Bake a small batch of delicious pumpkin spice sugar cookies with maple icing, perfect for welcoming fall! This easy recipe features classic sugar cookie cutout cookies flavored with pumpkin pie spice and decorated with sweet maple syrup royal icing.
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cook Time10 minutesmins
Chill30 minutesmins
Total Time50 minutesmins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Fall Dessert, Pumpkin Spice, Small Batch, Sugar Cookies
In a medium mixing bowl, add the butter and sugar. Use a hand held mixer and beat on medium-high speed until the butter is creamy. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and beat until fully incorporated.
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, ¼ cup granulated sugar, 1 large egg yolk, room temperature, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Sift the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt over the top of the butter mixture. Mix on low speed until a dough forms and no flour streaks remain. Do not overmix.
¾ cup all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ⅛ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Pour the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a disc. Wrap completely in the plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350Fdegrees and adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Lightly flour your work surface roll the chilled dough to 1/4 inch thickness. If you want thicker cookies, don't roll the dough so thin.
Use a cookie cutter to cut out your shapes, and place the cookies at least 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Re-roll any scraps to cut into more cookies. Avoid re-rolling the dough more than twice - otherwise the cookies will be tough.
I recommend baking one baking sheet of cookies at a time. While the first batch is baking, refrigerate the other baking sheet of cookies. If the cookies feel as though they got too warm while rolling and cutting, place both baking sheets in the refrigerator to cool for about 10 minutes.
Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, or until the edges turn slightly golden. If you want crispier cookies, bake for a couple minutes longer. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet set on a wire cooling rack for 10 minutes. Then transfer the cookies to the cooling rack to cool completely.
Once the cookies are cool, make the royal icing and decorate the cookies!
Maple Royal Icing
In a small mixing bowl, add the powdered sugar and maple syrup. Whisk together until the powdered sugar is moist. Add a teaspoon of milk at a time to get to your desired icing/decorating consistency.
½ cup powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons pure maple syrup, 1 to 2 teaspoons milk, any kind
Notes
Serving Size - This recipe has been tested as a small batch. Though, it can easily be doubled to make more cookies.
Yield - The number of cookies in your batch will depend on how thick you roll out your cookie dough and the size of your cookie cutters.
Chill Time - I recommend refrigerating the cut-out cookies before baking. This helps them not spread.
Baking Tip - I prefer baking one baking sheet of cookies at a time. For an even bake and not having to worry about rotating baking sheets in the middle of baking.
Crispy Cookie - For a crispier cookie, bake for a couple of extra minutes.
Freezing Cookie Dough - The cookie dough can be frozen - for up to 3 months. Shape the dough into a disc, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and place in a freezer bag to freeze. Thaw in the refrigerator.
Freezing Baked Cookies - Baked and decorated cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months. Either in a Tupperware, or gently placed in a Ziploc bag. Thaw the cookies at room temperature.