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Brown Butter Maple Pumpkin Cookies

Brown butter maple pumpkin cookies with tender, golden edges and a nutty brown butter flavor, finished with a quick maple glaze drizzle. Pumpkin spice and flaky salt bring warm aroma and a crisp-salty top to every soft cookie.
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Rest time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 37 minutes
Servings: 28 cookies
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Calories: 240
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Cookies
  • 2.25 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 0.5 tsp cinnamon
  • 0.5 tsp salt
  • 1 lb unsalted butter browned and solidified
  • 0.75 cup brown sugar packed
  • 0.25 cup pure maple syrup
  • 0.33 cup pumpkin puree blotted very dry
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
Maple glaze and finishing
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 3 tbsp pure maple syrup
  • 1 tbsp milk start with 1 tbsp, add 1 more tbsp if needed
  • 1 flaky salt for finishing

Equipment

  • 1 sheet pan
  • 1 Dutch oven

Method
 

Brown the butter (1 hour rest)
  1. Brown the butter in a Dutch oven until deeply golden, then let it cool until solid, about 1 hour in the refrigerator.
  2. Use the solidified browned butter directly after chilling so the dough creams smoothly.
Prep and make the dough
  1. Preheat the oven to 375F and line baking sheets with parchment.
  2. Whisk all-purpose flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl until evenly combined.
  3. Beat solidified browned butter, brown sugar, and pure maple syrup until creamy.
  4. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, and vanilla extract, mixing until the batter is uniform.
  5. Fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until no dry streaks remain.
  6. Scoop the dough into 2-tablespoon rounds and place on the baking sheets with space between cookies.
Bake and glaze
  1. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are golden.
  2. Cool cookies completely before glazing.
  3. Whisk powdered sugar with pure maple syrup and milk until smooth, adding milk in small amounts as needed for drizzle consistency.
  4. Drizzle the maple glaze over the cooled cookies and sprinkle with flaky salt to finish.

Notes

Pro tip: blot pumpkin puree very dry so the cookies bake up thick and not cakey. Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 4 days; refrigerate up to 7 days. Freeze baked cookies up to 2 months (thaw at room temperature), and freeze unbaked dough portions up to 1 month. For a gluten-free swap, use a 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour blend and keep the rest of the method the same.