Pumpkin Cookies: Revisited

October 25, 2008

My pumpkin adventures continue.  I think pumpkin is just something I have to get out of my system in order to move on to more enticing Fall foods.  With these cookies, a version of some other out of this world pumpkin cookies, I can fairly say that I’ve got pumpkin out of my system.  All is well.

Here’s what’s going on with Joy the Baker.  I’m gearing up for NaBloPoMo.  What’s that!?  It’s a full month of daily blog posts in November.  Joy the Baker will become a combination of amazing baked treats, holiday baking tips, and a fine cheese oasis.  Cheese?  Yes, I’ll explain more in November.

I’m going to San Francisco this weekend.  It’s sure to be a dangerous collision of food, drinks, Halloween costumes, and the madness of my little sister.  I’ll bring my camera and share the debauchery with you.

What are you doing this weekend?  Besides baking these (insanely easy) Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies?

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies

Print this recipe!

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup canola or corn oil

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup butterscotch chips

Position a rack in the middle of the oven . Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and butter the paper.

Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together in a medium bowl and set aside.  In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar until smooth and lightened in color, about 1 minute.  Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing.  On low speed, mix the oil, pumpkin, and vanilla until blended.  Mix in the flour mixture to incorporate it.  Mix in the chips.

Using an ice cream scoop with a 1/4-cup capacity, scoop mounds of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies at least 2 1/2-inches apart.  You could also simply use a 1/4-cup measuring cup if you don’t have a  scoop.  Use a thin metal spatula to smooth and flatten the rounds.

Bake the  cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, about 16 minutes.  Cool them on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool cimpletely.

Dust the cooled cookies lightly with powdered sugar.  The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

{ 79 comments… read them below or add one }

Deanna December 9, 2008 at 12:17 pm

I just had to let you know that I made these again for my husbands class(Yes he is in school again) and everyone raved about them! Im spreading the word that you are the best baker out there and people are checking out your blog! By the way, do you own a cafe/coffee shop or work at one or is it just a bakery? We have relatives down in Whittier and we go down occasionally and would love to visit.

Reply

Kari December 16, 2008 at 7:59 pm

I made these cookies this weekend for Christmas gifts and everyone LOVED them. I made one batch with butterscotch and one batch with chocolate chips. YUMMY!! I didn’t use the powder sugar at the end – is it really necessary?

Reply

Faralyn February 25, 2009 at 10:18 pm

My girlfriends and I HEART these cookies!… borderline addicted.

Reply

Faralyn February 25, 2009 at 10:18 pm

..oh yeah…I had 4 for breakfast today. =)

Reply

Sana April 12, 2009 at 11:03 am

So I got into a pumpkin phase a while back when I made pumkin oatmeal. Just 1/2 cup oatmeal with 1/2 cup pumpkin, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. I was soo happy when I found this recipe…I have no idea how many times I have made the pumpkin butterscotch cookies!!! Absolutely LOVE them…I want to try them with the cinnamon chips that I found at my grocery store the other day.

P.S: My friends are ALL addicted. About once I week I get asked….when are you making those awesome pumpkin cookies again?

Reply

carrie September 17, 2009 at 4:23 pm

I make these cookies regularly. This is from Big Fat Cookies by Elinor Klivans, a book worth buying. They are favorites whenever I make them. The cakey texture is different but delicious!

Reply

RobbieLee at Chickiedee September 28, 2009 at 5:23 pm

Oh dear! You’ve just opened up my world. These cookies look fabulous! I have to share this recipe with my mom, because she will love them! Thanks for sharing!

Reply

NotDesperateNotHousewife October 1, 2009 at 7:50 am

These were delish and easy. I even ran out of vanilla and they were still great! Mine came out like a muffin top, not a cookie.. which is even better – no guilt eating them first thing in the am!

Reply

emily October 1, 2009 at 4:00 pm

My roomates loved these cookies, but I had to put them back in the oven about 4 times! They just wouldn’t cook all the way through! It was worth it though, it is like eating a pumpkin cake in bite sized pieces

Reply

Rachel October 3, 2009 at 11:57 am

absolutely delicious. I made these for my roommate who is a pumpkin fanatic and she was begging for more as soon as they were gone.

Reply

Kristy October 5, 2009 at 9:57 pm

pumpkin butterscotch cookies are my fav to make around this time of year! can’t wait to give your recipe a try!

Reply

Jenny October 5, 2009 at 11:39 pm

They look so yum! I don’t like using canola oil or corn oil, any chance I can just replace it with butter? Or something else if anyone has a suggestion. If I replace 1/2 the sugar with honey and the oil with butter does that sound doable? Thanks!

