pumpkin Sugar Cookies recipe there is. Seriously. They're crispy on the outside and chewy inside, just the way a sugar cookie should be. After they're baked, they're coated in an easy to make ginger maple glaze that will rock your world. Plus, they're egg-free so super easy to make vegan. I know you will LOVE them!

A stack of crispy pumpkin sugar cookies on a plate.

Have you ever dreamed of having the best pumpkin sugar cookies? You know, the ones that are crispy around the edges and soft and chewy inside? I know I have. What I always get instead is a disappointing cakey cookie that crushes my pumpkin sugar cookie dreams. It's sad.

Today I have some super exciting news … I have (finally!) created a recipe for the best pumpkin sugar cookies that is EXACTLY what a cookie should be. The edges are crispy – truly crispy – and the inside is as soft and chewy as a cookie should be. NO cakiness at all. Zip. Zero.

I wish I could say I created this recipe all on my own, but that wouldn't be true. Without the book, The Ultimate Cookie Handbook by Tessa Arias of Handle the Heat, these pumpkin sugar cookies would not exist.

I bought the book a few weeks ago for my handsome man; his sweet tooth makes him the chief cookie baker around here. He's always asking me questions about baking. Things like,  “What can I use instead of this?”, “Can I add extra butter?”, “What will happen if I don't follow the recipe instructions?”, “Can I turn up the heat in the oven so we can eat cookies sooner?” and “Why did the cookies turn out like …?”

Sometimes I can answer his questions, but most times I'm at a loss, too. I cook, not bake. Cooking is creative, like art, and there are really no right or wrong ways of doing things, just in different ways. Baking is a whole different animal. It's a science, and one small change can throw off the whole recipe.

Tessa's done all the hard work of documenting how each change will affect the outcome of your cookies. I used her book to figure out how to turn my usual cakey pumpkin sugar cookies into crispy pumpkin sugar cookies.

And it worked! These cookies are amazing.

Ginger maple glaze being poured over pumpkin sugar cookies.

See all that glaze on top of the cookies? Oh man, that's good stuff. It has a slight gingery kick from real ginger juice. Yep, ginger juice. It sounds fancy pants, but it's just the juice squeezed from some grated ginger. The taste is so much fresher and real tasting than if you used powdered ginger.

I've made enough in this recipe to lightly cover all 15 cookies. If your sweet tooth is kicking into high gear, you could always make extra and do a double coat. Remember that thick layer of glaze over the Lemon Lime Loaf I made back in the spring? Trust me, no one was complaining about the extra glaze.

If you decide to get all glaze crazy make sure you let the first coat dry, so it doesn't run off the sides of your cookies when you add the second coat. Or third. How glaze crazy are you going to get?

Pumpkin sugar cookies stacked on a plate.
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A stack of crispy pumpkin sugar cookies on a plate.

Best Pumpkin Sugar Cookies with Ginger Maple Glaze

  • Author: Kristen Stevens
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Cook Time: 15 mins
  • Total Time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 15 large cookies 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Baked
  • Cuisine: North American

★★★★

4 from 4 reviews
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Description

This is The Best Pumpkin Sugar Cookies recipe there is. Seriously. They're crispy on the outside and chewy inside, just the way a sugar cookie should be. After they're baked, they're coated in an easy to make ginger maple glaze that will rock your world. Plus, they're egg-free so super easy to make vegan. I know you will LOVE them!

Scale

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter, melted (for plant-based diets, use vegan butter)
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1 1/4 cups white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

For the glaze:

  • 1 2-inch piece of ginger
  • 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Add the butter, coconut oil, pumpkin, sugar, and vanilla to a large bowl and beat with electric beaters. Add the flour, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg and beat until a crumbly batter forms.
  3. Divide the batter into 15 balls, pressing each down to ¼ inch thick cookies, and place them onto baking sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes per batch, or until the cookie bottoms start to brown. Remove the cookies from the oven and wait until they are completely cool before you frost them.
  4. Prepare the glaze just before you frost the cookies. Peel then grate the ginger using a microplane or the small holes on your grater. Squeeze the juice from the grated ginger into a small bowl and discard the pulp. You want to have a ½ teaspoon of ginger juice.
  5. Combine the ginger juice with the powdered sugar and maple syrup in a small bowl. Add one tablespoon of water and mix the glaze. If the glaze is too firm, you can add a small about of water, ½ teaspoon at a time, until it is thin enough to spoon over the cookies.
  6. Pour the glaze over the cooled cookies and use a spoon to spread it around. Let the glaze harden for a few minutes then store the cookies in a sealed container … or dig in and eat them right away! Note: for an extra treat, double the icing. Wait for the first layer to harden before adding the second coat.