Easy Royal Icing Pumpkin Cookies
Sugar cookies that bake soft and cut clean, topped with royal icing that spreads smooth and sets beautifully. Perfect for fall or festive cut-out fun!
Equipment
- 1 Mixing bowl Large
- 1 Rolling pin
- 1 Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
Ingredients
Cookie Dough & Icing
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature (2 sticks)
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 egg whole
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour sifted, plus extra for dusting
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tablespoon milk plus more as needed
- food coloring optional
Instructions
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl until fluffy.
- Add egg and extracts, beat until smooth.
- Sift flour and salt together, then slowly mix into wet ingredients to form dough.
- Lightly flour surface, roll dough to ¼ inch thickness.
- Cut into pumpkin shapes and place on prepared sheet.
- Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges just begin to turn golden.
- Cool 5 minutes on tray, then transfer to wire rack.
- Sift confectioners' sugar into bowl for icing.
- Stir in milk and food coloring as desired until icing is spreadable but thick.
- Spread or pipe onto cooled cookies.
- Allow icing to set fully before serving or storing.
Notes
For smoother icing, sift the sugar and adjust milk as needed. Chill dough for easier cutting and clean shapes. Let iced cookies dry fully before stacking or storing.