Reply

Kristin October 6, 2009 at 11:08 am

BRING ON THE PUMPKIN!!! These sound unreal! I agree about the oil though…I’m not a huge fan of oil in my cookies…so any alternatives? Can’t wait to bake these!
xoxo
BK Crew

Reply

Carolyn October 9, 2009 at 2:19 pm

I baked these cookies today and I think they are my new favourite autumn treat! Instead of using 2 cups of sugar, I used 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of brown sugar. Then, I used 1/4 cup applesauce and 1/4 cup oil. I was worried about the consistency (especially with the crazy altitude effects of baking in Colorado), but they came out looking great and tasting delicious!

Reply

Em October 11, 2009 at 4:30 pm

these are dangerous. I made them on Tuesday and made a second batch yesterday, and I feel another one coming on soon! I added cinnamon chips too, and I must say, wow!

Reply

Stacey October 12, 2009 at 1:27 pm

We just made these and while they are very tasty…definitely more cake-like than cookie-like to us. :) But still yummy!! Thanks!

Reply

Amy October 14, 2009 at 9:30 pm

Ok so I’m still new to this whole cooking thing, I am carving a pumpkin this weekend and am looking for things to cook it in. But how do I use it, every recipe I find says canned pumpkin, so what do I do to get my pumpkin pulp into canned shape? Do I use as is, just the pulp, help???

Reply

Pamela October 16, 2009 at 7:03 pm

So after I make your Red Velvet Cake with Fluffy White Frosting tomorrow, I will be baking these yummy delights on Sunday. And I will make enough to take to work on Monday.

Reply

Jen October 21, 2009 at 6:01 pm

These were fantastic! I made them for my son’s snack at school, but I used chocolate chips instead of butterscotch, I like them better that way. They were a big hit with my son.

Reply

Matt October 24, 2009 at 4:31 pm

Joy-these were amazing and will be made time and time again. I do need a little help though. Mine kind of spread and didn’t have the right consistency, and didn’t look like the photos, but very close. Do you have any suggestions of what went wrong? The bottoms didn’t burn, but they were hard to get off, then when pulled off there wasn’t much of a bottom. I used non-stick pans (even sprayed with pam) and like I said before they spread a bit. They were still amazing and my friends loved them. I had like six each day lol. Thank you for you wonderful blog btw and thank you for this great treat that will be used over and over again.

Reply

Lauren November 3, 2009 at 4:46 pm

These are AMAZING. I could barely bake them b/c i kept eating the batter. the light, fluffy, cake like consistency was heavenly and i swear, it makes them seem much more difficult, like you had to do something secret to get them to get so big and fluffy. Love them and can’t wait to make more and take them to work!

Reply

Beth November 4, 2009 at 11:16 am

Hello!– I’m trying to contact you about featuring this recipe but I can’t find your email info anywhere. Could you please contact me for details? Thanks so very much!

Reply

Erin November 5, 2009 at 8:32 am

Last night I wanted to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, but was out of chocolate chips. It popped into my head that butterscotch would be a great substitute…I googled Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies and your site immediately popped up! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!!! Given that there is pumpkin in them, I knew they would come out cake-like, which was great. They turned out SO moist.

Definitely cook them on the parchment paper – I did one batch without the paper and the consistency was not as good.

I’ll be sure to bookmark your site!

Reply

Alison M November 6, 2009 at 11:43 pm

I found these somewhat disappointing. As has been mentioned many times, they were more like cakes than cookies, like a muffin top. That wasn’t really a problem, but I felt like the butterscotch entirely overwhelmed the pumpkin taste. They were delicious, but I was hoping for something more pumpkin-y.

Reply

Ashley November 18, 2009 at 7:03 pm

I made these cookies today….wonderful!!! My son and I can’t stop eating them!!

Reply

Laura November 30, 2009 at 10:48 am

I discovered this recipe here a couple of months ago and have made these cookies several times already! Just linked your post on my blog today. Thanks! :)

Reply

Danielle December 13, 2009 at 2:50 pm

Joy, I just wanted to let you know that these cookies are beyond fabulous. After making the chocolate chip version 3 times, I knew these would be wonderful – and they were.

I’ve been wanting to bake a regular chocolate chip cookie with the same fluffy, pillowy texture but I’m not sure how to go about doing it. Any tips?

Reply

msmeanie December 16, 2009 at 10:02 am

Hi Joy, I just had to let you know that I LOVE these cookies. I have made them 3 times in the last month (I just posted about them on my blog). No joke. They are amazing. The first time I made them with a friend, and she has also made them 3 times since then. Thank you so much for this recipe and your amazing blog!

Reply

Laura January 17, 2010 at 1:27 pm

i’ve had this recipe bookmarked for the LONGEST time, but for some reason i never made these even though they looked delicious. call me crazy, because now im going to have to find reasons NOT to make these! these are definitely going to be a staple in my apartment, they are soo easy to make! these cookies are so freaking delicious and moist!

Reply

Leave a Comment

{ 14 trackbacks }

Previous post: Sit and Stay Awhile Apple Crisp

Next post: 48 Hours with Joy the Baker