These soft, cake-like cookies are filled with pumpkin spice and everything nice! Topped with luscious, perfectly sweetened cream cheese frosting and –yep– more pumpkin spice on top!

Pumpkin cookie ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream cheese frosting ingredients:
8 ounces of low-fat cream cheese, room temperature
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar

Soft Pumpkin Cookie Recipe:
Step 1:
Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Step 2:
In a stand mixer (or in a large bowl) cream together room-temperature butter, sugar, and brown sugar until pale yellow, light and fluffy. This takes approximately 2-3 minutes in a stand mixer on medium speed.  Add in pumpkin puree, egg, and vanilla and stir until just combined.  

Step 3:
In a another large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture until just combined.

Step 4:
Using a cookie-scoop, drop batter 2 inches apart onto a parchment lined baking sheet. If you don’t have a cookie-scoop, use a heaping tablespoon instead. Bake at 350° for approximately 15 minutes for large cookies or 12 minutes for smaller cookies. Transfer cookies onto a wire rack and cool completely before frosting.

Step 5:
While the cookies are baking, make the frosting by beating together cream cheese, butter and vanilla in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually add in the powdered sugar.

Step 6:
After cookies have cooled completely, use a flat knife to frost cookies and then top with an extra sprinkle of pumpkin spice! Store in a sealed container in a single layer in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. They are best enjoyed at room temperature so remove from the fridge a few minutes before serving.