Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies
A pumpkin cookie with the most. This is a soft baked cookie with fresh pumpkin, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, stuffed with a creamy vanilla bean cheesecake filling, pumpkin butter, then rolled in a pumpkin spice sugar. The perfect cookie to welcome fall.
I personally love pumpkin. I love pumpkin spice season, and I adore a good pumpkin spice latte. Also, there are many savory ways to eat pumpkin as well, pumpkin soup or pumpkin pasta sauce anyone? My husband is the opposite and despises anything pumpkin, so you know what that means…more pumpkin for me!
This is the first but not the last pumpkin recipe for the fall cookie season that is upon us. Do not fret though my pumpkin hating friends, I have even more cookie recipes in store sans pumpkin, coming very soon this fall.
Love pumpkin recipes? Check out my favorite pumpkin recipes below!
- Pumpkin Brulée Cookies
- Roasted Pumpkin Purée
- Pumpkin Butter Cookies with Pumpkin Butter Frosting
- Pumpkin Butter
- Pumpkin Cookies with Caramel and Meringue
Why I Love This Recipe
Hello Fall- there is no shortage of fall flavor in this cookie. The extra cinnamon and pumpkin butter stuffed with the vanilla cheesecake in the center is luxuriously warm and decadent.
Texture-this is a soft-style cookie but denser than a muffin. It reminds me of a good piece of pound cake that is rolled in a crunchy pumpkin spice sugar. The middle is creamy, very rich and pairs well with the earthy flavor of pumpkin in the cookie.
Small Batch-this recipe is a small batch recipe that can be easily doubled if you want more pumpkin goodness. These also freeze incredibly well if you want to make the dough ahead of time to store in the freezer. These can be baked from frozen so you can have warm delicious fall cookies in just a moments notice.
Ingredients You Need
-Butter
-Granulated & Dark brown sugar-I love the deeper molasses flavor of dark brown sugar paired with pumpkin but you can use light brown sugar all the same.
-Egg yolk-I only use the egg yolk for this recipe to give the cookie a richer flavor and to cut down on the moisture in the dough.
-Salt
-Vanilla extract-
-Vanilla bean paste-not necessary but I love the flavor and the visual specs of vanilla in the cheesecake filling when I break open these cookies.
-Flour
-Baking Soda
-Cream of Tartar- I like using this to create lift in the cookie without too much spread. It also has a slight tang to counteract the sweetness of the cookie.
-cornstarch- I only use a teaspoon in this recipe to help them not spread too much.
-Cream cheese-I use full fat cream cheese. I make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature before mixing to make sure I get a nice smooth cheesecake filling.
-Pumpkin spice-lots of it. This will go in the dough and in the sugar coating for the outside of the cookie.
-Cinnamon- I have made these without the extra cinnamon but I felt the were lacking. Too much pumpkin spice can be overbearing, and the extra cinnamon gives the cookie warmth without too much spice. If you want a more mildly spiced cookie you can omit this.
-Pumpkin Butter-this is something new I am loving recently. I have made apple butter a few times and it is so intensely flavored and spiced that when I came across pumpkin butter at the store I thought it would hopefully be just as yummy. I opted for a store brand pumpkin butter and the flavor was magnificent but sadly the texture was very runny. Too runny. Very reminiscent of a thin applesauce. But not to fret, I am a natural problem solver! I reduced the butter down until it was very thick, think like a thick buttery spread, and it was perfect to use in these cookies. It took me about 12 minutes of stirring over medium heat to achieve the right consistency I will be coming out with a post soon on how to make easy pumpkin butter at home, but for now if you can find thick pumpkin butter at the store, opt for that.
PLEASE if you can make your own pumpkin butter, do it! This is a very simple recipe and adds so much flavor to pumpkin desserts. Don’t miss out. Recipe for my PUMPKIN BUTTER HERE.
Let’s Make Cookies!
The dough for this cookie is quite 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 before they are filled. As with most cookies on my blog, letting the dough rest after they have been filled is essential. You can bake them after an hour of chilling, but they improve in flavor and texture if you can leave them overnight to chill. The spices in the dough have time to really set their flavor in the cookies if you let them rest!
Cream 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 pumpkin, egg yolk, vanilla extract, 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.
This dough is very soft due to the extra moisture from the pumpkin puree and is why I like to scoop them onto a parchment-lined baking tray and place in the fridge to firm up a bit while I make the sugar coating and cheesecake filling
I scoop the dough with a 4-ounce cookie scoop to get 5 portions of dough.
Cheesecake Filling
Room temperature cream cheese mixes up much easier than cold cream cheese. I make sure to beat the cream cheese until it is smooth before adding the powdered sugar and vanilla, it helps keep the filling lump free.
