Pumpkin spice season gets a spooky upgrade with these adorable pumpkin spice sandwich cookies. Shaped like little jack-o’-lanterns and filled with creamy orange vanilla or chocolate buttercream, they make a festive addition to Halloween parties, fall dessert tables, and October baking days.
The secret to their Halloween look is simple: each sandwich has one solid pumpkin cookie on the bottom and a second pumpkin cookie with a jack-o’-lantern face cut into it on top. Once assembled, the filling peeks through the eyes and grinning mouth.
Despite the name, these cookies do not contain pumpkin puree. Instead, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves provide the cozy pumpkin-spice flavor while allowing the dough to stay firm enough for detailed cutout shapes.
If you are putting together an entire spooky dessert table, pair them with our Spooky Chocolate Bat Cookies or browse these Halloween Cookie Ideas for even more inspiration.
🎃 Pumpkin Spice Sandwich Cookies at a Glance
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Chill Time: 1 hour
Bake Time: 9–11 minutes per batch
Decorating & Assembly: 20 minutes
Total Time: About 2 hours
Yield: Approximately 16–18 sandwich cookies
Oven Temperature: 350°F (175°C)
🍪 Ingredients
For the Pumpkin Spice Cookies
- 3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the Vanilla Buttercream Filling
- 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 1–2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
- Orange gel food coloring
For the Chocolate Filling
- About one-third of the prepared vanilla buttercream
- 1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1–2 teaspoons heavy cream or milk, if needed
You can make every cookie orange, every cookie chocolate, or divide the filling between the two colors to create the assortment shown in the photo.
🕸️ Equipment You’ll Need
You do not need specialty decorating equipment, but a few simple tools make these cookies much easier to create:
- Pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter, approximately 3 inches wide
- Rolling pin
- Parchment paper
- Baking sheets
- Small sharp paring knife
- Toothpick or skewer
- Wire cooling rack
- Mixing bowls
- Electric mixer
- Piping bag or zip-top bag
A small knife works particularly well for carving the eyes and mouths because every jack-o’-lantern can have a slightly different expression.
👻 How to Make Pumpkin Spice Sandwich Cookies
1. Mix the Dry Ingredients
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
Set aside.
2. Cream the Butter and Sugar
In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar with an electric mixer for about 2–3 minutes, until creamy and well combined.
Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat again until smooth.
3. Make the Cookie Dough
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture.
Mix on low speed just until the flour disappears and a soft dough forms. Avoid continuing to beat the dough once everything is combined.
Divide the dough into two portions.
4. Roll and Chill
Place each portion of dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll it to approximately 1/4-inch thickness.
Transfer the rolled dough, still between the parchment sheets, to the refrigerator and chill for approximately 1 hour.
Chilling is particularly useful for decorative cookies because firm dough is easier to cut cleanly and is less likely to lose its shape in the oven.
🔪 Create the Jack-o’-Lantern Faces
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Remove one sheet of chilled dough from the refrigerator.
Use a pumpkin cookie cutter to cut out as many pumpkins as possible.
You will need two pumpkin cookies for every finished sandwich cookie.
Leave Half of the Pumpkins Solid
These will become the backs of your sandwich cookies.
Cut Faces into the Other Half
These will become the tops.
With the tip of a small sharp knife, carefully cut:
- Triangle, oval, or crescent-shaped eyes
- Small noses, if desired
- Jagged jack-o’-lantern mouths
Have fun giving each pumpkin its own expression. Some can grin, some can scowl, and others can look delightfully wicked.
Add Pumpkin Ridges
To make the cookies resemble the pumpkins in the original photograph, gently score several curved lines across each cookie with the back of a knife or a toothpick.
Do not cut all the way through the dough.
A small curved line near the top can also help define the pumpkin stem.
❄️ Chill the Cut Cookies Again
Place the prepared cookies on parchment-lined baking sheets and refrigerate them for another 10–15 minutes.
This brief second chill helps the detailed pumpkin shapes and facial features remain distinct while baking.
🔥 Bake the Cookies
Bake for 9–11 minutes, or until the cookies look set and the edges are just beginning to turn light golden brown.
