Pumpkin Butter Cookies with Pumpkin Butter Frosting

Pumpkin Butter Cookies with Pumpkin Butter Frosting

Pumpkin butter lends its delicious flavor of fall to these ultra-chewy cookies. Pumpkin Spice Oreos are chopped and added to the cookie dough to intensify the flavor and a pumpkin butter frosting middle ties this cookie together for a decadently spiced fall cookie.

Where are all my pumpkin spice fans at?! This pumpkin butter cookie was made for you!

I found the Pumpkin Spice Oreos at my local Target this week! Advertised on their Instagram page, I knew I had to try them. Oreo has such a cult following when it comes to their crazy, out of the box, flavor ideas and I am guilty of loving their limited addition concoctions. Red Velvet and Maple Oreos were some of my favorites. They need to bring them back! I used the Maple Oreos a few years ago to make truffles to stuff inside of a French toast flavored cookie that received stellar reviews from my customers.

Originally, I wanted to do something similar with the Pumpkin Spice Oreos, make some sort of pumpkin spice cookie truffle. Upon trying them, the crème center is very soft and sweet, and heavily spiced with pumpkin spice.

Recently, I posted a recipe for a soft baked pumpkin cookie: Pumpkin Cookies with Caramel and Meringue and wanted to try something a little different with my next pumpkin cookie creation. I had made pumpkin butter a few weeks prior and incorporated it into a fluffy frosting for a maple sandwich cookie recipe I am developing to come out in November.

Taking little tastes here and there, some nibbles from the Oreos with my enthusiastic 4-year-old, and a few spoonful’s of pumpkin butter and frosting, an idea came to mind. Pumpkin butter cookies with pumpkin butter frosting. It would be a pumpkin cookie to beat all pumpkin cookies. Concentrated pumpkin flavor in a cookie with layers upon layers of pumpkin spice throughout the dough and filling.

I set out to make a soft baked cookie for the cookie sandwich but as I was making the dough, I really wanted to get out of my comfort zone, I wanted to make a crisp cookie to pair with the whipped frosting and I wanted the chewy caramelized edges to give extra flavor to the pumpkin butter added into the dough.

What I ended up creating is an incredibly chewy cookie with thin crunchy edges that encapsulates every warm flavor and feeling of fall. Have I switched over to team chewy crisp cookies??? Temporarily, YES. I cannot get enough of the flavors and textures in this cookie. Even my husband, who is a pumpkin hater, couldn’t keep his hands off them. He was mad that I packed most of them up to share with neighbors and friends. How dare I share. Of course, I could have kept them all for us to enjoy ourselves, but I know deep down others will enjoy my baking efforts much more than my thighs will.

Why I Love This Recipe

Flavor-The flavor of pumpkin butter is concentrated, much like a condensed version of pumpkin pie and lends a great amount of spice to cookie. The pumpkin Oreos are also sweet, creamy, and very heavily pumpkin spiced. They make this cookie a paramount of pumpkin spice flavor and these two ingredients combined gives this cookie an insane amount of fall cookie vibes. The cookie is baked until the edges are golden brown and they spread quite a bit while baking. This spreading of the cookie allows the edges to brown and take on a deep, toasty caramel profile which adds to the flavor of the cookie. The pumpkin butter frosting is on a whole other level, creamy, fluffy, and bursting with pumpkin butter flavor. The frosting has whipped cream cheese in the base to add a slight tang to offset the sweetness of the cookie.

Texture- These cookies are crisp, chewy, and soft in the middle. The crunchy edge of the cookie is achieved by the brown caramelized edges of the cookie that spread while baking. The middle is slightly undercooked when taken out of the oven and sets up to a soft and chewy consistency. There are pieces of chopped Oreos scattered through the dough offering more texturally pleasing crisp bites and a pop of smooth pumpkin spice crème filling from the sandwich cookies. The contrasting textures of the cookie pair well with the light and fluffy pumpkin butter frosting.

Simple Recipe-The pumpkin butter cookies are very simple to make, only needing a minimum 30-minute chill time. Longer chill time (up to 3 days) is better in my opinion, but you can bake these quickly with great results. The pumpkin butter frosting can be made well in advance and only takes about 10 minutes to mix up to fluffy fall spiced perfection.

