Great Ghost Pumpkin Cookies
Ghost-shaped pumpkin oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips, decorated with white royal icing. A fun Halloween baking project with warm cinnamon-spiced flavor.
YIELD
20 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
25 minREADY
55 minThese oversized pumpkin cookies get shaped into ghosts right on the baking sheet, then iced white with spooky faces piped in brown. Kids love them at Halloween parties, and the pumpkin-oat dough tastes like fall in every bite.
The dough itself is packed with good stuff: quick-cooking oats, solid-pack pumpkin, cinnamon, and semi-sweet chocolate chips folded in at the end. Alternating the dry ingredients with the pumpkin keeps the batter smooth and evenly mixed. The pumpkin makes these soft and cakey rather than crunchy.
Use a quarter cup of dough per cookie and spread each one into a ghost shape with a thin metal spatula. Try a couple different poses, arms up, arms out, for a more playful look on the platter. Bake until firm and lightly browned, then let them cool completely before icing.
Pro Tips
- Make a ghost template from heavy paper if you’re not confident freehand. Trace around it with a toothpick, then fill in with dough.
- Cool cookies completely before icing. Warm cookies will melt the royal icing into a runny mess.
- Use tube icing in brown or black for the face details. A toothpick works for drawing fine lines.
- These are thick cookies. Give them the full 20 to 25 minutes so the centers bake through.
Variations
- Skip the ghost shapes and drop them as round cookies for a quicker everyday pumpkin cookie.
- Use white chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet for a sweeter flavor.
- Add a pinch of nutmeg and ginger to the dough for more pumpkin spice depth.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 350℉ (180℃).
Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; set aside.
Cream butter; gradually add sugars, beating until light and fluffy.
Add egg and vanilla; mix.
Alternate additions of dry ingredients and pumpkin, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in morsels.
For each cookie, drop ¼ cup dough onto lightly greased cookie sheet; spread dough into a ghost shape using a thin metal spatula.
Or make a qiuck ghost pattern of heavy paper.
Make 2 or three poses for realism.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes, til cookies are firm and lightly browned.
Remove from cookie sheets; cool on racks.
Spread with white royal icing.
Trim brown face features with tube-icing.
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