Trader Joe's Vs Pillsbury: Whose Pumpkin Sugar Cookies Are Better?

'Tis the season for all things fall-themed and edible, be it a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks, one of the best pumpkin spice products to come out in 2025, or a humble pumpkin sugar cookie. If you're a fan of seasonal goodies, then there's a chance you've noticed Pillsbury's Pumpkin Shape Sugar Cookie Dough hit shelves every year once fall rolls around. Now, Pillsbury's got some competition thanks to one of Trader Joe's new products for fall 2025, Sugar Cookie Dough Pumpkins.

It's not hard to tell that Trader Joe's Sugar Cookie Dough Pumpkins are meant to be something of a dupe for Pillsbury's Pumpkin Shape Sugar Cookie Dough, but how do the products actually stand up against one another? I've put this exact question to the test, having purchased, baked, and sampled both cookies side by side. There are a few criteria I considered when determining whether Pillsbury or Trader Joe's has the better pumpkin-shaped sugar cookie. First, I paid attention to how good the respective cookies tasted, and whether they nailed that ultra-sweet sugar cookie flavor (because, despite the cute pumpkin design, neither cookie actually tastes like pumpkin). Other criteria include the texture of the cookies, value (which gives you more bang for your buck), and ease of preparing and baking. 

Even the most frequent Trader Joe's flyers might not be aware of the Sugar Cookie Dough Pumpkins, because they're new. They're not entirely unprecedented, however, as TJ's has offered the similar Sugar Cookie Dough Hearts when seasonally appropriate in the past. Tucked neatly in the dairy section of the store, these cookies boast the ultimate fall baking convenience, because they're pre-made, pre-shaped, ready-to-bake sugar cookies. You don't need to purchase any other ingredients to be able to make these cookies, nor do you have to proof them or do anything other than slap them on a baking sheet and bake for about 12 minutes.

For what it's worth, I have already sampled these sugar cookies in my fall 2025 Trader Joe's fall item review, so I can already attest to how easy these cookies are to make and to the fact that they taste pretty good (but we'll touch more on flavor in a few slides). One pack of this cookie dough comes with 12 distinct cookies in total (and decently sized ones at that), totaling 10.8 ounces of dough per package. Notably, unlike some types of store-bought cookie dough out there, you can't eat this stuff raw, so make sure to bake before digging in. Once you do bake these cookies up, the nutritional value of one cookie comes down to 110 calories, 5 grams of fat, 16 grams of carbs, 8 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.

Pillsbury's Pumpkin Shape Sugar Cookie Dough is something of a fall staple, having been around for many years, along with other classic fall "shapes" like sugar cookie ghosts and spooky bats. Both compared to Trader Joe's pumpkin sugar cookies and generally speaking, Pillsbury's pumpkin shape cookies lean on the smaller side, even once baked. As such, there are more cookies in total, with each Pillsbury pack coming with 20 pre-cut cookies. The total amount of dough per package comes out to 9.1 ounces.

The ease of preparing and baking these cookies is incredibly similar (if not identical) to the Trader Joe's version. The cookies are already separated in the package, so you simply transfer them to a baking sheet and bake for about 12 minutes. One distinct difference between this cookie dough and Trader Joe's version is that you can safely eat the Pillsbury sugar cookie dough raw, so you can skip the baking part entirely and enjoy the cookie dough straight from the package. As for nutritional breakdown, a two-cookie serving amounts to 110 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 16 grams of carbs, 9 grams of sugar, and less than 1 gram of protein.

As with any Trader Joe's product out there (unless you're buying secondhand from a reseller online), you can only find the Sugar Cookie Dough Pumpkins at Trader Joe's. I found the dough in the dairy section of my store, near the milk, yogurt, and eggs, so there's a good chance that most stores likely keep the product stocked in a similar area. A single package of the cookie dough, containing 12 cookies total, costs $3.99. Since this is a seasonal item, it won't be on shelves forever (and there's no guarantee that it'll be back next fall), but it was available near me as of early September 2025.

