Copycat Pillsbury Pumpkin Sugar Cookie (with Sourdough Discard)
A soft and pillowy sugar cookie made with sourdough discard, just the right amount of sugar and natural food coloring to make the classic Pillsbury Pumpkin holiday treat.
Equipment
- 1 mixing bowl
- 1 hand mixer
- 3 Small Bowls
- 1 Chopstick (optional)
Ingredients
- 2 - 2/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1-1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup sourdough discard
- 5-10 drops orange food dye *see notes
- 5-10 drops green food dye *see notes
Instructions
Making the Cookie Dough
- To a mixing bowl blend softened butter and sugar until smooth. To this bowl, add egg yolks, vanilla extract, almond extract, baking powder and sourdough discard together. Mix until combined. Add in the flour and blend until just combined.
- Separate the cookie dough into three bowls:1/3 mixture for orange (pumpkin)2/3 mixture for white sugar cookie2 TBS for green color (stem). Remove this from the 2/3 mixture.
- Using the food drops, color the 1/3 cookie dough orange and 2 TBS green. If using natural food coloring, use more than you think.If using the Watson's brand food coloring, combine yellow and red together to make orange. Note - the orange color will not be extremely bright. Once complete cover all three bowls tightly with plastic wrap, pressing against the dough, to ensure it does not dry out.
- Allow the dough to sit on the countertop to ferment according to your fermentation goals (typically 4-12 hours).During this time the dough will not rise in height but will continue to ferment.
Shaping the sourdough pumpkin cookie dough
- To create the best chance at circular shaped pumpkins, chill the orange and green cookie dough for 30 minutes to 1 hour before shaping. The dough will be malleable and hard to shape after fermenting on the countertop.
- Shape the orange cookie dough into a long log shape. This will become your pumpkin. If the cookie dough is not chilled, the pumpkin will have a flat bottom as it sits on the countertop.
- Roll the green cookie dough into a small, thin log shape. This will become your stem. To make the placement process easier, break this into two pieces.
- To the orange dough, make a line down the center about 1/8 inch deep by using a chopstick or the end of a spoon. Make this crevice all the way down the center of the dough.
- Place the green color dough on top do the orange color cookie dough. Press down gently, making sure to leave some of the green colored dough above the orange colored dough. To make the green portion look more like a stem, leave it raised above the orange dough and pinch it. This completes the shaping of the pumpkin log.
Wrapping the pumpkin and baking the cookies
- Once shaped, cover the pumpkin log with plastic wrap, put onto a lined baking sheet and place into the fridge or freezer until completely solid (about 1 hour). You want to the pumpkin log to be firm and to hold shape during the next step.
- Next, remove the pumpkin log from the fridge. Wrap the white cookie dough around the exterior of the pumpkin log. When formed, roll the cookie dough across the counter or cookie sheet like a rolling pin. This will help the outside edges to be smooth like a tube of cookie dough.
- Slice immediately into 1/4-1/2 inch thickness. Place on a lined cookie sheet and bake in the preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies are almost firm to the touch.
- They taste best when underdone as they will harden when at room temperature. They will become crispy/flaky if cooked longer.
Video
Notes
*Active sourdough or sourdough discard can be used within this recipe - yielding similar results.
*Use more food dye to color the cookie dough than you think. This will result in the most 'pop' in color when baked.
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