Perfect for Sharing-I’ll be honest, these are delicious, but I would be lying if I didn’t tell you they are sugar bombs. I cut these in half and wrapped them up to share since they were just too good to keep in the kitchen. They are big enough to cut and share but you can also make them smaller, 1 oz cookie scoops, for bite sized cookies sandwiches.

Celebrate Fall- These would be a great party cookie to bring for any fall event. The texture and flavor are phenomenal, they don’t have to be refrigerated, they package up cleanly, and they travel well. I have remade this recipe again so I could stock my freezer with dough, ready to bake for fall festivities and birthdays.

**These cookies are insanely rich as is and if you don’t want to fuss with filling them with pumpkin butter frosting, you don’t have to. They are wonderful enjoyed fresh out of the oven while the edges are very crisp, and the middles are a tad doughy. Yum.**

Ingredients You Need

-Butter-room temperature and unsalted

-Granulated & brown sugar

-Egg yolk- I want to keep this cookie flat and crisp so I am using a whole egg and only the yolk of a second.

-Vanilla extract

-Flour

-Baking Soda & Baking Powder

-Salt-for cookie dough. I use kosher salt.

-Pumpkin pie spice

-Pumpkin Spice Oreos- If you can’t find these cookies, I recommend using any type of spiced sandwich cookie as a substitute. Although, I do find the pumpkin spice crème filling inside of these is superb.

–Pumpkin Butter– I have a recipe linked for homemade pumpkin butter that I am using in this recipe, but you can use store bought pumpkin butter as well. Just please make sure it is thick, as the recipe I have made is very thick and therefore has less moisture from the pumpkin, so the cookies and frosting don’t come out soggy. You can substitute pumpkin puree for the pumpkin butter in both parts of this recipe, but you will need to drain off as much water as possible with paper towels prior to using in the recipe.

For the frosting:

-Cream cheese-room temperature

-Butter-room temperature

-pinch of salt

–Pumpkin Butter

-vanilla

-pumpkin pie spice

Let’s Make Pumpkin Butter Frosting

I have found that the key to good frosting is to make sure I whip the butter until it is fluffy and pale before adding the other ingredients. This helps to make sure I get the right consistency in my frosting every single time.

I use room temperature butter and cream cheese for this recipe, and I whip them in my mixer until very fluffy and pale before adding the sugar usually around 5-7 minutes. I scrape the bowl down several times and whip the butter and cream cheese on the highest setting of my mixer.

I add in my powdered sugar one cup at a time, making sure the mixer is OFF when I add the sugar and turning the mixer on low until the sugar is incorporated before cranking it up to high again to whip. I whip on high for a minute or so after each addition so it remains light and fluffy.

I add in a sprinkle of salt, a teaspoon of pumpkin spice, and the vanilla and continue to mix on high after all the sugar is added. The mixture will look a little thick, but I am adding pumpkin butter next to smooth it out.

I add the pumpkin butter and continue to beat the frosting on high for a few minutes. Make sure your pumpkin butter is very thick or it will add too much moisture to the frosting and make it soupy. If your pumpkin butter is runny, place in a pan and reduce until very thick, like spreadable butter.

After the pumpkin is incorporated and it has been mixed on high for a few minutes, I check the texture and flavor and see if it needs more pumpkin butter. I was happy after 3 tablespoons added. If the frosting isn’t fluffy, continue to beat on high for a few minutes more to allow air to be whipped into the frosting.

I use this to fill the pumpkin butter cookies, but I have also used it on top of cupcakes, pumpkin bread, and banana bread. It is a wonderful sturdy icing, and it crusts as well.

I spoon this into a piping bag fitted with a star tip. I have also used a gallon Ziploc bag with the tip snipped off. Don’t have either? No sweat, this can be spread on the cookies with a tablespoon. A heaping tablespoon will do the trick. Smooth the frosting out with the back of the spoon to even out the edges.

Let’s Make Cookies!

