Autumn Leaf Sugar Cookies with Maple Syrup

Name: Autumn Leaf Maple Cookies
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 7 min
Total time: 90 min
Ingredients: ½ cup butter (softened); ½ cup brown sugar; 1 egg (I use large eggs); 4 tablespoon maple syrup; 1¾ cups AP flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; ¼ teaspoons salt; 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract; 1 teaspoon maple extract (optional); ⅛ teaspoon red gel food color; ⅛ teaspoon orange gel food coloring

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Everyone loves the colors and flavors of fall, and these beautiful Autumn Leaf Sugar Cookies with Maple Syrup are colorful and delicious. Bake a batch of these easy-to-make cutout cookies to celebrate the season. Everyone loves them!

Autumn leaf cookies. — Maple Sugar Cookies

We have made batches of these fall cookies flavored with maple syrup for fall parties and Halloween, and they are always a hit sitting on my Thanksgiving table.

It's pretty common with my family to pick out our favorite cookies and set them on plates with our names on them to have after dinner. It's about getting the prettiest, most colorful fall leaf cookie on the platter.

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Which fall cookie is your favorite?
Cookie Ingredients
🍁Leaf cookie making tips
How To Make Leaf Cookies: Step-By-Step
How to shape the dough for cutout cookies
How to reroll cookie dough scraps
How to make your cookies look leafier
Cookie FAQ's
One Hot Oven cookie inspirations
🥄Baking Supplies
Pin for later!
More Fall-Inspired Recipes
Recipe
About Jere'

It's hard to pick a favorite when they are all so pretty.

These cookies take just seven ingredients and leaf-shaped cookie cutters. Have fun cutting out the leaf shapes and seeing what colors appear.

This dough needs to chill for an hour. The dough is not thick and heavy, so plan for a little chillin time.
Because these cookies are all about color, I have found using just red and orange colors combines to make the prettiest soft hues on the cookies. Of course, you can try different colors, like adding yellow or maybe a tiny amount of green. Experiment with colors!
Just make sure to keep the colors as separated as possible so they don't combine into one color of dough. Just press the dough scraps together and reroll.
You can add extra vanilla extract if you don't have maple syrup.
To add extra maple flavor, maple extract to the dough instead of vanilla.
Try adding some spice to the dough like cinnamon or nutmeg; even would be delicious.
These cookies bake fast, just 7 minutes.

How To Make Leaf Cookies: Step-By-Step

How to mix and color the dough for the autumn colors

Step 1. Cream the softened butter in a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Then add the brown sugar, salt and baking soda and mix at medium speed to combine.

Step 2. Add the egg, maple syrup, and vanilla, mix on medium speed to combine, then scrape the bowl. At this point, the batter will look curdled, that's OK.

Step 3. Add one cup of flour and mix on medium-low until combined, then add the rest of the flour and mix just until the flour is combined.

A white bowl with flour, eggs, sugar, and other ingredients. — Cream the butter and sugar

A whisk is being used to mix ingredients for autumn leaf sugar cookies with maple syrup. — Add the egg and vanilla

Mixing flour into cookie dough. — Add the flour

A mixture of autumn leaf sugar cookies being prepared with a dousing of maple syrup. — The mixed dough

Step 4. Divide the dough into three equal portions, about ¾ cup each. Put two of the doughs in separate bowls and the other dough wrapped in plastic wrap.

Step 5. Add about a ⅛ teaspoon of red gel food coloring to one of the bowls and orange gel food coloring to the other bowl. Mix the food coloring into the dough, turn it out on a piece of plastic wrap, then wrap it up and place all three doughs in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Two bowls of dough adding food coloring to them. — Adding food color

Two bowls of cookie dough with spoons next to them. — Three colors of dough

A sandwich is sitting on a wooden table.

How to shape the dough for cutout cookies

Step 6 Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.—line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat.

Step 7. Take the three doughs out of the refrigerator. Set out a rolling mat and lightly dust it with flour. Cut each dough into thirds and then, using one-third at a time, roll each color into a 10" rope. Keep the unused dough in the refrigerator until you need it.

Step 8. Place the three colored ropes on the floured mat and twist them together to make a twisted rope.

Step 9. Fold the twisted rope in half and press down with your hand to flatten it. Lightly dust the rolling pin and roll the dough to about a ⅛" thick round.

Three colors of cookie dough rolling into balls. — Small dough balls

Three colors of cookie dough rolls with cookie cutters. — Roll into long logs

Twisted red, orange and white cookie dough. — Twist the logs into one

Flatten three colored cookie dough. — Press to flatten the log

Step 10. Using different types of leaf cookie cutters, cut out your cookies, and try to keep each cut-out as close as you can to the last one so there aren't a lot of scraps left over. Place each leaf cut-out on the baking sheet. The stem part of the cut-out is tricky sometimes and tends to break off, so watch for that.

Cutting out colored cookie dough with a leaf cookie cutter. — Cut out leaf shapes

Step 11. When all the cutouts are made, gently gather the flat scraps and press them together, leaving them as flat as possible to continue to get the random pattern.

Now you can reroll the dough to ⅛" thick and cut out more cookies, then again just push the leftover dough together, roll again and cut out more cookies. Sometimes, I get only one cookie each time, but doing this can mean many extra cookies.

What you don't want to do is gather all the scraps and roll them into a ball before enrolling, which will result in all the colors combining into one not-so-pretty color.

Pieces of colored cookie dough on a floured surface. — Gather dough scraps

Pressing colors of cookie dough together. — Press the dough flat

Rolling colored cookie dough on a floured surface. — Roll the dough smooth

Cutting out a maple leaf cookie with cookie cutter. — Cutting the dough

Step 12. Repeat cutting out cookies with the remaining dough.

