A pillowy soft pumpkin cookie, filled with gooey butterscotch and topped with a cinnamon-gingersnap streusel.
Hey ya’ll, it’s finally cold!
I know, I know, it won’t last. Let’s be real, here. I live in Florida, and our winter lasts as long as a two-year-old’s nap. Buuuuut, who’s to say I can’t enjoy the few lovely, chilly days we get and delude myself in to thinking it will hang around a while!
I envy anyone who gets snow on Christmas, that’s all I’m sayin’.
It snowed one year here for Christmas. I think it was 1989, and I was a wonderfully precocious 5-year old, so of course, I don’t remember it. At all. It snows more often (but somehow just as rarely) in the panhandle than it does down here in Central Florida, and I would just die to be able to see an actual white Christmas around here.
So, now that I have you all grumbling about having to de-ice your cars and shovel your sidewalks, let me shine a little ray of “Florida winter” sunshine into your life with these Pumpkin Butterscotch Streusel Cookies!
Alright, alright. I know it’s December, and I should have all the pumpkin things out of my system. I shouldn’t be having pumpkin thoughts! But, trust me when I say I could eat pumpkin pie in the middle of April without batting an eyelash. That said, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I found a way to work gourds into my Christmas Cookie Week 2014.
To be fair, these have both butterscotch chips and gingersnap streusel, so they’re not totally autumn-y!
Come on. Gingersnap streusel…can we talk about how tasty this stuff is? I have so many feelings about ginger in everything, and I feel like this streusel could be delicious in a lot of things! I used my favorite Trader Joe’s Triple Ginger Snaps in them, and they gave these cookies such a nice bite!
And I may or may not have nibbled on the leftover streusel after the cookies went in the oven.
…I’m a grown up, I do what I want.
Next time I make these Pumpkin Butterscotch Streusel Cookies, I think I’ll go a little crazy and stuff gingersnap crumbs inside with the chips. Because why not? Ginger all the things!
I’ve decided that tweaking recipes is my new favorite thing. For example, the snickerdoodles that I posted on Monday; I could have shared more than 3 variations, but then I wouldn’t have any new ones for next Christmas.
Plus, there’s probably a point where too many modifications turn it in to something that’s not a snickerdoodle, amiright?
I’m thinking I might make these with chocolate chips instead of butterscotch next time, also. Who doesn’t love a good pumpkin chocolate chip cookie? The first time I ever had one was in middle school. My best friend’s mom at the time made them every year at Christmas, and I was beyond hooked at that first bite. I was so obsessed, I requested them instead of a birthday present. It was a win-win.
I still haven’t been able to get her recipe from her. It was perfection, and try as I may, I can’t seem to figure out what her secret was to making them so amazing.
Maybe it’s just Mom Magic. Does that come with motherhood? You know, the ability to be Wonder Woman and make perfect, memorable food all the time. Does it just show up, or do you have to send away for it or something? 6-8 weeks delivery time?
Perhaps I’ll find out myself in the coming year!
Pumpkin Butterscotch Streusel Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- Pinch of salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg white
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ¼ cup pure pumpkin puree
- ½ cup butterscotch chips
Streusel topping
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons gingersnaps crushed; optional
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cornstarch, cinnamon, pie spice, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, combine butter and sugars, mixing on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add in egg white and vanilla and mix until incorporated, then follow with the pumpkin puree.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet, mixing until smooth.
- On low speed, add in the butterscotch chips, only mixing until uniform.
- Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes to 24 hours.
Streusel Topping
- Combine ingredients for streusel topping in a small bowl and cut together with the prongs of a fork until evenly crumbly.
- Line your baking sheets with parchment of Silpat liners.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop dough on to prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie.
- Sprinkle streusel topping generously on each cookie.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, until bottoms are barely browning and tops no longer look wet.
- Remove from oven and cool cookies on baking sheet for 5 minutes, before moving them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Nutrition
What out-of season dessert do you like to enjoy during the holidays?
DAY ONE | Snickerdoodles (3 Ways!) DAY TWO | White Chocolate Cranberry Brown Butter Bars DAY THREE | Pumpkin Butterscotch Streusel Cookies DAY FOUR | Oatmeal Peanut Butter Pretzel Chunk Cookies DAY FIVE | Chocolate Chip Cookie Bronados |
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Erin @ The Speckled Palate says
Like you, I’m a HUGE fan of pumpkin… and I would totally happily eat it out of season all the time. Including in June. But I feel like it still works in December for Christmas-related things, so I’m right there on board with ya. (Says the girl who has a pumpkin pancake recipe getting ready for next week…)
Also, we don’t really get white Christmases or much snow in Dallas, either… and the one year Dallas has a white Christmas in recent memory, I was visiting my family in Tennessee… where it was green. Le sigh. We live rough lives here in the South with our lack of snow and balmy winters. ๐
Fairly positive I’d eat all the streusel topping before they made it onto the cookies for this, but I am totally willing to give this a go because, well, I sincerely doubt there would be anything bad about this combination. Mmm. Thanks for sharing, lady, and keeping Christmas Cookie Week going strong over here!
Rachel says
I’m glad you didn’t get all things pumpkin out of your system yet, these look DELICIOUS! Love the addition of the gingersnap streusel topping! Plus that topping can work wonderfully on so many things. I know it’s unlikely but I’m hoping you get a white Christmas this year ๐
Louida says
I love Florida’s weather! I try to visit Florida every chance I get to get away from the cold weather in Georgia.
Your cookies looks scrumptious and I would love to have one now.
Christine says
These look so good! I will for sure be adding these to my Holiday baking list! I love that I can still make something featuring Pumpkin for the Holiday’s! It’s too good to not keep using!
Paris (My Big Fat Happy Life) says
These pumpkin cookies sound amazing and I love the streusel topping! I am going to have to bake up a batch.
LaShawn says
OMG this looks so so so good! I am practically drooling over here! About to pin this for later.
Lara says
These are delicious! All of the cookies you posted this week were! Thank you for my goodie bag full of cookies ๐
Aleshea Dominique says
Mmm, this looks so good. I’mma pin and share on fb
Erica says
Thank you so much!!