These pumpkin oatmeal cream pies are a fun fall twist on the classic childhood cookie. Not only do they taste so much better than the store bought kind. But they are based off a blog favorite recipe, my chewy carrot cake cookies.
These chewy pumpkin cookies are cozy little oatmeal based sandwich cookies held together by a nutty, buttery maple cream cheese filling. They are the perfect cookie for pumpkin and non pumpkin lovers alike!
In a few words, these pumpkin oatmeal cream pies are:
- Buttery
- Nutty
- Chewy
- Sweet
- Full of spiced pumpkin flavor.
- The texture of a classic oatmeal cream pie.
- The perfect cookie for pumpkin and non pumpkin lovers, alike! Speaking of perfect and perfectly easy cookies, make sure to check out my Snickerdoodles without Cream of Tartar cookies.
What ingredients do I need to make these pumpkin sandwich cookies?
- Unsalted butter
- All purpose flour
- Chai or pumpkin spice blend
- I love this chai spice blend if I don't make my own
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Canned or homemade pumpkin puree
- Vanilla extract
- Old fashioned rolled oats
- Cream cheese
- Powdered sugar
- Ground cinnamon
- Maple extract
- Milk
From these ingredients you will make the chewy pumpkin oatmeal cookies and the maple brown butter cream cheese filling.
You need these special baking tools:
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment or electric hand mixer with large mixing bowl for mixing the cookie batter.
- A medium sauce pan for browning the butter.
- You will also need a large, wide and shallow, heat proof bowl for cooling the hot butter.
- A medium, somewhat shallow, wide bowl with paper towels for absorbing excess water from the pumpkin, "blotting."
- Plastic wrap or other way to cover the cookies for chilling. This prevents the cookie dough from drying out.
- A small or medium cookie scoop
- small (1 tbsp) makes 2 inch cookies
- medium (2 tbsp) makes 3 inch cookies
- Large aluminum baking sheets
- Parchment paper
- Cooling rack
- A small icing knife for spreading the frosting. Alternatively you can also pipe it on using a frosting bag with tip cut off or with icing tip of choice.
- Wax paper for wrapping the cookies for storage. These cookies freeze really well. The best way to freeze these cookies is:
- Wrap each cookie in wax paper or parchment paper.
- Store in a freezer proof container for up to one month.
- Bring to room temperature for 15-25 minutes before eating.
Is blotting the pumpkin really necessary?
pPumpkin is a very water heavy ingredient. This excess moisture is wonderful for cakes, muffins and quick breads. It is not the best for cookies or cookie bars. Plus, less water means more pumpkin. more pumpkin means more pumpkin flavor!
Blotting the pumpkin is super easy. Before doing any other steps in the recipe:
Line a bowl with a couple of paper towels. Scoop about most of (1) 15 oz. (425g) can of pumpkin purée onto the paper towels. Leave the pumpkin on the paper towels while you prepare the rest of the recipe. There’s no need to completely remove all the water from the pumpkin, just scoop out the pumpkin into a measuring cup (or use the weight listed in the recipe), while leaving the liquid in the bowl.
Tips and tricks for the best pumpkin oatmeal cream pies
Best substitutes for this recipe:
- Butter: Can be replaced with vegan or plant based butter if needed.
- Use a brand you have already made cookies with before to ensure you know the butter works for this.
- All purpose flour: use a 1:1 GF mix for all purpose flour.
- I like this brand for easy GF baking
- This recipe was not tested to include grain free flours
- Cassava flour is a possibility, but you will need to adjust the liquid amounts a bit. This is a great article to help you troubleshoot if you go this route.
- Eggs: for this recipe, the eggs were used as a binding agent and for some chewiness (extra yolk).
- Flax eggs can be tried in this recipe.
- Apple sauce or mashed banana can also work here (aim for ⅓ cup ).
- You can also just leave out the egg and yolk.
