These soft and chewy pumpkin oatmeal cookies are irresistibly tender and topped with a creamy sweet citrus and maple glaze. They're a perfect fall treat, and just as delicious to make year-round!
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream the softened butter with brown sugar until very creamy. This is an essential step for the cookies to remain soft; you’ll need about 5 minutes to achieve the desired texture. Next, add the vanilla extract and the pumpkin puree (which should be at room temperature; otherwise, it will break the emulsion between the butter and sugar), mix until well combined.
In another bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (oats, flour, spices, baking powder and baking soda, salt, and orange zest).
Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix to combine.
Refrigerate the dough for one to two hours. This will improve its texture and flavors, so don’t skip this step.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 °F (177 °C)
Scoop the dough using a 1 ½ tablespoon ice cream scoop and lightly flatten the top of each cookie.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the cookies are set and slightly brown in the edges but still soft in the center.
Allow the cookies 10 minutes to cool before transferring them to the cooling rack, or they might break.
To make the glaze, whisk all the glaze ingredients until well combined. Once the cookies are cooled, use a fork or whisk to drizzle them with the glaze.
Notes
Store these cookies in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days.To make these cookies vegan, you can easily replace 1:1 regular butter with vegan butter.