Meanwhile, Pillsbury cookie dough is a little more ubiquitous. I found my pack at Target, but the product is also sold at Walmart and very likely other major grocery chains, too. You can always plug in your location on Pillsbury's product page for the cookies to narrow down a store that has them stocked nearby. I purchased my pack of Pillsbury cookies for $4.79, but this price may vary based on the exact store you purchase from and your general location. Like the Trader Joe's cookies, the Pillsbury pumpkin sugar cookies are seasonal, so in-store availability will vary, and the cookies won't be available year-round.

My first impression of Trader Joe's Sugar Cookie Dough Pumpkins was that they were impressively large, though that may just be because I'm used to the miniature size of Pillsbury's sugar cookies. Realistically, Trader Joe's sugar cookie pumpkins are about the size of a standard cookie, and they bake up in about 12 minutes. The cookies didn't necessarily spread too much when they baked, but they did puff up quite a bit, before ultimately flattening back down once cooled into that distinctly dense sugar cookie shape.

As for the flavor of the cookies, there's no denying that these bad boys tasted pretty good. I appreciated the subtle sweetness that the cookies had to offer — not necessarily the sweetest sugar cookie I've ever tasted, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, either. Other than being sweet, the cookies definitely had a distinct buttery richness to them, but I almost do wish they had a little more pizzazz, like perhaps a more distinct vanilla flavor.

Texture-wise, I do think that the cookies were maybe a tad too soft. Obviously, a sugar cookie is meant to be soft, but I always look for that slightly crispy edge to contrast against the super-soft center. To be fair, I could have baked the cookies a bit longer if I wanted to, but I do think that the cookies are just meant to be bigger and soft as opposed to smaller and slightly crispy.

This certainly wasn't my first rodeo with Pillsbury products and specifically Pillsbury cookies, so I went into baking these cookies knowing what to expect. Like the Trader Joe's cookies (yet despite being smaller cookies), the Pillsbury pumpkins call for baking in an oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 12 minutes. It can be a bit hard to tell when the cookies are done baking, because they don't really spread at all, nor do they develop a golden crust on the outside. However, 12 minutes did prove to be the sweet spot for these cookies, which didn't puff up much once baked but certainly firmed up quite a bit.

Flavor-wise, these cookies pretty much hit the nail on the head in terms of what one might reasonably expect from pre-made, refrigerated sugar cookie dough. Deliciously sweet with that quintessential, distinct sugar cookie flavor, these little cookies really made for the ultimate little treats. Though these cookies did ultimately taste similar to the Trader Joe's ones, they had a slight edge in flavor, somehow providing that pizzazz that the TJ's ones were missing (it could all come down to the fact that these cookies are slightly more sugary than the Trader Joe's cookies). 

I also very much enjoyed the texture of these cookies, as they had those perfectly soft centers with distinctly crispy edges. Also, since the cookies are small, it's easy to fit a whole one in your mouth in one go, so you get that impeccable balance of crispiness and softness (and alluring sweetness) all at the same time.

In the battle between Pillsbury Pumpkin Shape Sugar Cookie Dough and Trader Joe's Sugar Cookie Dough Pumpkins, I have to give Pillsbury the crown. Now, ultimately, the two products are incredibly similar, both in the product that they offer and ease of baking, so you won't be disappointed with either of them. However, Pillsbury did edge out Trader Joe's for a few key reasons, including slightly better flavor and texture.

Though both versions ultimately yield cookies that taste like, well, sugar cookies, Pillsbury managed to hone in on that super-sweet, specific, and unique sugar cookie flavor a little more closely than Trader Joe's did. Also, Pillsbury's cookies had a better texture in terms of balancing crispy edges to soft centers, but if you prefer your cookies softer all-around, then you might actually prefer TJ's in that scenario. Another added perk is that you can eat the Pillsbury sugar cookie dough raw, whereas Trader Joe's version needs to be baked before you can safely consume it.

It is worth noting that there's over an ounce more of cookie dough in Trader Joe's package compared to Pillsbury's. I also paid more for the Pillsbury dough than I did for TJ's; however, there's a chance that you might find the Pillsbury dough at a lower price than I did. Despite Trader Joe's technically offering more bang for your buck, however, I still preferred Pillsbury's Pumpkin Shape Sugar Cookie Dough and consider it the overall winner in terms of flavor and texture.