Quick & Easy Pumpkin Pie Sugar Cookies

I don’t like pumpkin pie. There I said it. I feel so much better. Seriously though, when you spend years watching people enjoy a holiday dessert that you don’t like, you become a little jealous. Year after year, I would try to learn how to like pumpkin pie. I’d tentatively chew the pie and try to swallow it as quickly as I could. The texture made me cringe as badly as listening to someone scratch a chalkboard. Still, I kept trying to learn to appreciate it and join everyone in their love of that pumpkiny dessert. After a few decades of failing, I decided to try something new: pumpkin pie cookies. 

Even though we’re not talking about pumpkin spice lattes, let’s just call it PSL flavor. I love cookies, their texture is perfect and I love the whole tactile thing with a cookie. I’ve had pumpkin spice cookies and they’re wonderful, but I wanted to try and make something completely different. I like to make an effort to not buy things that are unnecessary and make sure that I use things that I have on hand. I always have canned pumpkin on hand because it goes well with beef and it’s chock full of vitamins. I also keep pumpkin spice and vanilla pudding on hand, while not basic you can do a lot with them. I still had some pre-made sugar cookie dough in the fridge since baking the lime curd cookies. So I thought of how I could combine these ingredients to make a treat that would not make me squirm.  

I know I’ve talked about eating certain flavors at certain times of year based on the temperature outside. Right now we’re coming out of one of the most roasty summers I’ve ever experienced and I’m here talking about PSL. Though, it might seem like I’m contradicting myself, I’m not. When PSL is chilled and as long as you’re not outside in the hot, hot sun, PSL is a wonderfully delicious flavor even when it’s hot outside. So after that really long explanation of why it’s ok to have PSL flavor during the hottest time of the year, let’s talk about the process of making these delish cookies!

This fall cookie recipe (or anytime recipe), like all recipes I share, is easy. The base of the cookie is made of premade sugar cookie dough, with a extra flour to give the cookie a little more strength. You will need canned pumpkin, just plain puréed pumpkin; I’ve never actually found canned pumpkin pie filling, but just in case, make sure you’re buying plain puréed pumpkin. I used a premixed pumpkin pie spice and instant vanilla pudding mix. For garnish you will need whipped topping; I don’t even want to say the whipped topping is optional, because for me, no whipped topping is a deal breaker. If you want your pumpkin mix to be sweeter, you will need powdered sugar. The only cooking you will do is baking the sugar cookie dough, everything else is just mixed together and spooned into the cookie shell and then chilled.