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Cinnamon spiced sugar cookies with browned butter frosting…shaped like cute little pumpkins, because it’s basically October and time for all things pumpkin.
Happy Friday everyone!! Hoping you’ve all had a great week. I had an interesting day on Wednesday. I went down to Denver late in the afternoon to fly out to LA to film for Hallmark Home and Family and ended up back at home that same night. Let me explain, we were about to leave the gate when we were told there were mechanical issues and the plane could not fly. Totally not fun, but better known on the ground than in the air!
I made a call to the super nice people at Hallmark to explain the situation and they were so sweet about my travel mishaps. They offered to simply Facetime the interview, and even agreed to reschedule a live interview when I’m in town in mid October. I had such a fun time doing the Facebook interview (it airs this morning, so tune in to Hallmark!), and am feeling just so grateful for all these amazing opportunities.
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Okay, on to these cookies, they are basically fall in a cookie…well, almost. There’s no actual pumpkin in these cookies. One, I have so many pumpkin recipes coming up that I didn’t feel as though these cookies needed to have pumpkin included in the them. Two, I also didn’t want to start in on the pumpkin recipes too early. Personally, I can start to get a little bit of a pumpkin overdose before Thanksgiving is even over, and I’ve decided I’m not letting that happen this year.
So long story short, I’m trying to pace myself with the pumpkin recipes this year. I’m going to try to slowly roll them out…but don’t worry, I have one all set for you guys next week!
ps. I just realized, I already cheated with this pumpkin beer broccoli cheddar soup from earlier this week…
Anyway, I made these cookies, kind of on a whim, last week. Normally I try to have my blog recipes pretty planned out, but sometimes an idea comes to mind that either sounds so good or so fun to create that I just have to do it that very day.
That’s what happened with these cookies. It was kind of a dreary, moody day…and very Halloweeny. I just felt like making something cute and pumpkin shaped was appropriate. I’ve already shared my very favorite sugar cookies with you guys, but then I thought about making more of an autumn style sugar cookie, and these cinnamon spiced sugar cookies immediately came to mind.
Of course, I had to make them in the shape of pumpkins.
Like my favorite sugar cookie recipe, these are extremely easy to make. The only real difference is the addition of cinnamon and nutmeg. Adding cinnamon to a sugar cookie might not sound all that amazing, but trust me it is so good. It’s basically like cinnamon toast, but in a buttery, soft sugar cookie form.
And, as if the cookie alone was not enough, I went ahead and added a browned butter frosting. And then, to really seal the deal, I added the lightest dusting of cinnamon sugar. In full disclosure I added the cinnamon sugar more for a glittery look on my cookies, but I’m not going to lie, it was pretty delicious.
OKAY, now here’s the thing. I am no professional cookie decorator. I may or may not have worked hours (seriously hours) on trying to make these cookies look like cute pumpkins, but the funny thing is, the look of the cookies you see here is not originally what I was going for at all. Nope, I was actually trying to make them look like real pumpkins. But you know what? Turns out that I love how these cookies ended up. I didn’t use any food dye and this simple design only takes minutes to create. It’s natural, rustic, and very me. Yes, kind of loving them.
Also, the frosting…oh my gosh…THE BEST. And yes, that needed to be in all caps. The cookies are truly amazing on their own. They’re soft, sweet, and loaded with cinnamon flavor. But let’s be real, what is a sugar cookie without frosting, you know?
The frosting adds that special final touch, and well, it’s just delicious. The toasted brown butter and extra pinch of cinnamon just screams fall. Meaning you need to make these cookies this weekend and then every weekend from now until December. Oh, and when December hits, turn them into christmas shaped cookies! YES. DO THAT.
Cinnamon Spiced Sugar Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting
Ingredients
- 3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Browned Butter Frosting
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter
- 2 cups confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- cinnamon sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
- 1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until evenly combined. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, beating until combined and the dough forms a ball.2. Generously flour your work surface. Divide the dough in half and flatten each half into a disk. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Make sure you are using enough flour or your dough will stick. Cut out the cookies into your desired shapes. Carefully transfer the cookies to a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover the baking sheet and place the sheet in the freezer, freeze until very firm, about 15-20 minutes. Roll out the leftover scraps, and repeat with the remaining disk of dough.3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake the cookies on the middle rack of the oven for 8-12 minutes (for soft cookies) or until just lightly golden brown. Do not over bake. Cool on the baking sheet five minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.4. To make the frosting. Add the butter to medium pot. Allow the butter to brown lightly until it smells toasted, about 2-3 minutes. Stir often. Remove from the heat and let cool 5 minutes. Whisk in the powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons water, the vanilla, and cinnamon until smooth, adding 1 tablespoon of water to think the frosting as needed. If the frosting gets too thin, just add a little more sugar and if it gets too thick, add a splash of water. The frosting should be thin enough to drizzle, but think enough to hold it's shape.5. Frost each cooled cookie. If making pumpkins, I used melted chocolate to draw on the pumpkin "leaves". Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon sugar. Keep cookies covered in an air tight container for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
Cookies today…tomorrow we kick off “spooky” cocktail Saturday!
