Brown Butter Pumpkin Nutella Chip S'mores Cookies

I guess I'll just go ahead and address the elephant in the room. Yes, there are only two pictures of this recipe today. It's not a loading error. It's a I was racing against time sort of thing.

You know how right before sunset, the sky starts doing all sorts of weird things? Well, when you're taking pictures during that time, every picture ends up with different lighting. And that is every food blogger's worst nightmare.

Thankfully, two pictures managed to survive this debacle because I would have cried had I not been able to share these with you today. They are that good.


They're essentially THE cookie to say goodbye to summer and hello to fall because they combine both pumpkin AND s'mores. I know, even I surprise myself with the genius ideas I have sometimes.

But seriously, I was looking back at my bookmarked pumpkin recipes and I saw the original brown butter Nutella stuffed pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and I thought how can I make them better? Well, the answer to that question was add crushed graham crackers, sub marshmallow creme in the center instead of Nutella, and sub homemade Nutella chips rather than traditional chocolate chips.

I guess you could say these are pretty decadent. But they are worth every freakin' calorie.

Brown Butter Pumpkin Nutella Chip S'mores Cookies

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 and 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg white
pinch of vanilla powder (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup homemade Nutella chips (3/4 cup Nutella + 1/4 cup butter)
Marshmallow creme

Directions:

To prepare Nutella chips: In a medium-sized saucepan, melt 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter. Once butter is melted, remove saucepan from heat and stir in Nutella until glossy and well-combined. Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe small mounds onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Transer to freezer and freeze for 2 hours or until solid.

In another saucepan, brown 1/2 cup butter, following these directions. Remove brown butter from the heat and pour into a heatproof bowl. Transfer to refrigerator and chill until it has reached a soft "room temperature butter" consistency, NOT completely solid.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat chilled butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium speed for 1-2 minutes, until fluffy and well-blended. Add egg white, vanilla, and pumpkin puree and beat until well incorporated.

With mixer on low speed, gradually pour in dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Remove bowl from stand mixer and using a spatula, fold in Nutella chips*. Transfer cookie dough to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Roll chilled cookie dough into balls, using about 1 and 1/2 tablespoons dough for each ball. Flatten the balls out using the palms of your hands, and place a dollop of marshmallow creme in the center of each flattened ball. Then, fold the dough gently around it and roll it back into a ball, just enough to cover all the marhsmallow creme.

Place balls 2 inches apart on parchment paper lined-cookie sheet. Bake for 8-9 minutes or until edges turn light golden brown. Let sit on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Note:* Nutella chips are very heat-sensitive unlike traditional chocolate chips. It is alright if they get squished into the batter when you're handling the dough to form balls and stuff it with the marshmallow creme.