Directions:

Preheat and Prepare

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper or spray with non-stick spray. Set them aside.

Mix Cookie Dough

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the softened butter and sugar. Cream until smooth.
• Add in the pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract, and egg. Mix well.
• Gradually add all the flour and switch from the whisk attachment to the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the cookie dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Roll Out and Cut

• Lightly flour a clean work surface and roll out the cookie dough to approximately 3/8 of an inch thick, using more flour as needed to prevent sticking.
• Use the pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter to cut out your desired shapes and transfer them to the prepared baking sheet.

Bake and Cool

• Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes. The edges should be set and just starting to lightly brown. Be careful not to overbake to keep the cookies soft.
• Allow the cookies to cool completely before decorating.

Prepare Buttercream

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the softened butter, vanilla extract, and salt.
• Add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed for one minute.
• Gradually add a tablespoon of milk at a time until the frosting reaches a smooth consistency. Whip on high speed for one minute.

Tint Frosting

• Divide the frosting into four small bowls.
• For the stem, use a small amount of frosting (about 1/4 or less) and tint it brown. For the rest of the frosting, divide it equally and tint it with yellow, orange, and blue food coloring as desired.

Decorate the Cookies

• Begin with the stem of each pumpkin. Pipe two small lines down the stem of each cookie.
• For the main body, choose one colored frosting and pipe a continuous line from the upper left corner of the pumpkin, zigzagging back and forth across the cookie until it's evenly covered in buttercream.
• Repeat the decorating process for all the cookies.

Store and Serve

• Since the buttercream is a crusting type, store the decorated cookies flat in an airtight container. Avoid stacking them until you're ready to serve if you want them to remain super soft.