These Brown Butter Pumpkin cookies have a chewy, pumpkin-flavored exterior with a rich cream cheese filling. You will definitely impress your friends and family with pumpkin treats. They have all of the best fall flavors and the browned butter gives these cookies an extra layer of nutty sweetness.
I’ve been on an all-things pumpkin kick lately and love creating pumpkin spice recipes to enjoy during the fall season. If you’re looking for more pumpkin recipes, check out my Pumpkin Thumbprint Cream Cheese Cookies or Pumpkin Spice Shortbread Cookies!
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I may get a small commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links at no cost to you.
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Ingredients
Cookie Dough:
- Unsalted Butter
- Light Brown Sugar
- Granulated Sugar
- Pure Pumpkin Puree
- Egg
- Vanilla Extract
- All Purpose Flour
- Baking Soda
- Pumpkin Pie Spice
- Baking Powder
- Ground Cinnamon
- Sea Salt
Cream Cheese Filling:
- Cream Cheese
- Powdered Sugar (Icing Sugar)
- Vanilla Extract
Sugar Coating:
- Granulated Sugar
- Brown Sugar
- Ground Cinnamon
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Browning the Butter
Start by browning the butter. You will want the butter to be cool when making the cookie dough, so completing this step first will allow a little extra cooling time.
Cut the unsalted butter into tablespoons and place them in a pan over the stove. I recommend using a pan with a light-colored bottom. This allows you to be able to see precisely when the butter has browned and you can remove it from the heat/pan before it burns. If you don’t have a light-colored pan and you think you’ll be making brown butter cookies on occasion, you can find pretty reasonable options at HomeGoods or Amazon!
Turn the stove on medium heat and constantly stir the butter with a rubber spatula. First, the butter will melt and then start to develop a light foam on the top of the melted butter. At this point, you will begin to see some dark specs along the edges and a the bottom of the pan (which are the milk solids settling and toasting). The foaming will now begin to subside, the butter will boil, and as soon as it turns to a light golden brown and give off a nutty aroma, remove it from heat immediately. Pour the butter into a heat-safe bowl. Make sure to scrape all of the brown bits into the bowl as well.
Butter will probably take about 5-7 minutes to brown depending on how much butter you are browning!
Now that you’ve browned the butter, let it sit to cool while you continue to prep other ingredients!
Brown butter starts to boil over the stove on medium heat.
Browned butter once completed.
Making Cream Cheese Filling
It’s now time to make the cream cheese filling. In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Continue to combine until the mixture is smooth.
Line a small baking sheet with wax paper. Using a medium cookie scoop that makes approximately 1 tablespoon-sized balls, scoop out the cream cheese mixture onto the lined sheet and place it in the freezer to solidify. This will probably take at least 20 minutes, but leave them in the freezer until needed because they will quickly start to melt and become difficult to work with.
Make the Cookie Dough
Once the brown butter is mostly cooled, it’s time to mix up the cookie dough! Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, add the dry ingredients including flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and sea salt. Whisk together well to combine and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, add the (cooled) brown butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. With a rubber spatula stir together. At this point, it will still be chunky with sugar granules and be dark brown in color.
Remove the excess water from the pumpkin puree by adding the measured pumpkin puree in between a few sheets of paper towels. Gently press and let the paper towel absorb water. You may need to use a few sheets of paper towels. Once the pumpkin puree has a more matted and less shiny look, you’re good to go.
Add the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla extract to the butter and sugar mixture. Stir with the spatula until the mixture starts to smooth out and it will also slightly lighten in color.
Now you will mix in the dry ingredients in three sections, stirring in between each addition. It will take a little elbow grease when get to the last section. The dough will be thick in the end.
Assembling and Baking the Cookies
In a small bowl, make the sugar coating by mixing the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and ground cinnamon with a fork or small whisk.
Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. I LOVE these silicone mats. They are great for not only baking, but I even make veggies or other meals with them. They pop right in the dishwasher after!
With an extra large cookie scoop, line the baking sheet with large cookie dough balls. They should be about 2 tablespoons or 40g each. Make sure to leave about 3 inches between each cookie.
Make a thumbprint indentation in each cookie. Now, remove your frozen cheesecake balls and place a ball in each hole.
Shape the cookie dough to completely cover the cream cheese frosting balls and then roll in the sugar coating. Place the cookie back on the baking sheet and continue this process with the remainder of the cookies.
Bake in the oven at 350 degrees until the bottom edges are very slightly brown. This will take about 12-13 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to sit on the cookie sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
Pro Tip: These cookies taste really good when they are still warm!
Variations
Do NOT make this recipe without browning the butter. I tried to do a one-to-one substitution with melted butter that was not browned and the cookie did not hold the cream cheese filling well due to too much moisture in the dough. You could try to reduce the amount of melted butter. However, I did not figure out this exact amount. I do feel that this recipe is special due to the flavor of the brown butter and would highly recommend browning your butter.
If you do not want to do the cream cheese filling, simply make the cookie as directed without completing the filling steps.
Storage
Keep the cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Pop in the microwave for a few seconds to get that gooey, fresh out of the oven, texture back!
You can freeze in a freezer bag in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Let them come back to room temperature before serving.
This is my new favorite chewy pumpkin cookies for the fall! I really hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. If you try it and love it, if you could please rate the recipe 5 stars it would really help me out. Happy Baking!
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Brown Butter Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Filling
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 1 Cup Unsalted Butter
- 1 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
- ½ Cup Granulated Sugar
- ½ Cup Pure Pumpkin Puree
- 1 Large Egg
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 ½ Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ Teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
- ½ Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- ½ Teaspoon Sea Salt
Cream Cheese Filling
- 8 Ounces Cream Cheese (softened)
- ¾ Cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Sugar Coating
- ¼ Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
- ½ Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line the baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Now, brown the butter. Cut the butter into pieces and heat over the stove on medium heat. Continuously stir until the butter melts and begins to brown. As soon as you smell a rich, nutty scent and the butter is a light brown, pour into a bowl and set aside to cool.
- Next, make the cheesecake filling by beating the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Spoon balls about 1 tablespoon size onto a tray and place in the freezer to solidify.
- Make the coating by adding the sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl and mix together with a fork until combined. Set aside until later.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and sea salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add the cooled browned butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Mix with a rubber spatula until fully combined.
- Remove excess water from the pumpkin puree by pressing it between two paper towels and blot out the water until the pumpkin starts to look less shiny and has more of a matted look.
- Add the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla extract to the wet ingredients and stir in with the spatula.
- In three sections, add the dry ingredients into the dough and stir between each addition.
- With an extra large cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoons or 40g), scoop out cookie dough balls giving at least 3 inches between each cookie
- Make a thumbprint in the cookie dough balls. Place a piece of the frozen cheesecake mixture in each hole and wrap the dough around it so it is completely covered.
- Roll the cookie dough ball in the prepared coating.
- Bake the cookies for 12-13 minutes until the bottom edges start to slightly brown.
- Once baked, let the cookies set on the tray for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