Try not to overbake them. Keeping the cookies relatively pale gives them the warm golden pumpkin appearance seen in the photo rather than making them dark and crunchy.
Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before carefully moving them to a wire rack.
Let them cool completely before adding the filling.
🧡 Make the Orange Vanilla Buttercream
Beat the softened butter until creamy.
Gradually add the powdered sugar, followed by the vanilla and a pinch of salt.
Add heavy cream or milk, about a teaspoon at a time, until the buttercream is smooth and easy to pipe but still thick enough to hold its shape.
Set aside approximately one-third of the buttercream for the chocolate filling.
Add a small amount of orange gel food coloring to the remaining buttercream and mix until you reach a bright pumpkin-orange color.
Gel coloring works especially well here because you can achieve a vivid orange without adding much additional liquid.
🍫 Make the Chocolate Filling
Add the cocoa powder to the reserved buttercream and mix until completely combined.
If the cocoa makes the filling too thick, add a teaspoon of heavy cream or milk.
The chocolate filling naturally creates the dark brown jack-o’-lantern eyes and mouths visible in some of the finished sandwich cookies.
🎃 Assemble the Halloween Sandwich Cookies
Turn the solid pumpkin cookies upside down so their flat sides face upward.
Pipe or spread approximately 1 tablespoon of filling over each cookie, stopping just short of the edges.
Use orange buttercream for some cookies and chocolate buttercream for others.
Carefully place one jack-o’-lantern cookie on top of each filled cookie.
Press very gently until the filling reaches the edges and becomes visible through the carved eyes and mouth.
That filling peeking through the face is what transforms a simple pumpkin-shaped cookie into a grinning Halloween jack-o’-lantern.
✨ How to Get the Look in the Photo
The original cookies have a charming handmade quality rather than an overly perfect decorated-cookie appearance.
For a similar result:
- Keep the cookie dough a natural golden color rather than tinting it orange.
- Score curved pumpkin ridges into the dough before baking.
- Give every jack-o’-lantern a slightly different face.
- Use both orange and chocolate filling.
- Allow the filling to show clearly through the eyes and mouths.
- Avoid covering the cookies with icing—the cutout design should remain the star.
For an especially dramatic platter, alternate the orange- and chocolate-filled pumpkins.
🧙 Tips for Perfect Jack-o’-Lantern Cookies
Keep the dough cold. If it becomes soft while you are cutting the faces, return it to the refrigerator for several minutes.
Roll evenly. Cookies of roughly the same thickness will bake at approximately the same rate.
Pair your pumpkins before filling. Match similarly sized cookies before you begin assembling the sandwiches.
Do not overfill them. Too much buttercream will squeeze out when you add the top cookie.
Use gel food coloring. It provides stronger color without thinning the buttercream as much as liquid coloring.
Cut the faces before baking. Trying to cut a face into a baked cookie is much more likely to cause cracking.
Let the cookies cool completely. Even slightly warm cookies can soften or melt buttercream.
And resist the temptation to snack on the scraps of uncooked dough. Raw flour and raw eggs can contain harmful microorganisms and should be cooked before eating.
🦇 Halloween Decorating Variations
Once you understand the basic technique, there are plenty of ways to give these cookies different personalities.
Scary Jack-o’-Lanterns
Cut narrow triangular eyes and exaggerated zigzag mouths, then use dark chocolate filling.
Happy Pumpkins
Use round eyes and large smiling mouths with bright orange buttercream.
Vintage Halloween Pumpkins
Make crescent-shaped eyes and old-fashioned grinning faces, then add a tiny amount of orange coloring to the dough for a muted pumpkin shade.
Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies
Replace a small portion of the flour with cocoa powder to create darker pumpkin cookies, then fill them with orange buttercream for maximum contrast.
Monster Pumpkins
Skip traditional jack-o’-lantern faces altogether and create crooked eyes, fangs, eyebrows, or enormous mouths.
Halloween cookies are a great place to let imperfections become part of the design.
🍬 Serving Ideas
Arrange these jack-o’-lantern cookies on a wooden board or Halloween platter surrounded by small decorative pumpkins.
