Pillowy soft pumpkin cheesecake cookies stuffed with a smooth cream cheese filling. These melt in the mouth pumpkin sandwich cookies taste like autumn in a bite!
With autumn in full swing, pumpkin desserts are a go-to whenever we’re craving something sweet. From the classic Pumpkin Spice Pie to my favourite celebration Pumpkin Crunch Cake, these desserts will get you hooked!
If you’ve been here before, you’ll know that I’m a sucker for a good sandwich cookie. What’s better than two melt in your mouth cookies sandwiched with a smooth filling? I like to make sandwich cookies for each season, with my Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies in summer and Churros Cookies in winter.
My autumn special sandwich cookie is a twist on spiced pumpkin pie and no-bake cheesecake. Made with pumpkin puree, the pumpkin cookies get sandwiched with the silkiest White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.
Although on this blog we love desserts of all shapes and sizes, I do secretly love easy to make recipes. You know the type – one bowl, dump everything in, mix, bake and you’re done. These pumpkin cheesecake cookies take only minutes to make and seconds to devour!
I especially love these pumpkin cream cheese cookies because they are:
- Pillowy soft and melt in your mouth
- Easy to make and hassle free
- Full of flavour
- Perfect for autumn
- Simple and require little baking knowledge
- Cute as a button and look great on the plate
- Just like a pumpkin pie but in cookie form
All sandwich cookies work the same: they have a filling and two cookies. These cheesecake stuffed pumpkin cookies are no different and are formed from:
- Pumpkin cookies – made with pumpkin puree and spiced to perfection. These cookies are really soft and will pretty much melt in your mouth. You can also make these cookies on their own, without the cheesecake filling.
- White Chocolate Cream Cheese Filling – my go to cheesecake frosting for all types of desserts. This filling is an absolute winner because it’s not sickly sweet, it pipes beautifully and it’s silky smooth. Did I also mention that it tastes delicious?
Ingredient round-up
Pumpkin cheesecake cookies are made from simple ingredients that can be found in most pantries (except pumpkin puree). The best part is that all flavours are entirely natural, without any artificial additives.
- Pumpkin puree – you can make your own or use store bought. If using the latter, ensure the pumpkin is as natural as possible. I use this brand of pumpkin puree or similar.
- Butter – needed to make the cookies soft and very light in texture. Use unsalted, softened butter.
- Egg – the ‘glue’ in this recipe, that holds everything together
- Sugar – a combination of plain granulated sugar and brown sugar is used in this recipe. Brown sugar gives the pumpkin cookies a caramelised flavour, so I recommend not skipping it. However, you can replace brown sugar with plain sugar if needed.
- Flour – use plain flour for best results. I do not recommend using self-rising flour for this recipe.
- Spices – a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger is used to give the cookies the classic pumpkin spice flavour. You can also add extra spices such as cloves powder or allspice.
For the cream cheese filling, the ingredients are simple as well:
- Cream cheese – full fat cream cheese is recommended. Low fat cream cheese can be too runny for this recipe.
- Butter – use unsalted butter
- White chocolate – adds sweetness and makes the cheesecake filling silky smooth. I recommend using good quality white chocolate, not chocolate for baking.
As we’ve already discussed, making pumpkin sandwich cookies is very simple and only takes minutes.
- Start by creaming the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
- Pour in the pumpkin puree and the egg, mixing well to combine.
- Separately, whisk the flour, baking powder and all the spices. Combine the wet and dry ingredients.
- Divide the dough into small balls, then flatten them into a disc. Bake until fully cooked.
Whilst the cookies are cooling down, let’s prepare the cheesecake filling. I recommend reading my post on White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting for tips and tricks on how to make the perfect filling.
As always, the most fun part is assembling the cookies:
- Once the pumpkin cookies are fully cooled, pipe some melted white chocolate over half of the cookies.
- Sprinkle some cinnamon or nutmeg powder over, then set in the fridge until firm to the touch.
- Pipe cheesecake filling on the remaining cookies.