- Keep in mind, this recipe wasn’t tested to be eggless, so go into it with an open mind and maybe make half a batch!
- Cream cheese frosting: If you’re looking for a vegan frosting, I love this one from Simple Mills to pair with these chewy carrot cake cookies. I also love my brown butter cream cheese frosting.
Tips and tricks for chewy pumpkin sandwich cookies:
- Use room temperature ingredients.
- Blot the canned pumpkin.
- Cream ingredients together until just combined.
- Use the lowest mixing setting or mix by hand when adding in the dry ingredients.
- Chill the cookies!!!
- This allows the glutens to rest (or hydrate depending on the flour) and allows the flavors develop more fully.
- Fully preheat the oven!
- Use an oven thermometer to check the internal oven temperature.
- I love this one and use it all the time.
- Let the cookies sit out at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes before scooping onto a baking sheet for baking.
- Use a cookie scoop for perfectly portioned cookies.
- Space the cookies about 2-3 inches apart. They are made to spread a little while baking.
- Bake cookies until golden brown on the edges and slightly under baked in the center. These will finish “baking” on the hot cookie sheet once removed from the oven.
- Leave the cookies on the hot cookie sheet on top of a cooling rack for 10 minutes THEN transfer to cool completely on the cooling rack. The cookies need time to finish baking and setting up.
- Cool the cookie completely before applying the frosting.
- Use room temperature frosting for spreading on the cookies.
- Gently press the cooled cookies together to make a cookie sandwich.
- Store cookies in an air tight container in the fridge for 3-4 days or freezer for up to one month.
more sandwich cookies to try!
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Make sure to tag me on instagram @olivesnthyme. For more delicious dessert ideas follow me on pinterest
pumpkin oatmeal cream pies
these pumpkin oatmeal cream pies are a fun fall remake of the classic childhood treat. they're made from spiced chewy pumpkin oatmeal cookies sandwiched together with a maple cream cheese buttercream.
Equipment
- stand mixer with paddle attachment or electric hand mixer with beater
- small bowl with paper towels (to absorb excess liquid from the pumpkin)
- medium sauce pan (for browing butter)
- plastic wrap (for covering cookie dough)
- small cookie scoop or tablespoon
- 2 baking sheets
- parchment paper
Ingredients
pumpkin oatmeal cookies
- 20 tbsp (283g) unsalted butter, browned and reduced down to 1 c (226g) cooled to softened but still cold see recipe notes
- 1 ½ c (180g) all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon chai spice blend or pumpkin spice blend see recipe notes
- 1 tsp (5g) baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ c (150g) light brown sugar
- ¾ c (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 (18g) large egg yolk, room temperature
- 1 c (230g) pumpkin puree, blotted see recipe notes
- 2 tsp (10ml) vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ c (191g) old fashioned rolled oats
maple brown butter cream cheese frosting
- 10 tbsp (141g) unsalted butter, browned, reduced down to 8 tablespoon (½ c, 113g) and cooled to a solid room temperature texture see recipe notes
- 4 oz. (113g) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 2 ½ c (280g) powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp (5ml) vanilla extract
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp maple extract, optional for maple flavor
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1-3 tbsp (15-45 ml) milk, as needed
Instructions
pumpkin oatmeal cookies
- Make brown butter the day before or about 1-2 hours before you plan to make the cookies. It will need 60-120 minutes to cool enough to become the texture of softened butter.To make the brown butter, melt butter in a clear heavy bottom sauce pan. Once the butter starts to foam, whisk continuously until brown bits start to form. Remove from heat, pour into clean bowl and cool 30 minutes to room temperature and transfer to the fridge for an additonal 60-90 minutes (1-1.5 hours). Butter should be texture and temperature as solid butter at room temperature.See recipe notes for tips on batch browning!