The dough for this cookie is easy to throw together and only takes about 10 minutes to prepare. After making and scooping the dough, I let it rest in the fridge to firm up for at least 30 minutes before baking. I like letting the dough rest after they have been scooped and allow the flour to hydrate. In this case, the flavors of the spices will continue mingle and develop in the dough. You can bake them after a half hour of chilling, but they improve in texture and pumpkin spice flavor if you can leave them overnight to chill. You can leave these in the fridge for up to 3 days before baking.

I start out by creaming the butter and both types of sugars in a bowl until very creamy. I like to see the butter light in color and fluffy, this usually takes around 3-5 minutes on high speed.

I add in the egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract, pumpkin butter and continue mixing on high for a few more minutes. I like to sift my dry ingredients on top of the bowl then mix on low until it just comes together.

I chop a package of Pumpkin Spice Oreos (about 4-5 were missing from the package due to taste testing/brainstorming needs) into one-inch pieces. I chop them in half one way then in half again the opposite way, so they are cut into quarters. It’s the perfect size to add to the cookie dough.

This dough is very soft because there is not much flour added to this recipe to keep the cookies thin and chewy. It will firm up in the fridge as it rests.

I add the chopped Oreos to the dough and mix well until they are fully incorporated. I don’t want to overmix this because I want to see the small bits of Oreos in the dough after they bake. I like the bright orange color of the crème filling and want to keep the integrity of the sandwich cookie in the dough. It is visually pleasing to break open one of these cookies and see the autumnal pops of bright orange throughout the cookie.

I scoop the dough with a 3-ounce cookie scoop to get 18 portions of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

I chill the dough for 30 minutes before baking half of them and I saved the other half to bake the next morning. They both baked up perfectly, but the ones left overnight had slightly less spread, more consistent cookie “wrinkles” on the edges and better flavor. Also, you can make this easy recipe in advance and freeze the dough. If baking from frozen add 2-3 minutes to your bake time.

I baked these cookies on a parchment paper lined baking sheet at 375*F for 10-12 minutes. 11 minutes was the magic number for my oven, but oven temps and cooking time can vary widely. Start with the lower time and work your way up if they are still raw. I also only baked 4-5 at a time to allow room for the cookies to spread while baking. Don’t overcrowd the pan.

The trick with determining when these cookies are ready to be taken out of the oven is the edges will be deep golden brown and spread out considerably while the middles will look wet and still raw. Don’t fret! This is totally normal, and they will continue to cook and set up on the baking sheet after you take them out. You need to see the edges spread out and very golden brown, that is what will let you know they are ready. If they look raw on the edges pop them back in a few minutes until done.

When I took the cookies out of the oven, they had spread considerably due to the low flour content of the recipe. The spread gives us those delicious crunchy and chewy cookie edges but they don’t always spread uniformly. A tip I would love to share with you is how I use a tart ring, larger than the cookie or a flat spatula or knife, to kind of push the edges in to make a prettier circle.

When I take the cookies out of the oven, within the first 20-30 seconds I take a tart ring, put it over the cookie so it is laying flat on the baking sheet, and with smooth circular motions gather the edges of the cookie in to make them symmetrical. It is important to do this while the cookies are fresh from the oven. The minute they start to cool, they will set up and it won’t work.

Alternatively, you can use a spatula or the back of a knife to push the edges that have spread too much gently together to form a more circular cookie.

**Please reference videos I have posted on: Instagram , Facebook , and Pinterest , if you want a visual aide on how I achieved this technique**

This technique isn’t necessary, but it does give amazing visual results and helps to match up the cookies better if they are sandwiched together with frosting.

I let the cookies cool on the pan for 15-20 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. They will need to be cooled completely prior to filling with pumpkin butter frosting.

I pipe a healthy swirl of pumpkin butter frosting onto the middle of half the cookies then top with another cookie. Slightly pressing them down to push the frosting towards the edges and secure the cookies together.

One bite of this cookie and you will be amazed at how much flavor can be packed into one dessert. It’s nothing short of magical and will brighten the day of any lucky persons you decide to share them with. Happy Fall Y’all!

If you try this recipe and love it as much as I do, please tag, follow, and like @sunshinetxcookies on Instagram and Facebook. New posts every Thursday so be sure to follow me for more delicious cookie recipes. Happy Baking!