Soft baked pumpkin cookies are pillowy and spiced to perfection. Then they're glazed with a sweet maple glaze that puts them over the top!
HOW TO MAKE BAKERY SOFT PUMPKIN COOKIES
What I love about cookies, is once you've figured out how to make the perfect cookie for one recipe, you're pretty good on most other cookie recipes. However, if your cookie batches lack consistency, some are like cake, some are all flat and crunchy, some are dry as bricks, these tips may help you out.
The Right Consistency of the Butter
Cookies are all about the butter! This recipe calls for softened butter. If the butter is too soft or too cold, your cookies will not turn out the way you want. The butter should be softened to this point before you start the recipe:
- When you apply gentle pressure with your finger to the top of the stick, it gives but doesn't push through.
- When you try to bend the stick of butter in half, it bends without breaking or turning into a mess.
Whip the Butter and Sugar
Once the butter is properly softened, the only other thing you have to get just right is the butter and sugar mixture. For the longest time, when I made cookies, I just put the stand mixer on on low until they were mixed together evenly.
When I finally figured out you have to get a sort of fluffy whipped texture and let the mixer really go at medium speed for a solid 3 minutes, it was a cookie game-changer. When your mixture is fluffy like marshmallow creme, you will bake a much less dense cookie. Unless you've grown attached to the brick cookie thing, try to make your butter mixture look like the picture below.
Smooth Out the Cookies Before Baking
So this part is a little bit of a pain, but it's worth it when you get nice smooth, round cookies to put the icing on. Because this batter isn't like your typical cookie recipe with at least a cup of butter, the dough doesn't smooth out or melt out into a circle. Half the moisture is the pumpkin puree, which doesn't help with the melting.
So first thing's first, you're going to want a cookie scoop. This is a stickier batter, again
After that, grab a ramekin or small bowl of water. Dip your fingers or the back of a spoon in the water (you'll have to do this for each scoop) and smooth out she top and sides of the scoop and press down slightly to create smooth circles that are about 1inch high and 2-3 inches round.
Maple Icing
If you've already made icing before, you won't need much help. I will suggest you keep the milk and powdered sugar out in case you need to play with the consistency. I had to make mine pretty thick to get a decent coat on top of the cookies that didn't drop completely off. My consistency was similar to a paste or slightly melted peanut butter.
If you end up with it too thin, add more sugar and re-glaze the cookie. You'll only need to add more milk if it is still crumbly. Once it's just to liquid status, you really can't have it too thick. The only draw back to it being thick might be that you run out sooner and need to make more the get through all 20 cookies.
OTHER FALL DESSERT YOU MIGHT WANT TO TRY
Maple Glazed Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup salted butter (softened)
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
FOR THE GLAZE:
- 1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon maple extract
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°, adjust oven rack to the middle position and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together all of the following ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar at medium speed using a stand mixer or handheld electric mixer, until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla and pumpkin puree.
- Adjust the mixer to low speed and mix in the dry mixture a little at a time until just blended together. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula and finish fold in any remaining flour or wet mixture until completely combined.
- Using a tablespoon or small dough scoop, drop 9 (2-tablespoon) scoops of dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spaced evenly.
- Wet the back of your scoop or your fingers and lightly press the tops of each dough dough scoop until smooth and slightly flattened (about 2-3 inches round and 1 inch high).
- Bake until the edges of the cookies are firm, around 15 minutes. Continue to bake 9 at a time until the dough is gone. Allow to completely cool before glazing (about 30 minutes).
FOR THE ICING:
- In a small bowl, whisk all glaze ingredients together until smooth. Add additional powdered sugar to thicken if needed. The icing should be thick, but still stirrable. Dip the cookie into the icing and swirl a bit. Transfer the iced cookie to a metal drying rack with parchment or wax paper underneath. Allow the glaze to dry for about 10 minutes.
Nutrition
RECIPE EQUIPMENT
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