These pumpkin spice latte cookies are PSL in cookie form! They're balanced with the perfect amount of pumpkin spice and coffee flavor, along with the mellow sweetness of soft, tender cookies.
It's pumpkin spice latte (PSL) season! And I thought, "Besides a classic PSL, what other foods can embody that flavor well?" Well, that led to the creation of these pumpkin spice latte cookies! They're created to be soft, tender, with just the right amount of sweetness, and they taste like a well balanced PSL, not the ones that tastes too much of spices and not enough coffee or vice versa!
Top these cookies with a few drizzle of simple icing and sweetened cocoa nibs and you've got some beautiful holiday gifts!
Use parchment paper to your advantage and convenience
I personally loveeee to sandwich my cookie dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper then rolling it out with a rolling pin. This will keep everything almost mess free, minus the excess flour from dusting. The parchment paper will also make it easier for the cookie dough to be transferred as well.
Tips to keep these pumpkin spice latte cookies soft
- DO NOT overmix the cookie dough. As all pastries, overmixing the dough after the flour has been added can result in a tough final product. Just mix the dough until no more dry flour is visible. If you're mixing with a hand blender or stand mixer, keep it on the lowest speed.
- Dust off excess flour. After every sprinkle of flour onto the rolled out cookie dough, do brush the excess flour off to prevent incorporating the flour into the dough. The excess flour can make the scrap dough drier and stiffer, which can result in dry cookies.
- DON'T overwork the scrap dough. Do use up your dough, however, try to keep the dough kneading to a minimal. When reusing the scrap dough, simply compact the scrap cookie dough back into one mass and roll it out as before. Extra handling and kneading can result in tough, dry cookies.
Dough before adding flour. After adding flour, mix the dough just until no more dry flour is visible. Sandwich the dough between parchment can save you some cleaning. Then, roll it out to desired thickness. Dust off the excess flour before cutting the cookies.
To chill or not to chill the dough
Many people swear by chilling the dough before baking to keep the dough from spreading, but I don't find chilled doughs to spread less than not chilled cookie doughs. The spreading is usually caused by the ratio of sugar to dough and flour to dough. The wetter and more sugar a dough has, the more the dough will spread when baked.
I do, however, like to chill my cookie dough when I want my cookies to be able to handle some moving around. For example, cookies like these pumpkin spice latte cookies or gingerbread cookies, can be chilled in the fridge for about 15-30 minutes before cutting, to prevent them from becoming warped from all the moving and lifting up.
Different thickness will result in different texture
Most recipes call for the cookies to be rolled out into ¼ inch thickness, but I found that ⅜ inch thickness result in a better textured cookie like these pumpkin spice latte cookies, sugar cookies, etc. The extra thickness keeps the cookies soft and moist after baking. However, even with the cookies being thicker, over-baking the cookies will result in hard cookies.
Try to cut as close together as possible. Save the scraps to reuse. keep each cookie at least 1 inch away from each other.
Espresso powder for instant coffee
Usually, when I bake things that are coffee flavored, I opt for instant espresso powder. Instant espresso powder dissolves faster because it's much smaller in granules. It is also more concentrated in flavor, so less of it is needed to flavor baked goodies. However, espresso powder is quite expensive and can be less readily available.
So, if you only have instant coffee on hand, it is perfectly fine to use. Just make sure to dissolve it in a small amount of liquid before adding to this pumpkin spice latte cookie dough. If you are using instant espresso, just decrease the amount from 1 Tablespoon to 2 teaspoon.
If you're looking for other cookie recipes, you may like these:
- Easy Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Cranberry Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
- Honey Chrysanthemum Shortbread Cookies
- Gingerbread Cookies
Bake with love!
Mei ❤️
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Pumpkin Spice Latte Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon instant coffee
- 1½ teaspoon milk (or water)
- ½ cup unsalted butter , softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1¾ cup all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
Optional decoration:
- 3 Tablespoon powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoon milk , or water
- Cocoa nibs (lightly sweetened ones)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
- Combine the instant coffee and milk (or water) and stir to dissolve the coffee granules. Set aside until needed.*The instant coffee granules don't have to all dissolve, unless you prefer for the cookies to not have random spots of instant coffee. If you want the instant coffee to dissolve completely, either use 1 teaspoon more water or use hot water (do let the mixture cool completely before adding to the butter mixture).*
- In a mixing bowl, cream the softened butter with sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract, and salt and beat until incorporated.
- Add the flour and baking powder to the creamed butter mixture and fold everything together, just until no more dry flour is visible.*You can use the mixer to incorporate the flour, but just make sure to mix on the lowest speed.*
- Compact the cookie dough into one ball and transfer the cookie dough onto a clean work surface, lightly dusted with flour. Roll the dough out into a ⅜ inch sheet with a rolling pin and dust with flour as needed. Also, make sure to lift the dough occasionally and dust your work surface as needed to prevent sticking.
- With a 3 inch circle cutter, cut out as many cookies as possible. Gently transfer the circle cookie doughs to the lined sheet pan. Compact the leftover cookie dough scraps and repeat.
- Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes or until the center of the cookies have all puffed up. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool completely before removing from the sheet pan.*The cookies will be extremely soft when you take them out of the oven, but they will harden up as they cool.*
For the optional glaze:
- Combine the powdered sugar and milk and mix until smooth. Once the cookies have completely cooled, drizzle the icing on the cookies either with a spoon or pipping bag. Before the icing dries, garnish the icing with some slightly sweetened cocoa nibs.
Notes
- After rolling the cookies out into a ⅜ inch sheet, you can refrigerate the dough for about 15 to 30 minutes before cutting to keep the cookies from having that slightly warped look from handling.
- I prefer rolling my dough in between two sheets of parchment for easy handling and keeping it almost mess-free.
- This Joseph Josesph's adjustable rolling pin with removable rings is one of my favorite gadgets for making sugar cookies, shortbread cookies, and these PSL cookies. The adjustable rings keeps all the cookies at the perfect thickness that you want without the constant worry of rolling too thin.
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