Slice and Bake Halloween Pumpkin Cookies
Test Kitchen-Approved
- Serves
- 24 cookies
- Prep Time
- 2 hours
- Cook Time
- 15 minutes
I grew up making pumpkin slice and bake cookies during Halloween, but also every holiday I would enjoy seeing the other designs. These cookies are made using sugar cookie dough and the key is to ensure that everything is incredibly cold before baking.
You can add spices to the dough to elevate the flavor, or keep them simple with the vanilla bean paste as well.
Ingredients
- 3 1/4 cup (390 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon (6 grams) baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ( kosher salt
- 2 sticks (226 grams) salted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
- Green, orange, and yellow food coloring
Directions
- Step 1
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Step 2
Add in your egg and vanilla extract and continue mixing until fully combined. Scrape the bowl to ensure all ingredients have been incorporated and continue mixing for another 15 seconds.
- Step 3
Add the dry ingredients into the bowl and mix until the dough begins to form. Once the dry ingredients have been fully incorporated, stop mixing.
- Step 4
Remove 2/3 of the dough and place on a separate surface. This is going to be the border/white dough for the pumpkin.
- Step 5
With the remaining dough, you'll want to split it between the "pumpkin" and the "stem". Remove a small amount of dough for the stem. With the larger amount that's in the bowl, add a few drops of orange and yellow food coloring and mix to combine. Place on a surface and repeat the process with the "stem" dough. You can also add in a small amount of yellow food coloring to brighten the green color.
- Step 6
With the "pumpkin" dough, form a log that's about 10 inches long. Taking the green dough for the stem, form a thin log and place on top of the orange log. Pinch the green log so it's slightly pointy across and wrap in parchment paper and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes to harden and chill.
- Step 7
After 30 minutes, use the white dough for the border and form a rectangle that is slightly longer than the pumpkin log. Place the pumpkin dough in the middle of the white rectangle dough and carefully wrap the border around the dough. Roll it so the dough carefully forms, but ensure you're not being too rough.
- Step 8
Place fully formed log and get back in the fridge for about 1 hour to chill. Preheat your oven to 350 and line a pan with parchment paper.
- Step 9
After an hour, use a sharp knife and cut out slices of the pumpkin cookies. It might take a few cuts to get to the actual design, but once you have it, place on the pan about 1-inch apart.
- Step 10
Bake for about 15 minutes, until they are slightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and place on cooling rack to cool completely before enjoying.