It’s pumpkin season. Looking for an outstanding fall cookie? This is it, and it’s full of wonderful autumn flavors.

Three of the boys were home when I made these and the cookies disappeared almost immediately. They’re soft, chewy cookies, but definitely not cake-like, which often happens when you bake with pumpkin puree because of its high water content. They’re sweet, but not too sweet, and they’re a perfect snack as the weather gets colder.

The original recipe didn’t call for chilling the dough, but I found that they fared much better in the oven after they spent a minimum of an hour in the refrigerator. When you brown the butter, watch it as it cooks, because it can burn quickly. As soon as it starts to turn brown, take it off the heat to keep it from cooking too much. When you pour/scrape it into a measuring cup to cool, scrape all of the dark brown bits into the measuring cup as well. You’ll notice that you have slightly under 1 cup of melted butter, as some liquid will have evaporated during the browning process.

I hope you enjoy the cookies as much as we do.

Brown Butter & Maple Chewy Pumpkin Cookies
Recipe by Butternut Bakery

Pumpkin Cookies

• 1 cup (220g) unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups (280g) dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup (80g) pumpkin puree
• 2 1/4 cups (280g) 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

Coating

• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

First, brown the butter. Melt 1 cup of butter over medium heat, continuing to stir until it reaches a rich amber color.

Once browned, pour the butter into a glass measuring cup. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot to get all of the brown bits. You should have a bit shy of 1 cup of melted butter. Place in the refrigerator to chill for about 20 minutes. Don’t let it solidify.

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar and cooled brown butter. It should look like clumpy wet sand.

Whisk in the egg yolk, maple syrup, vanilla, and pumpkin until smooth.

Add in all of the dry ingredients and use a rubber spatula to fold into the dough. I like to chill the dough for about an hour before baking the cookies, so the dough feels a little thicker.

Off to the side, mix together the coating ingredients in a small dish.

Use a cookie scoop to scoop the dough. Drop the cookie dough balls into the cinnamon sugar mixture and toss to coat. The dough will be very soft but should not be sticky. If it is, chill it a little longer.

Place dough balls onto the baking sheet, spaced about 3 inches apart from each other.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges are darkened and the center looks puffed and slightly underdone.

Allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack. Continue to bake the rest of the cookie dough.