Chewy pumpkin cookies made with nutty brown butter and pure maple syrup, then rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking. The dough scoops thick and bakes with puffed centers and darkened edges. Browning and chilling the butter is the one step that needs attention.
Brown butter is the French beurre noisette, or hazelnut butter, named for the nutty smell that develops as the milk solids toast. It has long been used in French sauces and pastry, and it now turns up in cookies for the extra depth it adds. Maple syrup comes from a far older tradition: the Indigenous peoples of northeastern North America tapped maple trees and boiled the sap long before European settlement. Pumpkin spice and maple are both autumn flavors, and brown butter ties them together.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (220 g) unsalted butter, browned and chilled
- 2 1/4 cups (280 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups (280 g) dark brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg yolk
- 3 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup (80 g) pumpkin puree
- Coating: 2 tbsp brown sugar
- Coating: 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- Coating: 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat a DaTerra saucepan dry over medium heat, then lower the heat to medium-low before adding the butter.
- Melt the butter, stirring continuously, until it turns a rich amber color and smells nutty.
- Pour the butter into a measuring glass, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, then refrigerate for about 20 minutes, until cooled but not solid.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the brown sugar and cooled brown butter until it looks like clumpy wet sand.
- Whisk in the egg yolk, maple syrup, vanilla, and pumpkin puree until smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients and fold them in with a rubber spatula until the dough holds its shape when scooped, chilling it for 15 to 20 minutes if it feels too thin.
- Mix the coating ingredients in a small dish.
- Scoop the dough with a large (2 oz) cookie scoop or a 1/4 cup measure, drop each scoop into the cinnamon sugar, and toss to coat.
- Place the cookies on the baking sheet about 3 inches apart, 4 to 5 at a time, leaving the remaining dough out at room temperature.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the edges are darkened and the centers look puffed and slightly underdone.
- Rest the cookies on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes, then move them to a cooling rack, and repeat with the remaining dough.
Notes
- Chill time: 20 minutes for the butter. Stir the butter constantly and pull it from the heat as soon as it smells nutty and turns amber. Chilling it keeps the dough thick enough to scoop. Browned butter should come to a bit less than 1 cup.
Serve with coffee or warm cider. The cookies keep best in an airtight container at room temperature.
Featured DaTerra product:
Baking Sheet/Cookie Sheet Twin Pack
At four to five large cookies per sheet, a second pan keeps batches moving, and the twin pack gives you both.
More from our kitchen:
Pumpkin Challah Bread Pudding
Big-Batch Apple Crisp with Cinnamon-Nutmeg Oat Streusel
Dutch Apple Pancake
