Fall Flavors: Pumpkin-Pecan Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting

      There’s something about fall that makes me hungry for pumpkin . . . and these pumpkin cookies have all of the quintessential flavors of the season! The recipe came from Heidi Stohs, who is a fabulous cook and baker. The cake-like cookies are packed with flavor; kind of remind me of moist and tender pumpkin bread. And, the frosting really takes them over the top! 

Pumpkin-Pecan Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting   I used a 2 Tbsp. measure and 21 cookies.

Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup canned pure pumpkin (without added sugar or spices) or pumpkin puree

½  cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

½  cup copped pecans, toasted  

1.  Heat oven to 325°. Line baking pan with parchment paper; spray lightly with pan release. 

2.  Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl.

3.  Beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl at medium-high speed 1 minute or until combined and lightened in color. At low speed, beat in pumpkin, oil and vanilla until blended. Beat in flour mixture just until blended. Stir in ½ cup pecans. Note: At this point the dough seemed to me to be more like a quick bread batter . . . I went back and read the recipe again . . . I’d measured correctly so did a baking test and all was well!

4.  Drop  dough on prepared baking sheets. I used a 2 Tbsp. dipper and put 8 to 9 cookies on a cookie sheet.

5.  Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Place cookies on wire rack and cool completely.

Frosting  I increased the amounts just a bit in order to have sufficient frosting for each cookie.

3/4 stick (6 Tbsp.) butter, softened

2 to 2 ¼  cups powdered sugar, sifted

2 to 3 tablespoons milk

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

¼ - ½  cup chopped pecans, toasted

1.  Melt butter in small skillet over medium heat 4 (to 6 minutes) or until butter has a nutty aroma and small brown flecks form on bottom. 

Butter will begin to foam as it melts.

After several minutes, the butter browns
and the milk fat solids settle on the
bottom of the pan and begin to brown.
Do NOT over-brown!

2.  Pour browned butter over powdered sugar in medium bowl. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of the milk and the vanilla until smooth. Add additional milk if necessary. 

3.  Spread over top of each cookie; sprinkle with chopped pecans. Heidi suggested dipping each cookie into the nuts for better coverage.

Following Heidi"s advice,  I put the chopped nuts
on a plate and turned the frosted cookie onto them.