Step 13. Bake the cookies for 7 minutes. When done, remove the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.

How to make your cookies look leafier

This is a super easy tip to add some character to your cookies. Place the cookies on the cookies sheet then with a sharp paring knife lightly cut in the leaf veins into the dough. Just a line down the center of the cookie and then cut in smaller lines on the sides.

Autumn leaf cut out cookies on a baking sheet.

Now that these gorgeous autumn cookies are baked, make a cup of your favorite tea or coffee and sit down and enjoy a cookie or two.

Fall colored sugar cookies with a cup of tea. — Fall sugar cookies

Can these cookies be iced?

You can frost these cookies with powdered sugar icing, but it will cover up the pretty colors in the cookies.

Can I freeze these cookies?

You can freeze the cookies after you bake them. Just let the cookies cool, stack them between pieces of wax paper and place them in a freezer container. Let thaw at room temperature before eating.

Why does the dough have to be chilled?

This dough is soft, and before rolling and shaping, chilling the dough will firm it up so it is easier to work with. Also, when the dough has been chilled, cut-outs won't spread.

Try these Orange and Black Sprinkle Cookies for Halloween; ghosts and goblins love them.
These Chocolate Shortbread Cookies are filled with crunchy cacao nibs for extra flavor.
Ginger Spice Cookies are a family favorite baked with three types of ginger.
If you like lemon, bake a batch of these Frosted Lemon Cookies.
Instead of coloring the dough for the marble effect, try these Marbled Sugar Cookies and color the icing for the marbling.

🥄Baking Supplies

Red food color and Orange food color, and a flavorful maple syrup

You also need 2- to 3-inch leaf-shaped cookie cutters; my cutters are maple and oak leaves.

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Recipe

Autumn Leaf Maple Cookies

Jere' Cassidy

These colorful cutout marbled sugar cookies in beautiful fall colors are fun to make and everyone loves to find their favorite leaf-shaped cookie to eat. Lightly sweetened and with a hint of maple these cookies are perfect to pair with your favorite tea, coffee, or cider. Bake a batch for a fun Thanksgiving Sugar Cookies platter.

4.95 from 76 votes

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 7

Total Time 1 30

Course Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings

Calories 75 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

½ cup butter softened
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg I use large eggs
4 tablespoon maple syrup
1¾ cups AP flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon maple extract optional
⅛ teaspoon red gel food color
⅛ teaspoon orange gel food coloring

Instructions

Mixing the dough

Add the softened butter to a large mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.
Add the brown sugar, baking powder and salt, and mix it in on medium speed until incorporated.
Add the egg, maple syrup, and vanilla and mix on medium to combine. The mixture may look curdled or separated.
For more maple flavor add maple extract.
Add one cup of flour, and beat on medium speed to combine, then add in the rest of the flour, and beat in until combined.
Alternately, use a kitchen-aide mixer to complete the steps above.

Coloring the Dough

Separate the dough into thirds. This should be approximately ¾ cups each or 6 ounces each.
Wrap one of the doughs in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator, and put the other two doughs in two bowls.
Place the other two pieces of dough in bowls and add about an ⅛ teaspoon of red and orange food coloring to each dough. Stir until the dough changes color. If the dough is not dark enough, add small amounts of food coloring to achieve the desired color.
Wrap both of the doughs in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Cutting out the Cookies

Preheat the oven to 375° and prepare baking sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat
Take the three doughs out of the refrigerator and cut into thirds. Using one third at a time place the doughs on a lightly floured surface for rolling.
Roll each piece of dough into a 10"-12" rope and place all three ropes together on the floured surface. Holding one end of the dough, start rolling the dough toward you so the dough starts twisting. You will end up with one large twisted rope.
Fold the dough in half and then using a lightly floured rolling pin roll out the dough to a ⅛" thick.
Using leaf cookie cutters, start cutting out cookies, try to cut out the shapes close together so you do not have a lot of excess dough. Place the cut-outs on the baking sheet, then using a small paring knife, cut veins into each leaf.
You will have scraps left from cutting out the cookies, place these to the side, and leave as flat as possible. When done cutting out each batch of cookies, take the scraps and start placing them close together, pressing with your fingers to form the dough. Lightly reroll the dough and cut out more cookies. You don't want to handle the colored pieces of scraps too much, or they will become one color of dough.
Repeat cutting out the cookies. If you find the dough is getting soft, put it back into the refrigerator to chill.
Bake the cookies for 7 minutes. Remove from the oven and place the cookies on a cooling rack

Notes

For more maple flavor add a teaspoon of maple extract.

These cookies do not spread and only take 7 minutes to bake.

On warm days, I have put the baking sheet with the cutout cookies in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to firm them up before baking.

For this batch of cookies, I used four different sizes of cookie cutters and got 28 cookies

Recipe adapted from BH&G

Nutrition

Serving: 1Calories: 75kcalCarbohydrates: 10gFat: 3.5gCholesterol: 15mgSodium: 27mg

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First published: Sept 15, 2020, Last updated: Aug. 25, 2023, for better readability

Thank you for stopping by the One Hot Oven blog. Please leave a comment to say Hello, or just let me know what you are baking these days, I always love hearing from fellow bakers. Have any questions or want to chat about the recipe? Please visit my About page for information, and I’ll be happy to help!

About Jere'

From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending. Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place, and I am glad to be here at One Hot Oven sharing both sweet and savory family-friendly recipes for your cooking and baking inspiration.