What a mouthful.
Happy fall, y’all! Yesterday was October 1st and I was really in the mood to make something pumpkin-y to celebrate. Now honestly, when you put pumpkin in any baked good, it’s a slam dunk. Pumpkin keeps everything moist! But I wanted more of a challenge, so I added a little extra crunch and a little chocolate and voila! The ultimate fall cookie was born! One of my coworkers described the cookie as more of a “pumpkin pie bite” – with the pumpkin cookie acting as the pumpkin filling, the macadamia nuts giving the crunch of the crust, and white chocolate chips as the whipped cream topping. It’s the perfect description for the perfect cookie, I only wish I would have thought of it myself.
Tips and Tricks
- Pumpkin will make your cookie dough very wet, which means that it’s hard to shape the dough into balls by hand because it sticks to your hand. To avoid this mess, I used a cookie scooper, which eliminates the use of your hands to shape the dough. Alternatively, you can use an ice cream scooper and spoon, or refrigerate the dough for 2+ hours to make it more firm.
- Watch your macadamia nuts closely – it’s easy for them to burn!
- Don’t chop the macadamia nuts until after you have toasted them, chopping makes it even easier for those babies to burn.
- When storing these cookies, you have to use parchment paper between layers. Otherwise, all of your cookies will just stick together and you’ll have one giant cookie clump in your tin.
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 sticks (1 cup) of softened butter
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup pure pumpkin (I always use Libby’s!)
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup toasted macadamia nuts
- 2+ cups of white chocolate chips (add as many as your little heart desires!)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- On a lined cookie sheet, spread out macadamia nuts and toast for 10 minutes, or until golden brown
- After the macadamia nuts have cooled, use a chopper to chop into small pieces
- In a small mixing bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, cloves, and baking soda
- In a large mixing bowl, beat softened butter, white sugar, and brown sugar together until creamy
- In the large mixing bowl, add the egg, vanilla, and pumpkin to the wet mixture. Whisk until well combined
- Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and beat or whisk until well combined
- Fold in white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts
- On a lined cookie sheet, place 1 inch balls of dough about 2 inches apart
- Bake for 10-12 minutes
- Put on Hocus Pocus, and enjoy!
Happy (spooky!) baking,
-R
Becca's Baking Creations 