I adore the little specs of vanilla bean in the cheesecake filling and it does give the filling a richer vanilla flavor that compliments the warm spices in the recipe. They aren’t necessary however and if you don’t have vanilla bean paste you can simply add a little more vanilla extract.
After everything is mixed well, I spoon the filling into a plastic sandwich bag to make it easier to stuff into the middle of the cookies. A pastry bag would work great for this as well. I wait to cut the tip of the bag open until I have my cookie filling station set up.
The pumpkin sugar is super easy, in a bowl mix the sugar and pumpkin spice until it is mixed evenly. I usually have leftover pumpkin spice sugar and instead of tossing it I save it in a container for my weekend treat of a sugar filled iced coffee. Yum.
How to Stuff Cookies
**I have posted video on how I make these cookies on: Instagram , Facebook , and Pinterest , if you want a visual aide on how I stuffed the cookie dough**
I take the dough from the fridge; I ended up cleaning up my kitchen after I made the fillings and pumpkin spice sugar, so they were in the fridge for around 20-30 minutes at this point.
I get my station ready with the cheesecake filling (tip cut now), pumpkin spice sugar, pumpkin butter spooned out into a bowl and a parchment lined baking sheet.
I take one ball of dough, create a well in the center and pipe a small amount of cheesecake filling into the center. I fill it halfway up the well in the center. I follow that with half a teaspoon of pumpkin butter making sure to not overfill. I want a gap between the well and the top of the dough.
Carefully, I squeeze the dough opening shut over the fillings by gently pinching the dough closed. Sometimes the fillings can squeeze out a little and it can be frustrating. Don’t fret, take deep breath and keep gently pinching the dough closed. The next step is to roll the dough in the pumpkin spice sugar and this step helps seal up any cracks in the dough.
Roll each stuffed cookie in the pumpkin spice sugar and refrigerate for at least an hour or two. This dough benefits greatly from a longer chill time, it allows all the warm flavors and spices to develop a rich flavor in the cookie. It also helps to slightly dry out the surface of the dough. Remember, this dough has more moisture from the pumpkin, and giving the cookies extra chill time will allow them to bake with minimal spread and with better structure.
I bake these cookies at 375*F for 16-20 minutes. I am looking for set tops that are just beginning to crack and lightly browned edges. If your cookies still look wet on top continue to bake in 2-minute increments.
Let these cookies cool on the pan, the residual heat will help the cookies set up. These cookies are best warm or at room temperature, maybe with your fave pumpkin coffee? Um, yes.
These cookies have a cream cheese filling so to err on the side of caution, make only what you will enjoy in a few days time.
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!
Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter unsalted, room temperature
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tspn vanilla extract
- 1 tspn pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tspn ground cinnamon
- ½ tspn cream of tartar
- ½ tspn baking soda
- ½ tspn salt
- 1 tspn cornstarch
- 1½ cups flour
- ¼ cup pumpkin butter for filling
Sugar Coating
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tspn pumpkin pie spice
Vanilla Bean Cheesecake filling
- 4 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 1 tspn vanilla extract
- 4 tbspns powdered sugar
- 1 tspn vanilla bean paste
Instructions
- Cream together butter and sugar on high for 3-5 minutes. The mixture should be pale and creamy.
- Add in pumpkin, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and continue to mix on medium high until thoroughly mixed together.
- Sift together dry ingredients over the wet ingredients then slowly mix them together on a low speed just until combined. The dough will be soft.
- Scoop 5 portions of dough using a 4-ounce cookie scoop. Place in fridge while you get the filling and rolling sugar ready.
Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Filling
- Either by hand or with a hand held mixer, beat cream cheese until it is creamy.
- Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean paste and mix on low until fully incorporated and very creamy.
- Spoon filling into a piping bag or a plastic sandwich bag to get it ready for filling the cookies.
Sugar Coating
- In a bowl stir together sugar and pumpkin spice until combined.
Assembly
- Take chilled cookie dough from fridge and begin filling.
- Carefully make a well inside of the dough, fill with cheesecake filling about half way up the well. Do not fill all the way.
- If using pumpkin butter, place a small spoonful (about half a teaspoon) on top of the cheesecake filling. Do not overstuff or it will be difficult to seal.
- Pinch the dough closed on top of the filling being careful not to squish any filling out.
- Roll the dough in the pumpkin spice sugar to coat evenly on all sides.
- Place dough back on the parchment lined baking sheet and refrigerate for at least an hour or preferably overnight to allow the flavors to develop.
- Bake cookie dough at 375*F for 16 minutes. They are ready when the edges are slightly golden brown and the tops are set. They should not look wet. If they still look raw bake for 2 minutes extra or until they are done.
- Allow these cookies to cool undisturbed on the baking sheet for 15-20 minutes. They are best enjoyed warm or at room temperature.
