Buttery vegan shortbread flavoured with pumpkin spice make these Halloween cookies frightfully delicious! An easy Halloween treat for all ages!

Do you celebrate Halloween?  I’ve been to and hosted numerous Halloween parties over the years.  And even though it’s just me and the boys these days and I live in the literal arse end of nowhere with friends several hours drive away, I’ll still be celebrating in my own way.  With a spooky film or two and some Halloween Cookies.  Oh and Death by Chocolate Cupcakes as I recently updated the recipe!  Follow along video for the cupcakes here.

These Halloween cookies are a variation on my peanut butter shortbread.  Minus the peanut butter and the addition of one of my favourite things about this season … pumpkin spice.

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Blend:

I tend to blend my own pumpkin spice mix as I like it a little more nutmeggy and a lot less gingery than anything bought.  I also make a batch of it rather than repeatedly having to open all the little pots come pumpkin spice season!  I use equal quantities of nutmeg and cinnamon, then half that but also equal quantities of ginger and allspice.   So for example 4 tablespoons each of cinnamon and nutmeg and 2 tablespoons each of ginger and allspice.  Keep in a labelled and lidded jar for all your autumn baking needs!

How to make pumpkin spice cookies:

This is such a simple recipe but so so good.  Honestly, I find it so difficult not to eat the lot straight out of the oven.

Begin by beating together the vegan butter and tahini.  You can use the block type butter and the tub spread for this recipe – but I really recommend a good quality one that has a buttery flavour.  I love Flora Plant Butter.

Once that’s well beaten add in the sugar and beat again.  Then add in the flour and spice and mix until just starting to form a dough.

Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball.  Roll the ball out until it’s roughly 1/2 centimetre thick.

Now for the fun bit!

I’ve used these Halloween Pumpkin Cookie Cutters (Halloween A) and they’re fantastic!  The set comes with a variety of eyes and mouth shapes that can be mixed and matched as well as an embossing plate that makes pumpkin shaped indents into the cookie without cutting all the way through.  I’ve used the embossing plate and a combination of most of the cutters for these Halloween cookies.

Baking the cookies:

Once the cookies are all cut place onto baking trays lined with greaseproof or silicon mats.  They don’t spread much so can be placed reasonably close together.

Bake for 10-12 minutes for a softer cookie or 12-15 minutes for a more biscuit like cookie.  The cookies will also harden on cooling.

Finishing the Halloween cookies:

I cut some plain bases, some cut like a jack o lantern and some embossed.  I then sandwiched the plain and jack o lantern ones together with Biscoff spread.  And I kid you not, I experienced some sort of out of body experience eating those.  The embossed cookies I just sprinkled with some extra golden caster sugar.  They don’t need the extra sweetness, I just did it for the sparkle 😉

Storing your vegan cookies:

These actually keep really well for a few days in an airtight container at room temperature.  If they last that long.  I KNOW I shouldn’t eat an entire batch of cookies to myself over a few days but knowing and doing are two very different things.

Looking for even more vegan cookie recipes?  Try these:

Vanilla sandwich cookies

Chocolate orange shortbread

Tahini pecan chocolate chip cookies

Cinnamon sugar cream cheese cookies

There’s also a whole post of vegan Halloween recipes here 🙂

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