Trying out Pillsbury perfectly pumpkin cookie mix

Pumpkin is an amazing addition to cookies because the puree keeps the cookies extra moist and soft. You can’t go wrong with a pumpkin cookie (unless you don’t like pumpkin) and chocolate chips are the perfect addition to bring it to the next level. When I found this mix I knew we had to see what Pillsbury had created for us. The packaging is adorable and I love that these are called “perfectly pumpkin” it is just an extra little bit that elevates the experience for me.

I opened up the box and was disappointed that the box shows frosting on the cookies but they don’t provide frosting. On the back I see that they have a cream cheese frosting with the same pumpkin branding on it but the store I picked this up from had this box on an end cap display with no frosting nearby so I didn’t think it would be sold separately. The frosting picture does worry me, usually a cookie doesn’t need frosting and if it needs frosting it is likely a dry boring cookie.

To make this cookie dough, you combine softened butter and an egg with the baking mix. It mixed together easily enough and made a really tasty dough. It had a subtle pumpkin and spicy flavor. It seemed like a spice cake turned into a cookie. The box says to scoop out a heaping teaspoon for a cookie dough ball. My smallest scoop is a tablespoon so I went ahead and used that. The tablespoon scoop I use makes a very standard size cookie so I find it interesting that they suggest smaller cookies than this. The box says it will make 3 dozen cookies with the heaping teaspoon. After scooping all the dough, I ended with 24 cookies. I was pleasantly surprised that it made that many with the size difference.

The cookies then went into the oven, one pan at a time. The box claims they will take 8-10 minutes to cook. I had larger cookies so I kept an eye on them and at 8 minutes they were ready to come out. This means the smaller cookies would be done in a shorter amount of time than they claim so keep that in mind if you give these a try. My cookies technically met the baking time that they claimed but with the suggested cookie size, this time would be too long, so I can’t give Pillsbury credit for this.

The cookies came out pretty and had a rounded top that eventually sank down as they cooled. Each cookie was identical and had no extra browning on the bottom. I let them cool for a bit before tasting. Pillsbury made a fantastic cookie box mix, these were really good cookies. However, I felt the pumpkin flavor was missing in the baked product. After our Jello mishap, I checked and did see dried pumpkin as a listed ingredient as well as “spices” which is not specific at all. It made a really good spice cookie. They were almost reminiscent of an oatmeal raisin cookie, minus the oatmeal and raisins of course. These cookies were perfectly moist for days and overall, I really enjoyed them but I think “perfectly pumpkin” is completely wrong for this product. You would be better off selling these as a fall spice cookie. I am interested to see now if their “perfectly pumpkin” cake mix is pumpkin flavored or more like a spice cake.

This cookie dough totaled 2850 calories as prepared. If divided into 24 cookies, they are 118 each. If divided into 36 cookies they are 79 calories each and Pillsbury does claim that two cookies at this size is one serving.

Here are the links to products used today:
Rubber Spatulas – https://amzn.to/3JWDtAA
Oven Mitts – https://amzn.to/3JYq5Mg
Baking sheet – https://amzn.to/3UGKcDA
Cookie Scoop 1tbsp – https://amzn.to/3UFhuTz

*These are affiliate links meaning if you click on the link and buy the product, I will earn a small commission, but you will not be charged a penny more.