Best Pumpkin Pie Sugar Cookies Recipe

Whether you prefer pumpkin, apple, pecan, or sweet potato, odds are that you’ll find some sort of pie at your Thanksgiving gathering. It’s so ubiquitous with the holiday that it inspires everything else on the dessert table, including these pumpkin pie sugar cookies. This festively decorated dessert resembles a pumpkin pie, but is actually made from shortbread cookies.

You may have previously had a cookie cake made from soft and chewy cookies like chocolate chip. By contrast, we use our recipe for shortbread cookies, which have a buttery and slightly crumbly texture. It more closely mimics a real pie crust while still retaining enough structure to be picked up and eaten with your hands (and a bonus: it’s a lot easier to make than pie dough). We season the shortbread with pumpkin pie spice to impart some of the same warm flavors we love during the holiday season.

However, the real beauty of this cookie is in the decoration. The top of each cookie is covered in a simple homemade icing tinted to look like pumpkin pie filling, but the rest of the decorations are made from convenient store-bought ingredients. Crispy meringue cookies look just like a dollop of whipped cream, and store-bought frosting is piped along the outer edges to resemble a beautifully crimped crust.

The best part about this cookie pie is that you can bake the shortbread base in advance, then decorate it on the day you’re ready to serve.

Did you try making this recipe? Let us know in the comments.