These fall-inspired iced pumpkin oatmeal cookies are perfectly soft and chewy, yet so simple to make! Made with pumpkin, oats, and sweet cinnamon icing, these chewy pumpkin cookies combine the best flavors of the season.
These soft and chewy pumpkin oatmeal cookies topped with a delicious cinnamon royal icing are a festive fall spin on the classic oatmeal cookie recipe! I’ve been making these for years and they always impress on Thanksgiving, Halloween parties, potlucks and everything in-between. As soon as September first rolls around, my kids practically beg me to whip up a batch and I’m always happy to oblige! Here’s what makes them so crave-worthy:
- Fall Flavor: Each bite contains the perfect ratio of spiced pumpkin oatmeal cookie to the thin layer of sweet cinnamon icing on top!
- Soft and Chewy: The oats add a good chewy texture and the pumpkin puree keeps these oatmeal pumpkin cookies moist and soft.
- Crowd Pleaser: These pumpkin oatmeal cookies are the perfect fall treat and lend themselves to doubling or tripling the recipe for sharing!
- Customizable: Add chopped, dried fruit, orange zest, cinnamon chips or chocolate chips, the options are endless.
You can never have too many pumpkin cookies, right? Bake more of my fall favorites like these stuffed pumpkin cheesecake cookies, these chewy pumpkin snickerdoodles and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
Key Ingredients
Below you will find helpful notes for key ingredients used to make this pumpkin oatmeal cookie recipe. Scroll down to the recipe card for full ingredient list and exact amounts!
- Oats: Old fashioned rolled oats will give the best chewy texture to this pumpkin oatmeal cookie recipe, but quick oats will also work.
- Spices: I used cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg, but if you prefer, you can swap these two for pumpkin pie spice instead.
- Pumpkin Puree: Pure canned or homemade pumpkin puree takes center stage here. Do not use pumpkin pie filling, it is already sweetened and has spices added for a pie.
- Sugar: I used granulated sugar, however you could use light or dark brown sugar instead for even more molasses flavor.
- Molasses: This adds an extra depth of flavor!
These are such great pumpkin cookies to bake during cozy days indoors. Enjoy them at home or make them the star of your holiday cookie platter! Below is a quick recipe overview, but please scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full instructions.
- Make the Dough: Whisk together the dry ingredients, set aside. Mix together the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and stir until both are combined and the dough is formed.
- Scoop Dough: Using a cookie scoop or a couple of soup spoons, drop tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Or use two spoons, by scooping with one spoon and using the second spoon to scrape the dough off onto the parchment paper.
- Bake: Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, in a preheated 350°F oven, until lightly browned. Rotate pan halfway through baking, for even cooking!
- Cool: Remove cookies from the oven, and allow to cool for a few minutes. Then I usually slide the parchment paper with the cookies onto a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
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- Icing: In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, cinnamon, water and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Dip Cookies: Frost each cookie by dipping the tops into the icing to glaze them. Then set them on cooling rack to allow the icing harden up. Serve and enjoy!
Chef’s Tips & Variations
- Use a Cookie Scoop: A medium cookie scoop is especially handy for softer cookie dough recipes that forgo chilling like this one. If you don’t have a scoop, you can use two spoons instead, but they will not be as perfectly round.
- Add Mix-ins: Add in up to 1/3 cup of extras to customize! A few tasty options include: chopped dried fruit such as cranberries, raisins, apricots, cherries, or crystalized ginger. Chopped nuts, toffee bits, and dark or white chocolate chips are also delicious!
- Icing: For a less messy frosting, use a bit less water and add slightly thicker icing to a zip top bag. Snip off corner and move hand back and forth for a heavy drizzle. Or frost them with my favorite cream cheese frosting!
Yield: 24 cookies
These soft and chewy Iced Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies are topped with a sweet cinnamon icing making them the perfect easy-to-make Fall dessert.
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 2 ½ cups old fashioned oats
- 2 ⅓ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- ⅓ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
For the Icing
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, pumpkin, sugar, molasses and vanilla extract. Add eggs and whisk until smooth.
- Fold in the dry oat mixture, using a wooden spoon (or a silicone spatula) stirring until thoroughly combined.
