Description
The best way to welcome fall is with these Crumbl-inspired vegan pumpkin spice cookies. Made with a soft and chewy pumpkin cookie base, then topped with a delicious cream cheese frosting, and finally dusted with pumpkin pie spice! Perfectly spiced, chewy, and very easy to make. It’s the ultimate fall cookie recipe! You’ll want to pair this with a nice cup of coffee or tea, and you’ll be set to enjoy the fall season.
Ingredients
Scale
Pumpkin Spice Cookies
- 10 tablespoons (140g) – vegan butter, softened at room temp
- 1 ¾ cup (300g) – all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled, see notes
- ½ teaspoon – baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon – baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon – pumpkin pie spice
- ½ cup (100g) – white sugar
- ½ cup (100g) – light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon – vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons (90g) – pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) – vegan butter, softened at room temp
- 6 tablespoons (100g) – vegan plain cream cheese, I used Kite Hill
- 1 teaspoon – vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cup (250g) – powdered sugar
- pumpkin pie spice for dusting
Equipment:
- Food scale
- Measuring spoons
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer
- Mixing bowls
- Rubber spatula
- Medium cookie scoops
- Parchment paper or Silpat mat
- 2 large baking sheets
- Wire cooling rack
- Piping bag and any piping tip
Instructions
Cookies:
- First, set out your butter (this includes the butter for the frosting) from the fridge to soften at room temperature. Depending on what brand you are using this could take from 30 minutes, up to an hour. Do not start this recipe with cold butter and don’t be tempted to melt the butter either!
- While you wait, preheat the oven to 350° F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside until ready to use.
- Next, in a medium-sized bowl whisk together the flour, pumpkin spice, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside until ready to use.
- In a large bowl, using a stand mixer or hand mixer, on high speed, mix the softened vegan butter, white sugar, and brown sugar together until light and creamy.
- To the bowl, add in the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract, and mix until well combined.
- Then, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix them at low speed. You are looking for soft cookie dough consistency.
- Scoop the cookie dough in roughly 2 tablespoon scoops out onto a parchment-lined baking tray, aiming for around 14 cookies. I used a medium-sized cookie scoop.
- Roll them into a ball and gently flatten them into a thick disc.
- Bake for 18 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool on the pan for 10 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Allow the cookies to completely cool before decorating.
Frosting:
- In a medium bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, and beat the softened butter and cream cheese together until creamy and smooth.
- Add vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
- Gradually add in the powdered sugar and continue to mix until completely combined.
- If the frosting seems too loose, add more powdered sugar.
- Fit your preferred piping tip to a piping bag, and fill it up with the frosting. Set aside until ready to use.
Assembly:
- Working with one cookie at a time, pipe a swirl of the frosting over the cookies and dust a bit of pumpkin spice over the top. Repeat for the rest, serve and enjoy!
Notes
- A common reason baked goods fail is incorrectly measured flour. I always recommend using a scale for accuracy when baking. This greatly improves your chance for success and lessens room for error. My recipes are 100% tested in grams.
- However, if you’re measuring by cups, avoid scooping the measuring cup directly into the flour. This tends to pack the flour into the cup, resulting in too much flour and a very dense or gummy finished product. Instead, aerate your flour (fluff it with a fork or spoon) and then spoon it into your measuring cups, leveling it with your finger or the back of a butter knife. Keep in mind though, this method is not guaranteed to be accurate.
- Watch this video from King Arthur on how to properly measure your flour if you don’t have a food scale:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUSovVHpqsU
- Watch this video from King Arthur on how to properly measure your flour if you don’t have a food scale:
- Store in an airtight container and place it in the fridge.
- They will also keep in the freezer, undecorated, for about a month.
Keywords: vegan, vegan dessert, vegan cookies, vegan pumpkin cookies, pumpkin spice cookies, vegan pumpkin spice cookies, pumpkin spice, fall dessert, pumpkin, cookies
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