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Pumpkin Marshmallow Cookies are chewy, gooey and loaded with flavor. Filled with fall favorites like pumpkin puree, marshmallow cream, maple syrup and brown butter these easy cookies belong in your cookie jar.
If you want any dessert to reach the pinnacle of amazingness add marshmallow cream. This sticky ingredient turns ordinary into extraordinary, bland into grand, and dull into delightful. Basically, marshmallow cream brings the fun factor to any sugary treat from bonfire s’mores to fluffy cake frosting you can toast with a blow torch. Even if you take flames out of the equation, marshmallow cream is still game for a good time. Combine it with a pumpkin cookie and it’s like a party in your mouth that everyone’s invited to.
Sure, pumpkin cookies are great on their own, but imagine biting into one with big puddles of marshmallow cream. Let me tell you: it’s like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for your sweet tooth. I know, it’s only September and I should chill with the holiday talk, but fall is fall–even when it’s still a sweltering 88 degrees in Florida. Try as it might, swampy humidity won’t put a damper on pumpkin baking season. After waiting all year to peel a lid off a Libby’s can, sweating bullets while I do it is just a weight loss bonus.
Ironically, just as moisture is coming out of my pores, it also has to come out of the pumpkin puree. That means I’m dabbing my forehead with paper towels in one hand and squeezing the pumpkin with paper towels in the other. It’s a banner day for Brawny. But since removing all liquid from the puree is a must for this recipe, squeeze and pat until the pumpkin is the consistency of Play-Doh and as dehydrated as a perimenopausal woman with hot flashes.
Fortunately, marshmallow cream is far less maintenance than pumpkin puree. Just open a jar of Jet-Puffed, dollop a few tablespoons on the batter and swirl with a knife. This is the moment marshmallow steals the spotlight like Beyoncé. The crazy part is that pumpkin doesn’t even mind being upstaged; it gives marshmallow cream all the credit–and a standing ovation–for elevating a basic pumpkin cookie to next-level autumn bliss.
Before sharing the Pumpkin Marshmallow Cookie recipe, here are a few tips to help you out:
Ingredient Tips
This recipe was tested with Libby’s canned pumpkin. No matter which brand you choose, be sure to squeeze all excess moisture from the pumpkin with multiple paper towels before adding pumpkin to the batter.
For optimal flavor, use pure maple syrup. Avoid pancake syrup, which contains no maple and is actually corn syrup.
Always use the spoon and level method to measure flour. Scooping flour is a no-no. That technique overpacks flour into the measuring cup which will result in dry, dense cookies.
Preparation Tips
Browned butter takes approximately 7 minutes from the time the butter initially melts until completion. If you’ve never browned butter before, it is simple. First, melt butter over medium heat in a saucepan. Next, stir constantly with a wooden spoon, taking care not get distracted. (There’s a fine line between browned butter and burned butter. Do not cross that line or you will be buying a new saucepan.) The butter will get foamy and release a nutty aroma. After that happens, you will begin seeing browned bits forming on the bottom. Right after, remove the pan from heat, pour butter into a heat-safe bowl and pop in the freezer until cool.
The secret to the perfect marshmallow swirl is to add marshmallow creme to the batter in stages. If creme is added all at once, you lose the ability to control how much marshmallow is in each cookie.
A simple hack for perfectly round cookies is to place the rim of a large drinking glass over cookies when they are hot out of the oven then gently swirl the glass in a circular motion until each cookie takes shape.
How to Store Pumpkin Marshmallow Cookies
Cover and store pumpkin cookies at room temperature up to 5 days. Freezing marshmallow cream is not recommended.
I hope you enjoy this chewy pumpkin cookie recipe! Please leave a rating and review below when you try it out. And, while you’re at it, sign up for my weekly Recipe Newsletter so you never miss a tempting recipe.
Finally, if you like canned pumpkin recipes then you’ll love these Pumpkin Banana Muffins. Super moist and perfectly spiced, these muffins blend the sweetness of ripe bananas, the warmth of pumpkin and the sugary crunch of crumb topping.
Pumpkin Marshmallow Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 2 1/3 cup all-purpose flour unbleached
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt fine
- 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 cup dark brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg yolk room temperature
- 3 tbsp maple syrup pure
- 1 tsp vanilla extract pure
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup marshmallow creme divided
Instructions
- Brown butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat stirring constantly with a wooden spoon for approximately 7 minutes or until the butter gets foamy and releases a nutty aroma.
- Once browned bits begin to form on the bottom of the pan, remove from the heat, pour butter into a heat-safe bowl then place in the freezer to chill for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
- Once browned butter has cooled, add to a mixing bowl with brown sugar and beat with an electric mixer until combined.
- Add egg yolk, maple syrup and vanilla to the bowl and beat until incorporated.
- Wrap pumpkin in several layers of paper towels then squeeze and blot until all excess moisture has been removed.
- Add pumpkin to wet ingredients and beat with mixer.
- Reduce mixer speed to low, add dry ingredients to wet and mix until just combined. Avoid overmixing or cookies will be dry.
- Add 3 dollops of marshmallow creme to cookie mixture.
- Use a knife to gently swirl marshmallow into a shallow layer of batter.
- Using a large, 2.5-Tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop cookies from the marshmallow swirled layer and place onto parchment lined baking sheets, spacing cookie balls 2 inches apart.
- Bake cookies for 9 to 11 minutes or until edges are set and centers are still soft. Avoid overbaking.
- Remove cookies from oven and cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.Note: Cookies will spread a bit as they bake. To reshape cookies, place the rim of a large drinking glass over cookies while they are still on the baking sheet then gently swirl the glass in a circular motion until each cookie is symmetrically round.
- Add 3 more dollops of marshmallow creme to the remaining batter then repeat the swirling, scooping, baking process. Keep repeating this step until all batter has been utilized.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days.