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These 3 ingredient pumpkin cookies with cake mix are soft, puffy, warmly spiced, and topped with optional cream cheese frosting. The dough comes together with spice cake mix, pumpkin puree, and eggs, with no flour, Butter, or complicated prep. You’re going to love how quickly they bake into tender cookies that feel special enough for a holiday dessert tray.
Why You’ll Love It
- Just three main ingredients — cake mix, pumpkin puree, and eggs make the dough incredibly easy.
- Warm spice flavor — spice cake mix adds cinnamon-and-warm-spice flavor without extra spice jars.
- Quick bake time — warm cookies are ready in just 9 to 10 minutes.
- Soft and tender — pumpkin keeps the cookies moist, and cream cheese frosting makes them feel extra special.
Ingredient Notes
The important thing here is spice cake mix, not plain cake mix. The spices in it are what give these cookies that cozy fall flavor without needing extra cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and all the rest. If you only have yellow cake mix, you can make it work by adding cinnamon and nutmeg, but the spice mix is easier and tastes more like what you’re after.
Use plain canned pumpkin puree—not pumpkin pie filling. The cans look annoyingly similar sometimes, especially when you’re squinting in a dim pantry before coffee. Pumpkin pie filling already has sugar and spices in it, and it will change the texture and sweetness.
For the frosting, full-fat cream cheese works best. The low-fat kind can be a little softer and fussier. Make sure both the cream cheese and butter are softened. Not melted. Softened. There is a difference. Microwaving cream cheese too long can result in a shiny, loose frosting that slides right off every cookie.
The Vanilla in the cookies is optional, but it rounds things out nicely. Do not make a special trip to the store for half a teaspoon, though. Absolutely not.
Ingredients
- 1 box (15.25 ounces) spice cake mix, Duncan Hines is a good option
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree, plain canned pumpkin—not pie filling
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
- 8 ounces full-fat cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use the parchment.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the spice cake mix, eggs, pumpkin puree, and the optional 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Mix it together with a fork, or use a hand mixer or stand mixer if that’s easier. The dough will be wet and sticky—more like a thick batter than the sort of cookie dough you can roll in your hands. That is normal. Don’t add flour. Don’t add oil or water from the cake mix box directions, either. We are not making a cake, even though this whole situation is admittedly confusing.
Scoop heaping tablespoonfuls of dough onto the parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between them. A cookie scoop makes this less messy, but a regular spoon will do just fine. You should get around 20 cookies. Gently pat the tops down a little. No need to roll them into neat balls—this is not a beauty contest, and they will spread just enough on their own.
Bake for 9 to 10 minutes. The edges should look lightly golden and the centers should be set. Keep an eye on them toward the end; ovens have moods.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. It is tempting to frost them early. The frosting melts, the cookies get slippery, and suddenly you’ve created a dessert that looks like it took a hard fall. Let them cool.
While they cool, make the frosting. In a medium bowl, beat the softened cream cheese and softened butter together on low speed until smooth and free of lumps. If they aren’t soft enough, microwave them in 10-second bursts—but do not melt them.
Add the powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/4 teaspoon of the cinnamon. Beat until well combined. The frosting should be smooth and spreadable. Spoon or spread it over the cooled cookies, then sprinkle the remaining 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon over the tops if you like. It’s pretty, and it makes them smell even better.
Serve them right away if you can. They are especially good when the cookies are still barely warm and the frosting is cool.
Variations
If you prefer a less cake-like cookie, you can make these with only 1 egg. They’ll be a little denser and more cookie-ish, though the soft, fluffy version with two eggs is especially good.
White chocolate chips disappear fast in these cookies. Semi-sweet chocolate chips work, too, if you like pumpkin and chocolate together. Chopped walnuts or raisins are also good for a little texture.
Chopped pecans, chocolate chips, and dried cranberries can all be added to the same batch, but there may be so much going on that the flavors get lost. Keep it simple.
You can also skip the cream cheese frosting and use a powdered sugar glaze instead. The unfrosted cookies are still lovely, especially warm from the oven.
Storage & Reheating
If you leave the frosting off, store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Once they’re frosted, they need to go in the refrigerator and will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
They’re good cold, actually—soft and a little fudgy around the edges—but letting one sit on the counter for 10 or 15 minutes before eating works well. Or microwave an unfrosted cookie for just a few seconds and add frosting afterward. Don’t microwave a frosted one too long unless you enjoy cream cheese frosting puddles.
For freezing, let the cookies cool completely, then place them in a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw them at room temperature. Freezing them unfrosted works best, but if they’re already frosted, they’ll still thaw fine—just be gentle stacking them.
Final Notes
There is something about pumpkin desserts that makes an ordinary afternoon feel a little less ordinary. Maybe it’s the smell. Maybe it’s that cinnamon means comfort.
These cookies aren’t fancy. They don’t need to be. They’re quick, soft, warmly spiced, and sweet enough to make the kitchen feel like a nicer place to stand for a minute.
Make them for a holiday table or just because there’s a box of spice cake mix sitting in the pantry looking like it has no purpose in life.
3 Ingredient Pumpkin Cookies with Cake Mix
Ingredients Â
- 1 box spice cake mix 15.25 ounces, such as Duncan Hines
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree plain canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract optional
- 8 ounces full-fat cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon divided
InstructionsÂ
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the spice cake mix, eggs, pumpkin puree, and optional 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, then mix with a fork, hand mixer, or stand mixer until combined; the dough will be wet and sticky like a thick batter, so do not add flour, oil, or water from the cake mix box directions.
- Scoop heaping tablespoonfuls of dough onto the parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between them, and gently pat the tops down slightly.
- Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, until the edges look lightly golden and the centers are set.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
- While the cookies cool, beat the softened cream cheese and softened butter together on low speed in a medium bowl until smooth and free of lumps.
- Add the powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, and 1/4 teaspoon of the cinnamon, then beat until smooth and spreadable.
- Spoon or spread the frosting over the cooled cookies, sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon if desired, and serve right away.