The $3 Grocery Store Dessert I Have to Buy Every Fall (So Easy and Delicious!)

for a reason. As soon as the weather gets a bit cooler, the standard dough rounds get an adorable fall-themed upgrade. I practically count down the days until stores start carrying the pumpkin shaped sugar cookie dough again. 

Forget pumpkin spice, apple cider, and maple-infused everything. For my college roommates and me the go-to fall dessert is and will always be the small, circular pumpkin sugar cookies. 

The flavor is pretty straightforward, in fact, the taste is pretty similar to your run-of-the-mill sugar cookie. It’s sweet and buttery. Even though the size of the cookie is no bigger than a token from the fair and the adorable pumpkin cartoon resembles classic clip art, it hits home each and every single time. 

These cookies bring back memories that a pumpkin spice latte could never re-create. They remind me of the school Halloween parties I attended in fifth grade or movie nights with my best friends — always Hocus Pocus as soon as October hit. 

The key to baking these cookies perfectly is to slightly underbake them. The package even agrees! I put them in the oven on a sheet pan lined with parchment and bake them at 325°F for 11 minutes. They burn easily, so taking them out of the oven a bit earlier and letting them cool on the tray for five minutes to set gives a nice crust and the ideal chewy consistency.  

Sometimes I pair them with brownie mix to make the most delicious brookies. But typically, I enjoy these cookies with my favorite popcorn and an old Halloween Movie. 

Buy: Pillsbury Pumpkin Shape Sugar Cookie Dough, $3.46 for 9.1 ounces at Walmart

What’s your favorite fall dessert? Tell us about it in the comments below. 

This post was a collaboration between Dorm Therapy and The Kitchn and originally appeared on The Kitchn. See it there: Twenty Years Later, I Still Can’t Wait for This Seasonal $3 Cookie Dough to Hit Grocery Shelves