Pumpkin Cookies- October
Submitted by carolineshaw
Pumpkin-shaped peanut butter cookies decorated with orange juice frosting for Halloween. Easy cut-out cookies kids love decorating with candy corn faces.
YIELD
24 servingsPREP
3 hrsCOOK
8 minREADY
210 minThese pumpkin-shaped cookies are October baking at its most fun. A simple peanut butter rolled cookie dough chills for 3 hours, gets rolled out and cut with pumpkin-shaped cutters, then bakes for less than 10 minutes. The decoration is where kids take over.
The peanut butter in the dough is what makes these stand out from generic sugar cookie cutouts. It adds chew, depth, and a faintly nutty flavor that plays nicely against the sweet orange frosting. Margarine and shortening together produce a dough that’s easy to roll without cracking or sticking.
The orange juice concentrate in the frosting is a clever move. It gives natural orange color and flavor while keeping the frosting thick enough to spread without running. Reserve a third for green stems, then tint the rest with yellow and red food coloring for that classic pumpkin orange shade. Drag a toothpick through the frosting to create pumpkin ridges. Pair with hot cider or hot chocolate for a Halloween classroom party hit.
Pro Tips
- Don’t skip the 3-hour chill. The dough is too soft to roll cleanly without it.
- Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to ⅛ inch thick. Thinner cookies will crisp, thicker will spread and lose detail.
- Bake just until lightly browned. Overbaked cookies turn hard and lose the chewy peanut butter texture.
- Let cookies cool COMPLETELY before frosting. Warm cookies will melt the frosting into a runny mess.
Variations
- Cut into ghost shapes and use milk instead of orange juice in the frosting. Skip the food coloring and decorate with chocolate chip eyes.
- Use Halloween cutters (bats, witches, cats) for a variety pack of spooky cookies.
- Press candy corn into the orange frosting before it sets for textured pumpkin faces.
Ingredients
Directions
Mix sugars, peanut butter, margarine, shortening and egg in large bowl.
Stir in flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Cover and refrigerate about 3 hours or until chilled.
Heat oven to 375℉ (190℃).
Divide dough in half.
Roll each half ⅛ inch thick on lightly floured surface.
Cut with 3 inch pumpkin-shaped or round cookie cutter.
Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until light brown. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet.
Cool completely. Prepare Frosting.
Generously frost cookies with orange frosting; frost stems with green frosting.
Draw toothpick through frosting to resemble pumpkin.
Frosting: Mix powdered sugar and margarine. Stir in orange juice concentrate.
Reserve ⅓ cup frosting; tint with green food color for stems.
Tint remaining frosting with 2 drops yellow food color for every 1 drop red food color to obtain desired shade of orange.
Ghost cookies: Cut cookie dough into ghost shapes.
Use milk instead of orange juice for the frosting, and omit the food colors.
Use chocolate chips or slices of black gumdrops to decorate the cookies.
Note: Give the pumpkin cookies faces by decorating with candy corn, or any of your favorite candies.
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