Pumpkin Pie Cookies

The holidays are here and it isn’t too late to make some fun cookies for Thanksgiving. As a matter of fact, why not make a few pumpkin pie cookies to take as hostess gifts or sweet little Thanksgiving favors to hand out to your guests? It doesn’t take long to make them and I think your guests will remember them for a long time!

Pumpkin Pie Cookies | The Bearfoot Baker

You don’t have to have an airbrush system to make these pumpkin pie cookies, but it really takes a flat-looking cookie and turns it into a pie that looks so real you will think your grandma made it. Okay, maybe not, but it’s still a cookie and the airbrushing details help make it more realistic.

Supplies for Pumpkin Pie Cookies:
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Recipes:
Cookies, Icing, and Sanding Sugar:
  • Pumpkin Colored 15 Second Royal Icing-In a decorating bag fitted with a #2 decorating tip-To mix the pumpkin color use equal parts of AmeriColor Warm Brown, AmeriColor Lemon Yellow, AmeriColor Tulip Red with a tiny drop of AmeriColor Orange
  • Thick Colored AmeriColor Ivory Icing in a decorating bag fitted with a #102 decorating tip
  • Ivory Colored Sanding Sugar-More on that in a minute.
  • 1/2 cup of Granulated Sugar
Tools:

Pie Cookies Video:

Enjoy the video!

Let’s make a pie cookie:

Simple Pumpkin Pie Cookies | The Bearfoot Baker

  • Bake the pumpkin pie cookies and let them cool completely before you begin decorating.
  • Use the #2 tip and pumpkin orange icing to outline and flood the circle cookies.

Easy Pumpkin Pie Cookies | The Bearfoot Baker

  • To make the sanding sugar, mix a few drops of Ivory AmeriColor food gel with 1/2 a cup of granulated sugar. Mix in a Ziploc bag until all the sugar is colored. Add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch and mix again so the sugar won’t stick together. Let it dry overnight. It will be a different color than your pie, but the sugar will quickly soak up the pumpkin color of the icing.
  • Add a little sugar to the top of the pumpkin pie cookies. 
  • Let the cookies dry for at least an hour.
Time to airbrush:

Decorated Pumpkin Pie Cookies | The Bearfoot Baker

  • Once the icing has dried a bit, you can begin to airbrush the cookies. The first coat of airbrushing is what I call my “pumpkin pie cookies airbrush color” and is one drop of AmeriMist Warm Brown, Lemon Yellow, Orange, and Tulip Red.
  • Then, we will add the pie crust and spray it with AmeriMist Warm Brown to add the pie shadows and the baked crust look. Before we begin, I want to share one of my little tricks with you.

Pumpkin Pie Cookies-Thanksgiving Favors | The Bearfoot Baker

For these cookies you can use one airbrush gun and spray all the colors the “pumpkin pie color” you mixed, rinse your airbrush gun, and then spray them with AmeriMist Warm Brown or, you can use my little trick. I found some airbrush guns for less than $25 and you can find the links in them in this Airbrush Gun Replacement tutorial. I bought one so I would have a spare in case anything went wrong while I was in the middle of a project. Instead of keeping it stored away, I use it on projects like this one.

  • One gun has the “pumpkin pie” color in it and the other has a warm brown color. I work on 3-5 cookies at one time by placing them on my cake turntable and spraying them with the “pumpkin pie color.”
  • Then, I add the pie crust icing and switch airbrush guns to spray the AmeriMist Warm Brown. Switching guns saves a lot of time. Mixing colors in the airbrush gun prevents me from moving the cookies more than once so the process is a lot faster. 

You don’t have to have two airbrush guns, but for projects like this it makes things a bit easier and you will always have a spare in case you are making 500 wedding cookies at 3 am and your gun gets clogged with a sheen color. You can just switch guns and worry about unclogging it later.

How to Make Easy Pumpkin Pie Cookies | The Bearfoot Baker

The next tip is how to mix the pumpkin color without creating dirty dishes.

  • Add one drop of each color to the airbrush cup.
  • Then, place your finger over the tip of the gun and slightly pull the trigger. If you pull it all the way back while the machine is on high, you will get a good splatter on your hands and work surface as I have here. I like being multicolored.

This will mix the color in the cup so you will be ready to spray in no time at all.

  • Spray the top of the cookie.
Let’s make the pie crust with some thick royal icing:

How to Make Airbrushed Pumpkin Pie Cookies | The Bearfoot Baker

Next, add the ivory-colored pie crust around the edge of the cookie.

  • Use the #102 tip with the wide side toward the center of the cookie and pipe a wavy line using a slight up and down motion.

Airbrushed Pumpkin Pie Cookies | The Bearfoot Baker

  • Continue all the way around the cookie.

How to Make Pumpkin Pie Cookies-Thanksgiving Favors | The Bearfoot Baker

  • Switch airbrush guns or rinse out your gun and add the AmeriMist Warm Brown colors.
  • Lightly spray the center of the pie.
  • Spray the inside edge of the pie crust and the pie color right under the edge of the crust. As you can see in the picture, it will immediately add a shadow and make your pie look more realistic.
  • Then, spray the outer edge of the crust.

How to Make Pumpkin Pie Cookies for Thanksgiving Favors | The Bearfoot Baker

  • Next, hold the airbrush gun a few inches away from the cookie and give the entire cookie a gentle spray.

Airbrushed Pumpkin Pie Cookies for Thanksgiving Favors | The Bearfoot Baker

This would work well for cherry pie and blueberry pie if you separate the M&M’s by color. I like brown, yellow, and orange for a fall mixture.

A Simple Way to Make Pumpkin Pie Cookies | The Bearfoot Baker

  • To make the candy-filled pumpkin pie cookies, bake one small circle cookie, one circle cookie that is a bit larger with the center cut out, another circle cookie that is slightly larger with the center cut out, and a pumpkin pie cookie.
  • Stack the cookies and glue them together with icing.
  • Before you add the pie cookie, fill the center with the M&M’s.
  • Let them dry overnight.

Make Pumpkin Pie Cookies for your Thanksgiving Guests | The Bearfoot Baker

I really like these little cookies and I think adding two to a cookie box will make the perfect Thanksgiving treat for my guests. If you make a bunch of the pie slices, you can add them to a jar with a cute little tag that says, “Gather Together, Give Thanks, & Eat Pie,” or maybe “May the Pies Ever Be In Your Favor!”

More Pumpkin Pies Cookies:

Bear hugs,

Lisa