They are especially fun for:
- Halloween parties
- Pumpkin-carving nights
- Fall bake sales
- School Halloween celebrations
- Halloween movie nights
- October afternoon treats
- Halloween dessert buffets
- Autumn family gatherings
For a larger party, add Halloween Apricot Jam Cookies with Jack-o’-Lantern Grins for another pumpkin-themed treat.
You could also serve them alongside Spooky Halloween Gingerbread Cookies with Marshmallow Teeth for a cookie platter filled with different Halloween faces.
🧊 How to Store Pumpkin Spice Sandwich Cookies
Store assembled cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4–5 days.
For the best texture, allow refrigerated cookies to sit at room temperature for around 15 minutes before serving.
You can also prepare the components ahead:
Unfilled cookies: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.
Cookie dough: Prepare and refrigerate it a day ahead before cutting and baking.
Buttercream: Make it ahead and refrigerate it in a covered container, then allow it to soften and briefly rewhip it before filling the cookies.
Baked cookies: Freeze the unfilled cookies for longer storage and assemble them closer to Halloween.
🎃 Can You Make These Cookies With Real Pumpkin?
You can make cookies containing pumpkin puree, but this particular recipe works better without it.
Pumpkin puree introduces additional moisture, producing a softer dough. For these cookies, a firmer roll-out dough makes it easier to create the detailed eyes, mouths, stems, and pumpkin ridges.
Instead, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves provide the familiar pumpkin-spice flavor.
If you want a dessert with plenty of real pumpkin flavor, try our Spooky Spiced Pumpkin Mini Cheesecakes too.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Why did my pumpkin cookies spread?
The dough may have become too warm before baking. Keep unused dough refrigerated and consider chilling the cut cookies for 10–15 minutes before putting them in the oven.
Can I use store-bought frosting?
Yes. A thick vanilla or chocolate frosting can work when you need a shortcut. Tint vanilla frosting orange with gel food coloring.
Do I need a special jack-o’-lantern cookie cutter?
No. You only need a basic pumpkin cutter. Cut the eyes and mouths yourself with a small knife.
Can children help make these cookies?
Children can help mix ingredients, cut pumpkin shapes, choose expressions, and assemble cooled cookies. An adult should handle sharp knives and hot baking sheets.
Can I make all the filling chocolate?
Absolutely. Chocolate filling looks particularly effective behind the jack-o’-lantern cutouts.
Can I make all the filling orange?
Yes. Bright orange buttercream gives the cookies a cheerful, classic Halloween appearance.
Can these be made ahead for a Halloween party?
Yes. Bake the pumpkin cookies ahead and store them unfilled. Assemble the sandwiches a day or two before your party for the freshest presentation.
🕯️ A Fun Halloween Cookie for Your October Baking List
These pumpkin spice sandwich cookies combine three things that belong together in October: warm autumn spices, buttery homemade cookies, and grinning jack-o’-lanterns.
They look elaborate on a Halloween dessert table, but the decorating technique is surprisingly straightforward. A pumpkin cookie cutter and a few tiny cuts are all you need to turn ordinary cutout cookies into an entire patch of edible Halloween characters.
Serve them at your next party, package them for friends, or make a batch for a cozy Halloween movie night.
For even more ideas, visit our complete Halloween Parties and Recipes collection.
Happy Halloween baking! 🎃🍪
🔗 Related Articles
- Halloween Cookie Ideas to Haunt Your Taste Buds
- Halloween Apricot Jam Cookies with Jack-o’-Lantern Grins
- Spooky Chocolate Bat Cookies
- Spooky Halloween Gingerbread Cookies with Marshmallow Teeth
- Spooky Spiced Pumpkin Mini Cheesecakes
- Halloween Parties and Recipes
📚 Sources
- King Arthur Baking – Roll-Out Sugar Cookies — reference for rolled cutout-cookie preparation and chilling. (King Arthur Baking)
- King Arthur Baking – The Secret to Cut-Out Cookies That Hold Their Shape — reference for chilling and shaping techniques. (King Arthur Baking)
- King Arthur Baking – Quick Buttercream Frosting — reference for basic American-style buttercream technique. (King Arthur Baking)
- U.S. Food & Drug Administration – Flour Is a Raw Food and Other Safety Facts — food-safety guidance regarding uncooked flour and dough. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
