Filled Pumpkin Cookies (Wilton)

These are holiday cookies you make with the kids. Pumpkin pie spice dough gets rolled out, cut into pumpkin shapes, and sandwiched around a filling of raisins, chopped walnuts, and orange juice concentrate. The top cookie gets eyes and a mouth cut out before baking, so the filling peeks through like a jack-o'-lantern face.

The dough is a sturdy butter cookie base loaded with a full tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice. That’s a generous amount, and it fills the kitchen with the smell of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves while they bake. Orange food coloring tints the dough to a pumpkin hue.

Don’t chill this dough. The recipe specifically says not to, and it’s because the stiff, butter-heavy dough rolls out best at room temperature. Cold dough would crack and crumble around the edges.

The filling is just three ingredients mixed together: raisins, walnuts, and thawed frozen orange juice concentrate. The concentrate acts as both a binder and a flavor booster, adding intense citrus sweetness that complements the warm spices.

Kitchen Tips

• Roll the dough to an even thickness so the top and bottom cookies match up and seal properly.
• Use a tablespoon of filling per cookie, no more. Overfilling makes the edges bulge open during baking.
• Press the edges firmly to seal. Use fork tines for a decorative crimped edge that also locks the filling in.
• Cut the face features (eyes, mouth) before placing the top cookie on the filling. It’s much easier to cut flat dough than assembled cookies.

Variations

• Use your favorite jam or jelly as a quick filling alternative (the recipe suggests this too).
• Skip the food coloring and let the golden dough speak for itself.
• Add a cream cheese frosting finish after baking for extra sweetness and decoration.