- Drop dough by (heaping) rounded tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheets. I use a medium sized cookie scoop for this.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating halfway through, until browned. Let cookies rest on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool an additional 5 minutes.
- Once cookies are cooled, whisk together the powdered sugar, cinnamon, 2 tablespoons of water and vanilla extract until smooth. If your icing is too thick, add a little more water until you reach your desired consistency.
- Generously frost each cookie (watch video to see how I dip them) and allow the glaze to harden completely before storing.
Notes
How To Store:
Room temperature: Once the icing has set, these cookies can be stored in an airtight container and will keep at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Fridge: You can also store these in an air-tight container for up to a week in the refrigerator. I like to let them come to room temperature before serving.
Freeze cookies: These cookies can be frozen either glazed or unglazed! Use parchment paper between the layers of cookies and store them in a freezer-safe container or resealable bag. Thaw in the fridge overnight before serving.
Freeze dough: You can make the dough and prep these cookies for baking at a later time! Place your baking sheet with the balls of uncooked cookie dough into the freezer for about 30 minutes, and then store the cookie dough balls in an airtight container. They’ll be ready to bake at any time, just add a minute or two to the baking time!
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Nutrition
Serving: 1 cookie, Calories: 228kcal, Carbohydrates: 39g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 31mg, Sodium: 204mg, Potassium: 73mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 23g, Vitamin A: 738IU, Vitamin C: 0.2mg, Calcium: 45mg, Iron: 1mg
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Great recipe that I tested exactly as written. Easy to do and these are a great fall cookie to have in your line up. My batch turned out 32 cookies of average size and baked out at 13 minutes at 375 (my oven tends to be on the cold side).
I just keep coming back to this recipe. It is a crowd pleaser to be sure. My only changes are that I put in around a 1/3 of a cup of a Dr. Pepper reduction (1:4 boiled down – takes around 15 to 20 minutes on the stove) and drop in an equal amount of sour cream or Greek Yogurt. Cookie is just to die for and people get a little weird to have them. Well done.
These are my new favorite fall cookies
The cookie is delicious even without the icing!
This is my second time making them because the first time I made them, they barley lasted a day. Everyone LOVED them!! I just wanted to know: how do you make the glaze so white? I followed the instructions but my glaze isn’t as white as it is in the photo. Everything tastes perfect so I’m not worried but I wanted to know how to get it that white glaze color.
Again, this recipe is a fan favorite in my house
Just made these and they are delicious! I haven’t even made the glaze yet (I was too tired this evening) but they taste great as they are. Thank you! Adding this to my favorite dessert recipes. One question, is it really a tablespoon of baking soda? I did a teaspoon and a half because I was afraid they would taste strange with that much baking soda. I think they still turned out perfect but wasn’t sure about that.
Hi Grace, yes I really used that much baking soda as the recipe states! Glad you enjoyed them!
These went over SO well. My icing was far darker than the picture, but definitely delicious!
They are not overwhelmingly pumpkin-y, but a lovely autumnal feel.
These cookies are incredible! I didn’t have molasses, but they are still amazing. I tried a cookie out of the oven without the icing and thought they were good. I couldn’t believe how well the icing made the flavor pop even more! I love the flavors of fall and they made the house smell so good. Thanks for a great new recipe to add to our fall rotation!
Made these to send in a box to soldiers I’ve adopted…..but my icing didn’t turn out anything like yours. More like a glaze….. but the cookies are delicious!
The cookie didn’t have a lot of flavor, I guess the icing made up for the flavor. The cinnamon turned my frosting a brown color and blended in with the color of the cookie. Ok recipe just not one I’m likely to make again.
Question…..I don’t have molasses right now,..can I skip this or substitute??
Thank you
Hi Suzan, yes you can skip it! The molasses adds some depth to the cookies, but they will still be good without!
Your recipe sounded so good I though I’d make extra- the recipe said it made 24 cookies, so I just did 1.5 times the amount of everything, hoping to make 36. Somehow I have 48 cookies and still more dough… I don’t know what happened, I really hope they taste good cause everyone is getting cookies
These are so delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe. I did replace all of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour, and they still turned out great.