Soft Pumpkin Cookies with Butter Rum Frosting are a delicious cake-like cookie packed with pumpkin flavor! I love pumpkin season, and these are the best pumpkin cookies recipe I make every fall season!

Two stacked cookies with a tray of cookies in the background.

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❤️ Why you'll love it
🥘 Ingredients
🔪 Instructions
🥄 Equipment
🥫Storage
📖 Variations
💭 Tips
📚 Related Recipes
🍽 Serve with...
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments

❤️ Why you'll love it

✔️ Fat, soft, moist, full of pumpkin flavor all accented with the perfect pairing of rum in the frosting spread on top!

✔️ This is a pillowy soft pumpkin cookies recipe with a cake-like texture that makes the most delicious pumpkin treats.

✔️ These melt in your mouth pumpkin cookies are perfect for fall and Halloween gatherings.

Portioned cookie dough on a parchment lined cookie sheet. — A cookie scoop gives you perfect portions of dough.

🥘 Ingredients

All purpose flour, is the structure of the recipe

Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Ground cloves: are the warm spices that lend the pumpkin spice flavor

Baking powder, Baking soda are leavening agents that aid in a soft puffy cookie.

Unsalted butter and Large eggs are the ingredients that add fat help bind the ingredients together.

Granulated sugar and Salt, added to sweeten and enhance flavor.

Pumpkin puree, I use canned pumpkin puree, but if you can make your own with fresh baked pure pumpkin puree if you wish.

Vanilla extract, adds flavor.

Powdered sugar is mixed with Half and half and butter to make the frosting.

Spiced rum or rum extract, is the flavoring in the frosting.

A tablespoon on top of a ball of pumpkin cookie dough. — Dip a spoon in a little bit of water and press the cookie down to flatten it a bit. The water prevents the dough from sticking to the spoon.

🔪 Instructions

FOR THE COOKIES

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set flour mixture aside.
In a medium bowl using a hand mixer, mix the butter and sugar for 3 minutes, or until creamy. Add the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla to the butter mixture and mix for 2 minutes or until creamy.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until dough flour has been mixed in. Do not overmix.
Drop 1 tablespoon of cookie dough on the prepared baking sheet and flatten slightly. *tip: I flattened by using the back of a tablespoon that I had dipped slightly in water to prevent sticking.
Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven or until cookies have puffed and are no longer wet on top. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

FOR THE ICING

In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, milk, melted butter, and rum. Add 1 tablespoon at a time as needed to achieve spreading consistency.
Frost each cookie with the icing and sprinkle with fall colored sprinkles (if desired).

Baked cookies on parchment lined baking sheet.

🥄 Equipment

Large bowl

Small bowl

Electric mixer

Large scraper

Cookie scoop

Cookie sheet

Parchment paper

🥫Storage

Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days or in the freezer up to 3 months.

Baked and frosted cookies on cooling rack.

📖 Variations

To give a deeper caramel flavor, use brown sugar in place of granulated sugar.
Substitute 2-½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice in place of the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
Stir 1 cup chocolate chips into the cookie dough before baking.
Instead of rum, use maple syrup and bourbon to make the icing.
Make the frosting a little thinner and dip the cookie tops in the frosting to glaze the cookie or give them a drizzle glaze.
Try this cream cheese frosting recipe in place of the butter rum frosting.

Frosted soft pumpkin cookie with fall colored sprinkles and a bite taken out of it.

💭 Tips

A small, tablespoon sized cookie scoop provides the perfect amount of cookie dough balls for this recipe.
These cookies do not spread much, so, I like to flatten the cookie balls slightly. I do so by dipping the back of a tablespoon into a small amount of water before pressing each cookie. This water prevents the dough from sticking to the spoon. You can also use cooking spray if preferred.

I love this old fashioned Pumpkin Bread with Dried Cranberries.

Pumpkin Overnight Oats are a modern way to enjoy oatmeal in the morning.

This Pumpkin Pie with Condensed Milk is the BEST pumpkin pie recipe!

Pumpkin Spice Cake Roll is one of my favorite pumpkin desserts.

🍽 Serve with...

Serve these soft cookies with a glass of hot apple cider, coffee, or tea.

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When you make this recipe, please comment below and let me know what you think. I'd love it if you tag me on Instagram @grumpyshoneybunch or #grumpyshoneybunch so I can see your photos!

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📖 Recipe