Gooey Brown Butter Pumpkin Cookies with a Caramel Drizzle & Optional Pecan Topping

These delicious, incredibly soft, and gooey cookies are gluten-free and refined sugar-free. They can also be dairy-free.

When you brown the butter, the stages should looks like this:

The dough should be this consistency:

The caramel stages should look like this:

I stir my caramel until it reaches the consistency of "thick" syrup:

Gooey Brown Butter Pumpkin Cookies with a Caramel Drizzle & Optional Pecan Topping

*Makes 11-12 large cookies!

Cookie Ingredients:

• 1 cup salted butter (*note at the end to make this recipe dairy-free)

• 2 1/4 cups gluten free all purpose flour (I have tested Cup4Cup All Purpose Flour and Bob’s Red Mill Paleo Baking Flour!)

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt

• 1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 1/2 cup coconut sugar or maple sugar

• 1 egg yolk

• 4 tablespoons pure maple syrup (I let it pour over a little as I measure it out)

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1/3 heaping cup pumpkin puree

Caramel Ingredients:

• 1 can full-fat coconut milk

• 1/2 cup + 2 T. maple syrup

• 2 t. vanilla extract

• 3 T. coconut sugar or maple sugar

• Pinch of salt, optional

Optional Topping:

• Chopped pecans

Cookie Directions:

1. Set the oven to 350°F

2. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt and brown the butter- constantly stirring. The butter will become foamy, and you’ll know when the butter is “browned” when it turns gold and when it starts smelling nutty. Once it turns golden and starts smelling nutty, instantly turn off the heat and pour the browned butter into a large heat-proof mixing bowl. Set the bowl of browned butter in the fridge while you complete the next step.

3. In a medium size mixing bowl add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, Himalayan salt, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon. Stir with a spoon or spatula and set aside.

4. Pull the browned butter bowl out of the fridge and add coconut sugar (or maple sugar). Whisk it together- it should resemble wet sand. Add the egg yoke, maple syrup, vanilla, and pumpkin puree. Whisk in until smooth.

5. Add the dry ingredients (flour mixture) to the wet ingredients (butter mixture). Fold in with a spatula until the cookie dough is evenly combined and smooth. This will not resemble usual cookie dough- it will be really doughy and it will be stretchy.

6. Set the bowl of dough in the fridge for 5-10 minutes.

7. Pull the cookie dough out of the fridge and using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop out the dough onto a cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. You should be able to fit 6 cookies on each sheet. You can also make the cookie smaller if desired.

8. Make sure the oven rack is in the middle of the oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes. 12 minutes for really gooey and 15 minutes for more cooked. I usually bake for 12 minutes, but every oven is different!

9. Once out of the oven, let it cool on the pan.

Caramel Directions:

1. Add all the caramel ingredients to a medium saucepan.

2. Turn on medium heat stirring frequently until it begins to boil.

3. Once it’s bubbling/boiling, set a timer for 6 minutes stirring frequently. Don’t forget to stir frequently or the bubbles will boil over the pan.

4. Once it starts thickening around the 6 minute mark, turn the heat down a little to a medium/low heat. Continue to simmer, stirring frequently for 2-5 more minutes until it reaches a caramel consistency or in other words, the consistency of “thick syrup.” The caramel should now be a dark rich amber color and the bubbles should all shrink to the bottom of the pan no longer bubbling at the top of the pan.

5. When the caramel is ready, turn the heat off, and let it cool for a while.

6. Drizzle cooled caramel on the cookies and sprinkle chopped pecans on top (if using!)

   *To make this recipe dairy-free, substitute the butter with an equal amount of coconut oil or avocado oil, and skip the steps where you brown the butter.