This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.

It’s Friday, and we’re celebrating with these Pumpkin Butter Rugelach Cookies.

Pumpkin Butter Rugelach Cookies | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Is anyone else so very excited for this weekend? I feel like most of you are probably celebrating Halloween this weekend since the holiday falls on a Tuesday this year, am I right? If so you guys have to tell me what your plans are and what you are up to. For some reason I’ve never been the best at planning out a super fun Halloween. I love the holiday, but I never go to any parties and instead stay home and watch all the Halloween movies. It’s the homebody in me, it drags me back in every single time.

I swear, one of these years I am actually going to host a fun Halloween party…thoughts?

So, no Halloween plans for this weekend (all-though I hope to figure something fun out to do), but my goal is to take Asher trick-or-treating on Tuesday. She is getting so big that I know that soon she won’t want to go trick-or-treating with her big sister anymore, so trying to take advantage of these times while I can. Plus, my younger brother Red is home for a couple of days and I am going to try to get him to come a long with us. He’s now seventeen, so you know how that goes, BUT he has a pretty good attitude when it comes to hanging out with his two favorite sisters.

Nope, not happening…just found out Red heads back to Europe on Monday.

Pumpkin Butter Rugelach Cookies | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Pumpkin Butter Rugelach Cookies | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Anyway, I’m excited to be ending the week with a productive five days under my belt. I was so happy to be feeling back to my normal, energetic self this week. I am also so happy to be excited about everything I’m working on.

Ever since I made these cookies earlier in the week and have been obsessing over them for the last few days. Normally I’m all about a chocolate cookie, but oh my gosh, these pumpkin cookies are so good. Think of a buttery, flakey cookie and add sweet, cinnamon filled pumpkin butter, toasted pecans, and an extra sprinkle of coarse sugar for sweetness.

The best.

Pumpkin Butter Rugelach Cookies | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Pumpkin Butter Rugelach Cookies | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Pumpkin Butter Rugelach Cookies | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

If you guys are unfamiliar with Rugelach Cookies, they are cookies made from a base cookie dough of cream cheese and butter. The dough traditionally gets wrapped around a cinnamon, walnut, and raisin filling. I’m not someone who loves raisins, so I’ve never really had the desire to make these cookies, but then I thought, what if I switched out the filling?

In came the pumpkin butter, aka cinnamon sugar pumpkin jam/spread/filling, aka deliciousness.

Instead of using the traditional filling ingredients, I swapped them out and spread the dough with pumpkin butter, topped with chopped nuts, and finished each cookie with a dusting of cinnamon sugar.

The results? Basically pumpkin pie, but in cookie form, and maybe even more delicious thanks to the cream cheese dough, which in my opinion wins out over a traditional pie crust. Plus, hand-held cookies are just the best, but stopping at one?

Yeah, that’s not even a thing.

Pumpkin Butter Rugelach Cookies | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Pumpkin Butter Rugelach Cookies | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

For the cookie filling, I made my own homemade pumpkin butter, but if you wanted to make the recipe go a little quicker, you can certainly use a store-bought pumpkin butter. I know that Trader Joe’s sells one that people love.

As for the nuts, I used a mix of pecans and hazelnuts in my cookies. I couldn’t decide which I liked better (both are delicious), so feel free to use whatever nut, or nut combo, that you love.

One important thing though, you can’t skip that final dusting of cinnamon sugar just before the cookies get baked. Not only does it make them pretty, but it gives these cookies that extra special touch, which I think is always nice when it comes to desserts.

To sum things up real fast, these cookies are flakey, buttery, filled with cinnamon and pumpkin flavors, sweet, but not over powering, and delicious! They’re the perfect cookie to have alongside a cup of hot coffee or served after dinner…and yes, they’d be great addition to your Thanksgiving menu as well. Obviously.

Oh, and I’d even go so far as to suggest handing these out to trick-or-treaters on Tuesday, but let’s be real, why would you want to share these cookies? Plus, I know that kind of thing doesn’t fly any more.

Pumpkin Butter Rugelach Cookies | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Pumpkin Butter Rugelach Cookies | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Pumpkin Butter Rugelach Cookies

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Chilling time 45 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings: 48 cookies
Calories Per Serving: 99 kcal

Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.

