Maple icing is used to decorate these pumpkin cookies. Nobody has ever not loved these cookies, not even people who don’t like pumpkin cookies. For 35 years, the family has used this recipe. It has earned first place at both a cookie exchange and a workplace pumpkin carving competition. Normally, I multiply recipes three times!
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 30 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 2 dozen cookies |
Ingredients
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup shortening (such as Crisco®)
- 1 egg
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (Optional)
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon milk, or as needed
- 1 teaspoon maple extract, or to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Mix sugar and shortening together in a bowl. Mix in egg. Add pumpkin and vanilla extract; mix well. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and mix until well combined. Fold in walnuts.
- Use small teaspoons or a cookie scoop to drop rounded teaspoonfuls of cookie dough onto ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake in the preheated oven until edges turn golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Allow to cool.
- Meanwhile, beat powdered sugar and butter together with an electric mixer until combined. Stir in milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until a frosting consistency is reached. Fold in maple extract until thoroughly combined.
- Spread maple frosting over the cooled cookies.
- If you live in a hot climate where buttercream frosting does not hold up, you can add 1/2 cup shortening to the butter.
- Unfrosted cookies freeze well.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 301 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 39 g |
| Cholesterol | 18 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 177 mg |
| Sugars | 29 g |
| Fat | 16 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made this cookie and it turned out great….I left out the cinnamon and replaced it with pumpkin pie spice.
I really liked these cakey cookies. The walnuts and maple went so well together. The only modification I made was to slightly reduce the amount of nuts and place half into dough and other half crushed fine on top. So good. Will be making again. Thanks for sharing.
I made half the recipe and still got 24 cookies. I only used 1 cup powdered sugar in the frosting and 3 1/2 tsp of milk, the rest of the frosting ingredients remained the same. With that being said, I loved these!! I split my dough in half and made 1/2 without nuts and 1/2 with nuts. I baked the ones without nuts for 14 minutes and they turned out very soft and pillowy. The half with nuts I baked for 16 minutes and they tasted just like a pumpkin cake only in mini size. This is a recipe I would definitely make again. Thanks for sharing!!