This recipe looks amazing!! Do you think it would work if I halved the recipe? Five dozen cookies is a bit too much for us 🙂
Yes, halving the recipe works great. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Hope you love this recipe! thank you! 🙂
Can this dough be frozen?
Yes! Freeze the raw dough then thaw over night in the fridge. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Hope you love this recipe! thank you! 🙂
I just wanted you to know that I am having trouble with your website, I cannot print the recipes at all anymore. Also, when I search things come up that I have not asked for. I don’t know how to contact you
Hey Sandy! I am so sorry you’re having trouble with the site. I will look into what is going on!
Hello! I was wondering if it was essential to put the dough in the freezer? What does this do? I am making these for a wedding favor .
Hi! this quickly chills dough and prevents the cookies from spreading. Let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe. Thank you! 🙂
Must try them, they sure look pretty and delicious.
Thank you Johanne!
DO you need to grease pan when cooking them!? About to put them in now!
No need to grease the pan, just line with parchment paper. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂
I had a very hard time rolling these out and keeping them from sticking. I added in extra flour and it was still a little hard to work with. I ended up using two pieces of wax paper and rolling them between those and the paper pulled of really well(still need to use flour). Once I figured that out it was a breeze. Planning to take them in to share with my office today. Love the blog/instagram Tieghan, can’t wait to buy your cookbook!
So sorry it was difficult for you to roll out Betsy, but I am really glad it worked with the wax paper! I hope your office loved these! ? Thank you!
Really yummy. The only issue I had was with the Frosting. But just had to adjust it a tad. Big hit at our place.
I am so glad you loved these cookies Sam! Thank you!!
This icing recipe unfortunately didn’t work for me. The cookies turned out fine, but the icing was more like frosting. One stick of butter did not seem to be enough, and I would have had to add so much butter (or another liquid) to fix it… If I could give some constructive criticism – just to make these a little more beginner friendly – give a bit more specific direction, and maybe offer helpful tips to the possible outcomes, especially for the tricky parts like icing. Although they tasted wonderful, I wish mine could have looked like yours; I just could not for the life of me get the icing right.
Sorry – I know this was meant to be frosting, but I mean to say mine was too thick to ice onto the cookies and make them look like yours. Whoops!
Hey Lena! Sorry the frosting did not work for you. I will try to add in some tips in the future! Thank you.
Wow! These look amazing! I can’t wait to bake them! 🙂 I was also wondering if you piped the frosting on? If so, what size tip did you use? Thanks so much!
Hi Kara! I used a ziplock bag and then just cut a small portion of the corn off and drew lines that way. Let me know if you have questions and I hope you love recipe! 🙂
These are absolutely adorable and the recipe sounds delicious! I don’t think we could eat through 5 dozen in 4 days though, how would you suggest freezing them? Thank you for the recipe!
Thank you! I would freeze the cookies before frosting, thaw and then frost. Let me know if you have questions and I hope you love recipe! 🙂
Tiergan! Every recipe is a favorite…so happy to have followed you. Want to freeze these…before or after frosting?
Thank you so much, Chriss!! I would freeze these before frosting. Let me know if you have questions and I hope you love recipe! 🙂
Hi Tieghan, when I first came across your recipe for these cookies I immediately thought they looked delicious & adorable! I made them yesterday…they were a definite hit!!! However, I love the way you have them decorated, did you pipe the frosting to get that look? Thanks, Patty
Hi Patty! I did pipe the strips on using a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off. So easy! 🙂 Let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love the recipe! Thank you!
Muito boa receita, queria muito ter esses dotes culinários para preparar essas receitas mas infelizmente não tenho mas salvo para minha sogra fazer ela prepara muito bem e essa sei que vi ficar maravilhosa como sempre.
Espero que você ame isso. Obrigado!
These cookies are adorable, so perfect for fall!
Thank you!!