Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights (Copycat Cookie Recipe)

These chewy jack-o-lantern pumpkin cookies will remind you of the Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights from your childhood. The molasses cookie filled with scratch-made pumpkin butter tastes even more delicious than the original, and they are also fun to make!

little debbie pumpkin delights copycat cookies with pumpkin butter piled up together

I don’t know about you, but there are a few Little Debbie treats that are so nostalgic for me. I love a good Oatmeal Cream Pie or Christmas Tree Cakes around Christmas. Honestly, though, Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights bring me back to my childhood like no other for some reason.

However, I have no idea why I’m immediately transported back to my childhood when I eat a pumpkin delight. I can only recall one memory of having them. I was in my elementary school cafeteria for lunch, and I remember there being a Little Debbie Pumpkin Delight cookie, still in it’s wrapper, on my lunch tray. Maybe I was really hungry that day, or maybe it’s because my mom never bought Little Debbie treats. Whatever it was, it left a lasting impression.

What I do know is that to this day when I see this little pumpkin cookie looking at me, it makes me smile. So that’s what I set out to do last week. I knew I could create and even more delicious tasting cookie, so I did. The molasses cookie is chewy and perfectly spiced. The homemade pumpkin butter is sweet and oh so pumpkiny. I may have enjoyed created the shape of the cookies a little too much, but I have a feeling these will become a new fall tradition in our house now. So instead of buying a box of Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights, make these Jack-O-Lantern cookies. The flavor is mind-blowingly delicious and sure to bring a smile to whomever you share one with.

little debbie pumpkin delights single cookie held in hand with pumpkin butter and flowers in the background

F.A.Q.S and Troubleshooting for Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights

little debbie pumpkin delights copycat cookies on the counter next to a bowl of pumpkin butter
little debbie pumpkin delights copycat cookies with pumpkin butter piled up together

Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights (Copycat)

These chewy jack-o-lantern pumpkin cookies will remind you of the Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights from your childhood. The molasses cookie filled with scratch-made pumpkin butter tastes even more delicious than the original, and they are also fun to make!
4.72 from 14 votes
Course Dessert

Ingredients
  

Pumpkin Butter

  • 15 oz. can pumpkin puree not pie filling
  • 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • ½ tsp. nutmeg
  • 1 tsp. ginger
  • ¾ cup apple juice
  • 1 tsp. cornstarch

Cookies

  • 12 TBS butter melted
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup molasses
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • ½ tsp. ginger
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • 2 ¼ cups flour

Instructions
 

  • In a small sauce pan, combine pumpkin, sugar, and spices. Whisk together until spices are evenly distributed. In a liquid measuring cup, whisk 1 tsp. cornstarch with the apple juice. Make sure the cornstarch is fully dissolved.
  • Add the juice mixture to the pumpkin and whisk together. Cook over low heat and bring to a simmer. Let it simmer for 10 minutes, and then remove from the stove and let it cool.
  • In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine melted butter and sugar together until it becomes thick and pale in color. Add in the egg and molasses and continue to mix for 1 minute.
  • Add in your dry ingredients and mix until everything is combined. Don’t over mix in this step. Once you can’t see any more flour, stop mixing.
  • On a lightly floured surface, roll your cookie dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Using your desired shape (see F.A.Q.s for what I used for this step), cut out your pumpkin shape. Using a sharp knife, cut eyes and a mouth out of 1/2 of the shapes and leave the rest of the pumpkin shapes face free.
  • Spoon a little more than 1/2 of a tablespoon of the pumpkin butter onto each face free cookie, right in the center. Then place a jack-o-lantern cookie shape directly on top. The butter will spread a little. Seal the side of the cookie together by lightly pressing it together. This doesn’t have to be hard or smashed together tightly. Just a light press will do.
  • Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes. Let cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before placing on a cookie rack to cool completely. Store in the fridge and bring to room temperature before serving.

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Comments

  • They smell delicious, and the recipe took me some time with making the butter and everything.. but in your pictures the cookies seem small, a reasonable sized cookie. With your instructions, or maybe user error, my cookies are HUMONGOUS.. Like palm sized. I even used a ruler to make sure the dough was the right size and I am shook by how big these things are.

    1. Maybe your cookie cutter is bigger than mine? I had a total of 10 cookies, so 20 cut-outs. Hopefully, you still enjoy the recipe! Just make it a shareable cookie.

      1. The cookie cutter I have is standard size I believe. And I had the same amount of cut-outs as well. I’m not really sure what happened but I’m definitely going to try again since I do still have pumpkin butter leftover. Regardless, they were still very good, I just thought the size of my cookies were comical. They came out huge and the size of my entire hand.. but thank you for the recipe 🙂

        1. You should try chilling your cookie dough. You should also not put the cut out cookies on a hot pan. Either action can cause the cookies to spread more than is optimal.Good luck with your cookies!

  • These came out so nicely. I used a different pumpkin butter recipe, since I had no apple juice but these are fantastic.