- Sandwich with the white chocolate cookie and serve.
- Use room temperature ingredients for the cookies. Ensure the butter, pumpkin puree and egg are left out for at least 1-2 hours before making the cookie dough.
- Do not over-mix the dough. When combining the wet and dry ingredients, use a spatula to combine everything. Stop when the flour is incorporated, as overworking the dough will make a tough cookie.
- Use plain pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin pie filling already has spices added to it and can make the cookie overpowering. Pumpkin puree is plain pumpkin and works best for this recipe.
- Don’t go overboard with spices. Adding too many spices can make the flavours too intense and ruin the overall pumpkin cheesecake cookies.
How to store
These cheesecake stuffed pumpkin cookies contain dairy, so they need to be stored in the fridge. To preserve freshness, store the cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
To serve, let the cookies come to room temperature for 30 minutes before consuming.
Alternatively, you can store the cookie shells at room temperature before filling with cream cheese. Place in an airtight container and store for up to 5 days at room temperature.
The pumpkin cheesecake cookies can also be frozen for longer periods of time. I recommend freezing the plain pumpkin cookies (no filling) for best results. Cover the pumpkin cookie shells in plastic wrap, then place in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw the cookies in the fridge overnight before filling with cheesecake frosting.
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If you’ve tried this recipe out, please don’t forget to rate and comment on this post. I love hearing from you, so feel free to reach out to me on social media as well and tag me in your posts!
Recipe
Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies
Ingredients
Pumpkin cookies
- 100 grams unsalted butter, softened (½ cup)
- 50 grams granulated sugar (¼ cup)
- 50 grams brown sugar (¼ cup)
- 1 egg, large
- 50 grams pumpkin puree* (⅕ cup)
- 300 grams plain flour (2 ⅓ cups)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg powder
- ½ teaspoon ginger powder
Cheesecake Filling
- 100 grams white chocolate, melted (⅔ cup)
- 100 grams unsalted butter, cold (½ cup)
- 150 grams cream cheese, full fat (⅔ cup)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
Instructions
Pumpkin Cookies
- Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the pumpkin puree and beat with a hand mixer until light and pale. Add the vanilla extract and the egg, mixing to combine well.
- Separately, combine the flour and baking powder, whisking well to mix. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing with a spatula until the dough just about sticks together. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F) then divide the dough into 20 pieces. Roll the pieces into round balls, then flatten them into discs.
- Place the discs onto a lined baking sheet, leaving enough space between all the dough balls. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they start turning golden in colour. Let the cookies cool down completely on a cooling rack.
- Once cooled, pipe some melted chocolate over half of the cookies in a criss-cross pattern. Dust with cinnamon or nutmeg. Place the cookies in the fridge to set for 10 minutes.
Cheesecake Filling
- Prepare the cheesecake filling following my trusted White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting recipe. Place the frosting in a piping bag fitted with a 1cm round nozzle (½ inch).
Assembling the cookies
- Pipe a dollop of cream cheese on the remaining half cookies (without white chocolate).
- Sandwich with the decorated pumpkin cookies. Best served after sitting at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Notes
- I recommend using a kitchen scale in grams for more accuracy. The cups used for the conversion are standard US customary cups (1 cup flour = 136g). There are many different types of cups across the globe, which is why I strongly recommend using grams instead.
- Pumpkin puree is not the same as pumpkin pie filling. Please use puree for this recipe, as it does not have any added spices. We will be adding the spices separately.
- Nutritional value is estimative and it is calculated for the assembled sandwich cookies (2 cookies and cream cheese frosting).
Nutrition
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Christina says
These were delicious! Thank you for the recipe 😀
Hanelore Dumitrache says
Hi Christina, so glad you enjoyed this recipe! xox
Ashley says
Perfect treat for the seasonal pumpkin cravings! 😍
Hanelore Dumitrache says
Pumpkin season is the best! 😍😍
Jessica says
Love these so much!!! I added a little food coloring to make them more orange and they came out sooo cute