Soft Pumpkin Molasses Cookies with Maple Icing
These soft, chewy Pumpkin Molasses Cookies with maple icing are guaranteed to be the star of your holiday baking lineup! If the perfect pumpkin cookie, and the ultimate soft and chewy gingersnap cookie got together, THIS would be the result and it is holiday cookie magic!
Servings: 24 servings
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, browned I used salted
- 1 ⅓ cups brown sugar packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- ½ cup canned pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling
- ⅓ cup molasses
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt if using unsalted butter, increase to 3/4 teaspoon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves see note
Cinnamon-sugar coating
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
Maple Icing (optional)
- 4 tablespoons butter melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2-4 tablespoons milk as needed
Instructions
- In a large bowl mix together butter, sugars, and vanilla. Add egg, pumpkin puree, and molasses and mix again until combined.
- In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, ginger, salt, and cloves.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until incorporated (do not over-mix).
- Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment or a baking mat. Scoop cookie dough and roll into 1 1/2-inch balls. Whisk together the cinnamon and sugar and roll each cookie dough ball in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, then place on prepared baking sheet 3 inches apart.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10-13 minutes. Allow to cool completely on the pan.
- When cookies have cooled, prepare the icing. Combine melted butter, vanilla, maple syrup, powdered sugar, and 2 tablespoons of milk. Whisk until completely combined. Add a little more milk as necessary until smooth. Heat in the microwave for 20-30 seconds til just warmed and slightly runny.
- Dip cookies in the icing and allow to set for a few minutes before serving or storing in airtight container up to 5 days.
Notes
For the spices: if you don't have ground ginger and cloves you can increase the pumpkin pie spice to 1 teaspoon
For the icing: if, as you are dipping your cookies, your icing cools and is no longer runny, just return to the microwave for another 20 seconds or so. I ended up dipping about 2/3 of my finished cookies. A few family members prefer them without icing (it's rich!) but most of us love the iced cookies the best!
Gluten free note: this recipe works well with cup-for-cup gluten free flour. :)
Nutrition
Calories: 202kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Trans Fat: 0.001g | Cholesterol: 7mg | Sodium: 106mg | Potassium: 128mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 35g | Vitamin A: 812IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 36mg | Iron: 1mg
