Halloween is coming, and naturally, I had to do something fun with food! Since I’m currently obsessed with all things pumpkin spice, my offering was easy: Halloween themed pumpkin spice cookies with a gorgeous cream cheese frosting!
I never really used to mark Halloween before we had children. And even when they were younger, we would avoid most of it, as the monsters and gore would often scare them a little.
As they’ve grown though, they too have embraced the fun of Halloween: from decorating our home to dressing up and going trick-or-treating. And they’ve enjoyed films and TV shows that make all things Halloween less scary.
So, of course, as they’ve wanted to be more involved in Halloween, my bakes have changed to suit them. And now, I am absolutely LOVING that I can create little Halloween bakes especially for us all to enjoy. Turning simple cookies into seasonal treats is so much fun!
This cookie recipe is actually the same as I’ve shared with you previously, here. But this time, I’m sharing my delicious cream cheese icing and how I decorate them too.
Of course, if you don’t mark Halloween, you can skip all the themed dressing up of these cookies. Just leave the icing uncoloured and spread over the top of your cookies. Easy and just as scrumptious! 😊
A little thing to note though: once you’ve decorated your cookies, they will need to be eaten within a day. The moisture from the icing will gradually soak into your cookies leaving them softer and soggier. Whilst they will still taste amazing (of course!), the texture of them won’t be as enjoyable!
And there you have it! Halloween themed pumpkin spice cookies with adorable cream cheese frosting decorations! So cute!!
Happy baking and happy Halloween friends!
😊 x
Halloween Pumpkin Spice Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting
Course: Cookies, DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: A little effort!12-14
servings40
minutes10
minutes50
minutesPumpkin spice in fun Halloween cookies!
Ingredients
- For the cookies
115g (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cubed
100g (½ cup) soft light brown sugar
50g (¼ cup) caster sugar
75g (⅓ cup) pumpkin puree (I used tinned pumpkin puree)
180g (1 cup + 2 tbsp) plain (all purpose) flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
2 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
1½ tsp cinnamon
⅛ tsp cloves
¼ tsp allspice
¼ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- For the icing/frosting
160g (¾ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
160g (½ cup + 3 tbsp) cream cheese, at room temperature
320g – 400g (2 cups + 3 tbsp – 2 cups + ¾ cup) icing (powdered) sugar
1-2 tsp maple syrup
Directions
- First, make your cookies. Preheat your oven to 180C/350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Cream your butter until soft and spreadable. You can do this by hand with a wooden spoon, a handheld mixer or a stand mixer. Add both sugars, mix to combine, then beat on high speed until fluffier (see note below).
- Add in pumpkin puree and beat again for a couple of minutes until completely combined. If your mixture looks like it’s splitting, don’t worry, it will all be good in the end!
- Sift in all the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt, cornflour and powdered spices. Grate in nutmeg directly into the mixing bowl. Then beat all the dry ingredients into your pumpkin mixture until fully combined, scraping the bowl down before your final mix.
- Using an ice cream scoop, or two tablespoons, place balls of your cookie dough on your prepared baking sheet, leaving space between them for a little spreading. Bake in your preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until slightly puffed into the middle and the cookie has a firm “skin” but still feels a little soft on the inside. Cool for 5 minutes on your baking tray, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make your icing, soften your butter in a bowl, then add your cream cheese and beat to mix thoroughly. Gradually add the sugar and syrup, adjusting how much icing sugar you need to get the right consistency until you’re happy with your icing. Beat on high for a minute to make it beautiful and fluffy. Then split into four bowls, colouring three of them green, black and orange and leaving the fourth one white. Put your black icing into a piping bag fitted with a no.2 nozzle (or any writing nozzle) and half your white icing into another piping bag fitted with a flat petal tip.
- Time to decorate!
For the mummy: use a little icing to stick two eyes on your cookie, then pipe strips of white “bandages” over the cookie, being careful to leave the eyes exposed. Cover as much or as little of the cookie as you want!
For Jack Skellington: put a dollop of white icing on your cookie, spread to the edges then smooth the top. Pipe Jack’s face using the black icing.
For Frankenstein: put a dollop of green icing on your cookie, spread to the edges then smooth the top. Place two eyes in the middle of your cookie, then pipe a scar over one eye, a wiggly mouth and some hair on your cookie.
For the pumpkin: put a generous dollop of orange icing on your cookie, spread to the edges then smooth the top. Using the curved edge of your knife or spoon, create the texture/ridges of your pumpkin by running your spoon/knife from top to bottom straight down the middle, then for two curves on each side of the middle dent. Pipe a jack-o-lantern style face on with black icing, then pop a small amount of green icing at the top (for the stem).
Recipe Video
Notes
- Brown sugar and butter don’t really fluff up in the same way white sugar and butter does. So don’t expect the same consistency, we just want a little more air in the mix!
- Your cookies won’t be completely firm all through when you remove them from the oven but will continue to cook a little more as they cool down.
- The maple syrup adds a lovely different sweetness to this icing. If you have no maple syrup, just substitute with vanilla or leave out completely.
