You'll love these piped pumpkin shortbread cookies! Buttery, crispy and piped into a cute pumpkin shape! Just like the cookies sold in a tin. This post contains affiliate links.
You might also like our frosted fudge shortbread cookies, our chocolate-dipped shortbread cookies, or our 3-ingredient pumpkin cookies!
Watch our step by step video!
Piped Pumpkin Shortbread Cookies
I'm a sucker for those yummy Danish cookies sold in tins. My favorite are the ones that are piped into swirls. They are so crispy and buttery, more buttery than the rest in the tin. These piped pumpkin shortbread cookies taste just like them! They do NOT have pumpkin spice flavoring in them, they are just piped into pumpkin shapes. You can, of course, add pumpkin spice to your cookie dough if you'd like. I flavored mine with vanilla and almond extract. Danish butter cookies and shortbread cookies are very similar. Shortbread only contains butter, sugar, and flour. These are probably more on the Danish butter cookie side vs. shortbread because they contain milk and extracts as well. Call them what you want---they are delicious.
If you're looking for classic cutout cookies using a cookie cutter check out our recipe. It's the best!
How to Pipe Shortbread Cookies
So how do you make these swirly cookies? Frosting tips + a frosting bag! The larger the tips the better. You'll also want open tips like round or star. I use a large open star tip for the pumpkin and a large round tip for the stem. If your tips are too small it will be next to impossible for the cookie dough to push through.
Tip: Make sure to watch my video to see exactly how I shape the cookies. It's easy!
Pumpkin Shortbread Cookies Ingredients
(scroll to the end for a printable version)
Shortbread Cookie Dough:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cups flour
- 2 Tbsp. milk
- orange food coloring
- green food coloring
Supplies:
- Large star tip (at least .5" wide) for pumpkin shape
- Wilton 2A (large round) tip for pumpkin stems
- Frosting bags
How to Make Pumpkin Shortbread Cookies
- Make Dough
- Color the Dough
- Pipe cookies using a frosting tip and a frosting bag.
- Bake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Combine butter, powdered sugar, and extracts in a large bowl using an electric mixer until completely mixed and fluffy.
Add flour. Mix thoroughly.
Add milk and mix. The dough might look crumbly, but it will come together just fine.
Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula and press the dough together.
Remove ⅓ cup of dough and set it to the side.
Tint the remaining dough with orange food coloring. Add a few drops then mix with the electric mixer until blended. Keep adding drops and mixing until the desired color is achieved.
Tint the ⅓ cup of dough with green food coloring.
Fill a frosting bag with orange dough and fit it with a large star tip.
Fill a second frosting bag with green dough and fit it with a round tip.
Pipe cookies, in an oval shape, onto parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Pipe a stem onto each cookie with the green cookie dough and a round tip.
Bake cookies for 15 minutes.
This recipe makes 18 pumpkin cookies. The cookies will crisp up as they cool, no need to transfer them to a wire rack.
Tips for Piping Shortbread Cookies
- Use large frosting tips.
- The dough is thicker than frosting so you'll need to use more pressure to pipe the shapes.
- Don't worry if the shapes look a little rough after you pull the frosting tip away from the cookie. The cookies smooth out during baking.
Piped Pumpkin Shortbread Cookies
Piped Pumpkin Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cups flour
- 2 Tbsp. milk
- orange food coloring
- green food coloring
Supplies
- Large star tip (at least .5" wide) for pumpkin shape
- Wilton 2A (large round) tip for pumpkin stems
- Frosting bags
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Combine butter, powdered sugar, and extracts in a large bowl using an electric mixer until completely mixed and fluffy.
- Add flour. Mix thoroughly.
- Add milk and mix. The dough might look crumbly, but it will come together just fine.
- Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula and press the dough together.
- Remove ⅓ cup of dough and set it to the side.
- Tint the remaining dough with orange food coloring. Add a few drops then mix with the electric mixer until blended. Keep adding drops and mixing until the desired color is achieved.
- Tint the ⅓ cup of dough with green food coloring.
- Fill a frosting bag with orange dough and a large star tip.
- Pipe cookies, in an oval shape, onto parchment paper lined baking sheet. Space cookies 2" apart.
- Pipe a stem onto each cookie with the green cookie dough and a round tip.
- Bake cookies for 15 minutes.
Notes
- Use LARGE frosting tips. This dough won't fit through fancy tips so stick with tips that are open and round.
- The dough is thicker than frosting so you'll need to use more pressure to pipe the shapes.
- Don't worry if the shapes look a little rough after you pull the frosting tip away from the cookie. The cookies smooth out during baking.
- This is the same recipe I use for cut out shortbread cookies, omitting the milk.
- Cookies are best eaten cold so let them cool completely to allow them to crisp up.
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