Pumpkin Spice Shortbread Cookies

Photography, Recipe Development, and Food Styling by Laura Kasavan/feedfeed

Appearing in our Holiday Cookies Special Issue, Laura Kasavan of Tutti Dolci, brings us rich pumpkin and warm spice in her Pumpkin Spice Shortbread Cookies. Look for more of her decadent recipes in Holiday Cookies, out now! 

The ever-popular and classic favorite pumpkin spice flavor infuses these soft and buttery shortbread cookies. Decorate with turbinado sugar and pecan halves for a sparkling finishing touch! 

3.5 from 2 reviews
Pumpkin Spice Shortbread Cookies
 
Makes about 24
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup (170 grams) unsalted butter, softened
  • ⅔ cup (133 grams) granulated sugar
  • ⅓ cup (81 grams) canned pumpkin
  • ½ teaspoon (2 grams) vanilla extract
  • 1¾ cups (219 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon (2 grams) ground cinnamon
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons (24 grams) turbinado sugar
  • 24 pecan halves
Instructions
  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and granulated sugar at medium speed until creamy, 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. With mixer on medium-low speed, add pumpkin and vanilla, beating until combined.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating until combined and dough starts to come together. Turn out dough, and shape into a disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
  3. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
  4. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to ¼-inch thickness. Using a 2 ½-inch fluted round cutter dipped in flour, cut dough, rerolling scraps as necessary. Place on prepared pans. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
  5. Sprinkle cookies with turbinado sugar, and press a pecan into center of each cookie.
  6. Bake until tops and edges are set, 15 to 16 minutes, rotating pans after 8 minutes of baking. Let cool on pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and let cool completely on wire racks.

 

 

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4 COMMENTS

  1. I just made this recipe and I am incredibly disappointed. I love Bake and was super excited to try out this recipe for our Thanksgiving Table. I am wondering if the measurements are correct because I ended up adding an additional 1 cup of flour to try to make this dough come together. The overall spices were flat and these cookies definitely need more salt and spices to make them worth your while. Really, I would recommend saving your ingredients for a better cookie.

    • Hey Laurilee,

      We are sorry to hear that the recipe didn’t come out as hoped. We did not have issues with the dough coming together when testing it, but perhaps your pumpkin puree was wetter than our canned pumpkin and added a boost of moisture to the dough. Unfortunately, adding in another cup of flour might have muted the pumpkin spice flavors. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you would like to talk through this cookie issue further. We hope that you will find better success with our other recipes in the meantime, and have a successful Holiday/Thanksgiving baking session!

  2. Disclaimer: I did modify the recipe. I added 1tsp espresso powder. Instead of rolling the dough, I made drop cookies about 2tsp big. Instead of topping with sugar and a pecan, I topped with a drizzle of glaze made from powdered sugar, water, and vanilla extract. It was delicious – a nice balance of pumpkin and spice flavor that’s not overwhelming like other pumpkin spice foods (looking at you, Starbucks).

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