Short answer: These Disney Parks-inspired Pumpkin Patch Cookies are soft pumpkin-spice cookies topped with spiced frosting, green frosting vines, and candy pumpkins. The recipe makes 12 cookies and is built for Halloween parties or a very cute fall baking afternoon.
These are the cookies you make when a plain orange sprinkle simply is not doing enough. Every cookie gets its own tiny pumpkin patch, and honestly, that is adorable.
What are Pumpkin Patch Cookies?
Ashley Craft created this recipe for The Unofficial Disney Parks Holidays Cookbook. It is inspired by the Halloween cookies served at Catalina Eddie’s in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Pumpkin Patch Cookies recipe
Makes 12 cookies
For the cookies
- 1/2 cup salted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the frosting
- 1/3 cup salted butter, softened
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
For assembly
- 12 tablespoons green piping frosting
- 36 candy pumpkins
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a full-sized baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars on medium speed for 2 minutes or until soft. Mix on low and add the egg, vanilla, flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Mix for 2 minutes more or until combined.
- Use a 2–3-tablespoon cookie scoop to make 12 mounds of dough on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10–12 minutes, until browned and cooked through. Cool completely on the baking sheet, about 30 minutes.
- In a clean mixer bowl with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the confectioners’ sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and whipping cream and mix until smooth. Frost the cooled cookies.
- Use green frosting fitted with a grass tip to pipe grass patches. Switch to a small round tip and pipe vines around the grass. Add three candy pumpkins to each cookie and serve. Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to four days.
Can kids decorate their own pumpkin patch cookies?
Absolutely. The cookbook suggests letting kids build their own spooky scenes with seasonal decorations such as candy pumpkins, sugar tombstones, or other Halloween sprinkles. Just check ingredient labels and age-appropriateness for every candy decoration you use.
Excerpted from THE UNOFFICIAL DISNEY PARKS HOLIDAYS COOKBOOK by ASHLEY CRAFT. Copyright © 2024 by ASHLEY CRAFT. Photographs by Harper Point Photography. Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.
