My food brain dreamed up these shortbread cookies with creamy pumpkin caramel back in June when the rest of you were thinking about watermelon and Jell-O shots, and bikini tops, and summer sunsets, and all of the amazing summer things. I was sweating it out in my kitchen, covered in pumpkin puree, completely confused by the smell of holiday spices.
It’s about time these cookies make sense! I mean… I’m wearing a scarf for goodness sake. A scarf!
I made these cookies back in June for this month’s Better Homes and Gardens magazine. These cookies are just one of a good handful of pumpkin recipes that fill the pages.
All I’m saying is… this is really good news on the pumpkin front. Because there is a pumpkin front…. we’re looking right at it.
It’s time to talk about these cookies. These cookies are the base of our thumbprints. The fundamental. The everything.
We’re making a fancy brown sugar shortbread of sorts. Lots of butter (not sorry), lots of brown sugar (still not sorry), and flour. Simple!
Fresh out of the stand mixer this cookie dough will be too soft to handle. It needs a few hours in the refrigerator to rechill the butter before hitting the cookie scooper and the oven. Mandatory chill.
Once the dough is chilled it can be cleanly scooped onto a sheet pan. We’re going to need our thumbs next. One thumb will do.
One thumb in each cookie ball. We’re creating a place for our caramel.
Now… we may lose the indentation in the oven as the cookie bakes and inflates a bit. Not to worry. Use the back of a spoon reinforce the indentation just after the cookies come out of the oven. No harm. No foul.
Let’s talk about this caramel!
Essentially, we’re going to trust ourselves to burn sugar, add cream and pumpkin and make it delicious. First tho…. we have to burn the sugar. That’s the scary part.
In a small saucepan combine granulated sugar, water, and corn syrup over medium heat. Cook, swirl, and observe until the mixture is a deep golden color. No thermometer required… just a sense of color.
Once the sugar is cooked to amber, it’s removed from the heat and cream and butter are stirred in. Sure there’s a bit of foaming and frothing… caramel is dramatic like that. It’s all a part of the act.
Once the butter and cream are stirred into the caramel, we add pumpkin puree. Stir and stir. This is a safe place.
The pumpkin caramel will be smooth and creamy, sweet and pumpkin-y. After a bit of cooling time, the pumpkin caramel is totally spoonable. Spoonable into cookies. Exactly right.
Shortbread cookies baked until juuust golden around the edges, cooled on the baking sheet, dusted with powdered sugar, and spooned with pumpkin caramel.
Salt too. Always a bit of salt. These cookies are a combination of crisp and creamy. I love the texture difference… with a bit of holiday flair. Baking is one part texture, two parts butter, one part flair. Are you taking notes?
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- Powdered sugar and coarse sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- For the cookies, in the bowl of an electric stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter of medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar and salt and beat until combined, light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg and vanilla extract. Beat until well incorporated, about 1 minutes.
- Add the flour and beat until combined. The dough will be soft and wet.
- Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and allow to chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before baking. The butter needs time to rechill before it hits the oven.
- Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop 1-inch balls onto the parchment paper, leaving about 2-inches between each dough ball. Press your thumb into the center of each cookie, creating a place for the caramel. Bake for 8 to 11 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browned.
- If the center puffs up during baking, just re-press with the back of a spoon. Allow to cool on the pans for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the pumpkin caramel, in a medium saucepan bring sugar, water, and corn syrup to a boil over medium heat. Just swirl the pan to stir.
- Boil gently, uncovered, until browned. Once browned to a medium amber color, about 5 minutes, remove front the heat.
- Immediately add heavy cream and butter and stir as it foams up.
- Stir in spice and pumpkin puree. Caramel might seem thin. That's ok. It will thicken as it cools.
- Transfer to a small bowl. Cover and chill for 4 hours before assembling the cookies.
- Spoon the caramel in the center of each cookie.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar and salt.
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar
So cool that you’re in that magazine!! And these cookies are stunning!
Anna F.
Oh my <3
seem so delicious. You make me feel very tempted to try doing this cookies.
Jenny @ The Peachy Pair
I wish we could eat pumpkin year round. Can we make that a thing?
theginghamdiaries
I saw these and couple other of your creations in BHG this month and just came here to ask if they’d also be on your site for future reference. Question answered! Now I know what to do with that half can of pumpkin puree lingering in my fridge ;-)
Joanna @ Everyday Made Fresh
I love thumbprint cookies, the gooey filled center, and the cookie around the outside…hmm hmmm delicious! You went a step further and added one of my favorites, pumpkin!! I am giving these a try and going to go about making them allergy friendly, because I know that my youngest one will love these!
maryea {happy healthy mama}
Love this combination! These look perfect. :)
Belinda Lo (Moonblush Baker)
i am dreaming of these on my Christmas table. So clever to put pumpkin the caramel; i would bake pumpkin in summer to test these any day!
Helen @ Scrummy Lane
What a wonderful idea … having recently ‘sort of mastered’ caramel, I’m totally confident about trying these!
Another Teen On The Web
These look divine! Thanks for sharing this! Could you please check out my blog and maybe follow back on blog lovin http://anotherteenontheweb.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/13110597
haileyedancer
Congrats on Better Homes & Gardens! I want these cookies for breakfast. Right now. Thanks for the recipe and thanks for dreaming of them while we were still thinking about BBQ and margaritas.
xx,
Hailey
Averie @ Averie Cooks
I love how the filling is a mixture of pumpkin AND salted caramel! Oh wow, that sounds amazingly good! And isn’t it funny that with blogs, one must cooks weeks/months in advance! I can picture you now baking a pumpkin recipe at that height of summer :)
raetashman
wow these look amazing. would love to see a vegan version too!
rae of love from berlin
thekitchenpaper
Heck yes! This is all the wonderful things (like love and kindness and world peace!) wrapped into one delicious morsel! I love it! Thanks, Joy!
Sam @ PancakeWarriors
This is so creative! Love the caramel with pumpkin – it’s not done enough! And the shortbread cookie is the perfect platform for these flavos. Thanks for sharing – these are a must make!
Rena
Now I dream in November from this yummy looking cookies :) Thanks for the recipe, hope I will find soon some time to bake them!
http://www.dressedwithsoul.com