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It’s Friday, and we’re celebrating with these Pumpkin Butter Rugelach Cookies.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
- 2 sticks ( 1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Pumpkin Butter
- 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons real maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup pecans or walnuts, finely chopped
- 1 egg, beaten
- coarse sugar, for sprinkling
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.
ps. the fine print – this recipe actually makes a lot of cookies…just perfect for holiday gifting.