Ingredients

Pumpkin Butter

Instructions

  • 1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the flour and salt, beating until combined. The dough will be wet.
    2. Dump the dough out onto a well floured counter and shape into a ball. Cut into 4 equal pieces. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes. 
    3. Meanwhile, make the pumpkin butter. In a medium sauce pan, combine the pumpkin, brown sugar, maple, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring often until the pumpkin thickens slightly, but is spreadable, about 10-20 minutes. Let cool (the pumpkin butter will thicken as it cools). Any leftovers can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
    4. On a well floured counter, roll each ball of dough out into a 9-inch circle. Spread 2 tablespoons of pumpkin butter over the dough and then sprinkle with 1/4 cup nuts. Gently press the nuts into the dough. Cut the circle into 12 wedges (see above photo). Working with the wide edge, roll the cookies up into a crescent and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough. Chill the cookies for 15 minutes in the freezer or up to overnight in the fridge.
    5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
    6. Brush each cookie with the beaten egg and then sprinkle with coarse sugar. Transfer to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely or enjoy warm with a dusting of powdered sugar. 

Notes

*Rugelach dough adapted from Food Network
View Recipe Comments

Pumpkin Butter Rugelach Cookies | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

ps. the fine print – this recipe actually makes a lot of cookies…just perfect for holiday gifting.

Add a Comment

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

  1. 4 stars
    These turned out good but agree with others who said they take longer to bake. I left mine in for at least 25 minutes and probably would have been golden brown if I left them in for a few minutes after that. The ones I took out at 2o minutes were not even fully cooked through.

  2. 5 stars
    Another delicious recipe Tieghan! I made a batch of your pumpkin butter yesterday for the brown sugar maple pumpkin butter bars (aka PSL Bars). Today I tried these rugelach and they were so much fun to make. I was in total flow… Chill. Roll. Spread. Sprinkle. Roll up. Chill. Brush. Sprinkle. Bake. Repeat. I accidentally made the first batch into 16 instead of 12 so they were mini rugelach. Still delish but definitely prefer the larger ones. I also riffed on the nuts a little: toasted pecans blitzed with craisins, brown sugar and a touch of rosemary in the food processor. Heaven. The dough is easy to work with. No troubles rolling out, filling, rolling into crescents. Thank you!! Happy fall 🎃

    1. Hey Cindy,
      Happy Monday!! I am delighted to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for giving it a try!🍁 xxT

  3. 1 star
    Incredibly disappointing. They looked so delicious when they came out of the oven but they were so dry and flavorless! Thank God I made your pumpkin butter! The only way to enjoy these cookies is to slather them with more of the pumpkin butter. Overall, don’t waste your time on this recipe

    1. Hi Mary,
      Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try, so sorry to hear they were not enjoyed. Was there anything you may have adjusted in the recipe? Please let me know how I can help! xT

  4. 4 stars
    I made these cookies yesterday and while I definitely need more practice, I really like them. May change to “love” once I make them one more time. I do love that they are not too sweet….just right! Mine aren’t very pretty, and took waaaay longer than 20 mins to brown.

    1. Hey Theresa,
      Happy Monday!! I am delighted to hear that this recipe was tasty for you! Thanks for making it:) xx

    1. Hey Lynne,
      Yes, that will work well for you! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan

  5. So excited about this recipe!! What do you think about freezing the cookies at the chilling stage and then baking them from frozen?

  6. Hi! So excited to try these! They look like all the best ingredients morphed into one cookie. Cue the drool. How long would you say these last? Say, for instance I wanted to bake these for Thanksgiving. Would baking them 2 days in advance lower the quality of the flavors? Would that make the cookies probe to over-drying? Or is there much of a difference? Let me know what you think! Thanks a bunch!

    1. I would bake them a day in advance for best results. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂

  7. Rugelach is my favorite cookies, and I’m printing this recipe because I will make it this week.

  8. Great fall twist on rugelach! I will definitely consider swapping these in for the pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving since I usually end up making so many pies. Enjoy trick-or-treating with your sister. I miss those days!