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pumpkin oatmeal cream pies

pumpkin oatmeal cream pies

Megan
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.
4.38 from 24 votes
Prep Time 3 hours 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Chill Time 1 hour
Total Time 4 hours 30 minutes
Course Celebrations, Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 11 -14 sandwiched cookies

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!
    pumpkin oatmeal cream pies

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. 
 
cookie/frosting storage:
 
  • 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.
Keyword brown butter cream cheese buttercream, pumpkin oatmeal cookies, pumpkin oatmeal cream pies, pumpkin sandwich cookies
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