- Lay 2-3 paper towels across a wide, shallow bowl. Scoop out most of a 15oz. can of pumpkin puree (425g) onto the paper towels. The excess water will absorb into the paper towels. Before using in the recipe, squeeze the excess water from the pumpkin puree. You should have 1 c (230g) left to use in the recipe.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, spice blend, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- Cream the brown butter and sugars together on medium speed until well combined, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add egg yolk, pumpkin and vanilla extract, beating on low for about 20 seconds before adding the next.
- On the lowest mixing setting or by hand, stir in the dry ingredients to the wet until just combined. Add the oats, stirring until just combined.
- Cover the cookie dough with pastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours or up to overnight. This is an important step in getting the chewy texture and a more developed flavor. Pull cookies out of the fridge about 10 minutes before you want to start baking them.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F / 190 C for about 20-30 minutes before baking the cookies. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a small or medium cookie scoop, or tablespoon sized spoon, scoop cookie dough into 1 ½ " (40g) sized balls. Place them about 3 " apart on the baking sheet. The cookies will spread a bit while baking.
- Bake the cookies at 375 F (190 C) for 10-12 minutes until golden brown around the edges and slighlty underbaked (and a little puffed) in the center. Cool cookies on the hot cookie sheet placed on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.
- Within the first 5 minutes of removing the cookies from the oven, use a large biscuit cutter (wider than the cookies) to help shape any cookies into a more round shape. After 10 minutes, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to finish cooling to room temperature. Cool completely before adding the frosting.
maple brown butter cream cheese frosting
- Make brown butter while the cookie dough is chilling. It will need 1-2 hours to cool enough to become the texture of softened butter. To make the brown butter, melt butter in a clear heavy bottom sauce pan. Once the butter starts to foam, whisk continuously until brown bits start to form. Remove from heat, pour into clean bowl and cool 30 minutes to room temperature and transfer to the fridge for an additonal 60-90 minutes (1-1.5 hours).Butter should be texture and temperature as solid butter at room temperature.
- Cream together cooled and softened brown butter with the room temperature cream cheese until creamy and well combined, about 4-5 minutes. Stop and scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Add sifted powdered sugar ½ c at a time, beating each addition of powdered sugar until incorporated. Scrape down sides of mixing bowl as needed. Once all the sugar has been added, add in the vanilla etxract, ground cinnamon, maple extract, 1 tablespoon milk and salt. Beat on high until the buttercream is fully incorpated and desired consistency. If the buttercream is too thick, add an additional 1-2 tablespoon milk of choice, beating until well incorporated.
- Using a small offset icing knife, spoon or piping bag with piping tip of choice, apply the desired amount of frosting to the bottom of one cookie. Apply the bottom of another cookie to the frosted side of the first cookie. Gently press together. Enjoy!
Notes
batch browning butter: this recipe calls for a lot of browned butter. it’s worth it to brown 2-3 pounds of butter at the same time. to do this, simply brown the butter, cool to room temperature in a heat proof bowl. once the brown butter has cooled, pour the butter into an airtight container and store in the fridge. bring to room temperature the same way you would regular unsalted butter. by using a food scale, you can make a big batch of brown butter and slice off/measure the amount chilled and reformed butter you need for the recipe.
"blotting" the pumpkin: pumpkin has a lot of excess water. leaving the water in will result in a cake like cookie. removing much of the water before using the pumpkin will give the cookies a chewier texture.
refined sugar free option: these cookies can be made with maple sugar for a refined sugar free option. to do this, replace the brown and granulated sugar with 1 ¼ c of maple sugar.
chai mix: this is my personal favorite chai mix. If you have a chai mix you like, feel free to use it in this recipe.
- 3 tablespoon ground ginger
- 2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ground allspice
- 1 tablespoon ground cardamon
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- place all ingredients in a bowl. Mix well to combine. Store in a spice jar or small mason jar.
- Store frosting in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to apply to the cookies. Bring to room temperature before applying to the cookies.
- Once the cookies are frosted, they should be stored individually wrapped in wax paper in an air tight container in the fridge or freezer.
- Unfrosted cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
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