Today I made a batch of these soft, decadent pumpkin cookies and the smell wafting out of the oven just made my heart sing! I love this flavor combination so much. Soft, fluffy cookies with pumpkin, maple and a pecan crunch. Yum! Fall is in the air and there's nothing I'd rather make right now. I'm excited to share this recipe with you and hope you're enjoying the season as much as I am!
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A Quick Rundown - making maple pecan pumpkin cookies:
Keep scrolling down to find more detailed instructions for this recipe. First, I'll start with a quick overview:
- Start by preheating your oven to 325°F. Remove unsalted butter from the refrigerator so it can come to room temperature. Gather the remainder of your ingredients.
- Cream butter and sugars together. Add egg, maple syrup and blotted pumpkin puree. Mix to combine.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine remaining dry ingredients and whisk together. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix.
- Chop pecans and fold half of them into your cookie dough.
- Scoop dough into balls and line them on a cookie sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes.
- Remove cookies and make your maple icing while they cool. Drizzle cookies with icing and sprinkle with remaining chopped pecans.
Handy Tips:
- Unsalted butter should be brought to room temperature for this recipe. Room temperature butter should be firm and cool, but should give a little when pressed with your fingertip. Typically, 20-30 minutes out of the refrigerator will do the trick. I try to remember to take my butter out of the refrigerator first thing so it can sit while I gather my other ingredients and equipment. In a pinch a microwave can be used, but it's easy to over do it, so be VERY careful.
- Blotting the pumpkin simply means removing excess moisture from your puree. I've found the easiest way to do this is to place some high quality paper towels in a bowl, add pumpkin, and fold the edges of the paper towels in to soak up moisture. (See photos below for reference).
- Using high quality maple syrup makes a big difference in this recipe. Maple syrup can be expensive, but typically you can find a small bottle of syrup for only $7-10.
- It's hard to roll this cookie dough in your hands because it's sticky! I always use a cookie scoop or a round measuring spoon. If you spray your spoon or scoop with a non-stick cooking spray between cookies, the dough will come out much more easily.
Maple Pecan Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 & ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup chopped pecans
- ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ¾ cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- ⅔ cup pumpkin puree, blotted
Maple Icing & Toppings
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Take unsalted butter out of the refrigerator so that it can begin to come to room temperature. It will need to sit out of the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes. Room temperature butter will still be firm and cool, but will give a little when you press on it with your finger tip.
- While you wait for your butter to come to room temperature, gather up all of your ingredients and equipment.
- In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon and salt. Whisk well to combine.
- Chop pecans and divide them in half (half will be folded into cookie dough and half will be sprinkled on top of the cookies once they've been iced).
- Cream butter and sugars together with an electric or stand mixer. Mix on medium speed for 3-5 minutes. Stop mixing occasionally and use a rubber spatula to scrape butter and sugar from the sides of your bowl so that all ingredients are incorporated.
- Blot your pumpkin puree. Place high quality paper towels in a small bowl and place pumpkin puree into the paper towels. Fold the edges of the paper towels over the puree to soak up excess moisture.
- Add egg, maple syrup and blotted pumpkin puree to creamed butter and sugar. Mix on medium/high speed for 2 minutes.
- Add a third of dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix on low speed. Repeat until all wet and dry ingredients have been combined.
- Add half of your chopped pecans and fold them into the cookie dough.
- Use a cookie scoop or round measuring spoon to create 2 tablespoon balls of cookie dough. (Use either a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop or heap dough into 1 tablespoon round measuring spoon to create approximately a 2 tablespoon ball). Space cookies about 2 inches apart on a large cookie sheet.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes at 325°F.
- Place baked cookies on a cooling rack with a cookie sheet under it.
- While cookies cool, make your maple icing. Combine powdered sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon and cloves. Whisk ingredients together.
- Once cookies have cooled, drizzle them with maple icing and sprinkle them with remaining chopped pecans. The icing will begin to dry quickly, so I recommend icing 2-3 cookies at a time and then sprinkling them with pecans so they stick to the icing.
- Enjoy!
If you loved it...
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Austin says
These cookies are delicious!
stacey_olson says
They're mine - and I freaking LOVE them.
Jessi says
These look sooo good. Gotta make these
stacey_olson says
Let us know what you think when you do!!
Vicki Adams says
Love this recipe! Thank you!
stacey_olson says
I'm glad you like it so much! 🙂
Tabitha says
First recipe for Fall! The frosting is super thick and a little too much nutmeg for me. I’ll do 1/4 tsp of nutmeg for the frosting next time. I also added a splash of milk to the frosting to thin it out.
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Hi, Tabitha! So glad you enjoyed this recipe. Happy fall!
Ohyllis says
I'm confused. I don't see nutmeg in the recipe . am I missing it?
Phyllis says
Maybe you meant cloves?
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Hi Phyllis, the commenter may have confused nutmeg and cloves. The recipe doesn't call for any nutmeg, you are correct. Thanks for the question!
Abby says
These are delicious! Soft and cakey cookie with good flavor. Great to have with coffee or tea this fall! Mine did take a little longer than the recommended time to finish baking.
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Hi Abby, so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Happy fall!
Rachel says
Hello! These sound delicious, but I'm wondering if this is the type of cookie dough that you can refrigerate and/or freeze? Thanks!
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Hi, Rachel! Thanks for the question! I've never tried freezing or refrigerating this dough. I imagine the cookies would still turn out good, but the texture would probably turn out a bit different! Let me know if you give it a try.