Fudge Striped Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cookies.
You know how there is just pumpkin stuff EVERYWHERE?
Well now it’s here too. Sorry if that’s not the answer you were looking for. But I will try to make it worth your while.
Oh and to be clear: peanut butter, pumpkin AND chocolate. That’s like a trifecta of heaven or something.
If peanut butter and pumpkin sounds like an odd combo, well… it sort of is. But all the way back in 2009 I frosted some pumpkin cupcakes with peanut butter icing on a whim and was hooked. And speaking of that, let’s talk about my breakfast that I’ve been eating every single morning because it is uh, amazing. Toast spread with peanut butter, then spread with pumpkin butter, then topped with blueberries – but blueberries that are frozen, and therefore microwaved – so they are soft and sort of juicy. Pretty hooked on it. No… really hooked on it. And that breakfast alone made me remember how much I enjoyed peanut butter and pumpkin together and asserted the fact that yes, I did need to make a peanut butter pumpkin cookie.
Plus, I was starvvvving. Starving I tell you. It was Friday afternoon, I hadn’t eaten in about eight hours (dumb dumb dumb), I was fully planning on eating some leftover salmon salad and THEN going to town on cookies but it didn’t really happen that way. Somehow the salad was like, totally MIA. Somehow I had cookies for lunch. And a snack. And, well… dinner.
Worth it people. So so so worth it. Especially because they contain pumpkin, which is seasonal and therefore means you should eat it every.chance.you.get. Pumpkin spice frappuccinos everyday? Do it. Pumpkin cake with brown butter glaze for dessert each week? Do it again. Fresh roasted pumpkin with cinnamon and honey and mascarpone just… because? Do it always.
After spending most of last year on a quest to create a CHEWY! pumpkin cookie instead of a cakey one, I sort of want to bang my head off the wall due to the fact that adding peanut butter to these lessened the cake factor by a great bit. These don’t spread very much (make sure your butters are cooled!), but also aren’t as cakey as the traditional pumpkin cookies. They have just enough spice that you get a bit of pumpkin flavor and a hint of peanut butter, and when drizzled (or let’s be frank – straight up DIPPED) in the chocolate ganache, they pack lots of fun flavor.
All this cookie business has me continuing my compilation of what I’m going to bake for the holidays, which I’ll end up sharing with you annoyingly soon as I tend to do every year. Like Christmas-trees-out-in-September too soon.
Okay, maybe not that soon, but soon. After all, I love that pumpkin is traditionally served at Thanksgiving but is still highly appropriate to toss inside your cookies for the holidays. That sounded…Â inappropriate. But let’s not even talk about it. Yet.
Fudge Striped Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 6 tablespoons creamy peanut butter, melted and cooled
- 1 cup loosely packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree, use pumpkin BUTTER for a chewier cookie!
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3-4 ounces milk chocolate chips
- 2 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
- Melt the peanut butter and butter first so it has time to cool – I melted them together, microwaving for about 30 seconds, stirring, and then 30 seconds more, stirring again until melted. Set aside until cool.
- Combine flour, baking soda, pumpkin spice and salt in a bowl and whisk well to combine. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together butter, peanut butter and sugars until smooth. Add in pumpkin and egg, mixing again until combined, then stir in vanilla extract. Using a large spoon, gradually add dry ingredients to the wet, stirring well and using your hands if needed to bring the dough together (I do this!). Just keep mixing – it will come together! Once the dough is combined, I stick it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.
- After sticking it in the fridge, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Roll the dough into balls that are slightly smaller than 1 inch in size. Place on a baking sheet about 2 inches apart, baking for 8-10 minutes. Remove and let cool completely.
- To make fudge strips, heat heavy cream until warm. Pour it over the chocolate chips in a bowl and mix until a ganache forms, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes or until smooth. Place cookies on parchment or wax paper and drizzle chocolate over top. Let cookies sit for 30 minutes for chocolate to firm up.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
You could also totally cover the cookie in the fudge. Just an idea.
[This post is sponsored by Nestlé® Toll House® Morsels, the perfect special ingredient for all of your family’s favorite treats!]
78 Comments on “Fudge Striped Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cookies.”
‘Tis the season of the pumpkin! I am intriqued by this combination of peanut butter, pumpkin and chocolate. These are a must try recipe for me this week!
Love that you adapted your own Puffy PB recipe for these. i love those cookies! And that you added pumpkin pie spice rather than puree. The last pumpkin cookies I made, well last two actally, used puree and the issue is that you need so much flour to solidify them…love that you just eliminated that issue by using pumpkin pie spice. And yes, PB + pumpkin + chocolate all go perfectly together!
Listen, I’m not going to be mad if you bring these out at Christmas, Easter, or the 4th of July…
Ohhh, now this is a cookie! I love peanut butter, yet I haven’t paired it with pumpkin! I must try it and soon!!! Love your pics!
I love love pumpkin and peanut butter together or apart, I need these cookies!
What a great recipes, Jessica! So much good stuff in one cookie!
Oh I’m ALL about eating in season when it comes to pumpkin!! I’ve already single handedly demolished an embarrassing number of cans this season, but I’m not planning to slow down any time soon and these cookies NEED to be made!
I’ll eat these any time of year baby! Pumpkin party in my tummy!
Forget the pumpkin pie this year, I want to be on your Christmas cookie list.
I didn’t know you could melt peanut butter,whats next melted pecan rolls?
YUM, I’m off to Panera!
I accidentally discovered the pumpkin/peanut butter combo and now I am hooked! Will definitely be trying these. Thanks!
I am also ALL about eating as much pumpkin as possible. Who craves it in the middle of summer?!
This time of year I make my morning oatmeal with pumpkin and peanut butter whipped in, such an awesome flavor combo even if it does sound odd!! These cookies sound delicious, and have me thinking that I may need to start drizzling melted chocolate on my oats now too lol bc clearly chocolate at 7am would be 100% necessary, clearly!
Ah! I actually have a recipe for peanut butter oatmeal, I never thought to add pumpkin to it! That might just make it a bit more bearable for me, I’m not a huge oatmeal fan haha.
Fudge striped anyttthing sounds fantastic to me.
Yes, very interesting combination, but the drizzled fudge (not JUST chocolate) on the top got me hooked!
I’m drooling.
I most definitely don’t mind pumpkin being everywhere, especially if it’s on your blog! These look fabulous! Love the combo of peanut butte and pumpkin.
Well hello, these look great! I never thought to add peanut butter to pumpkin, mmm.
love this recipe Jess, but I would def want to lighten it up to be more guilt free!!
To lighten up the cals & carbs plus achieve that perfect CHEWY texture you were aiming for, I would shake up the flour component with 1/2 all-purpose flour & 1/2 a substitute flour like low-fat soy flour or whole-wheat flour. Substituting these flours naturally gives your baked goods a chewier texture, plus its healthier!! Just figured I’d share – I use this technique all the time :)
genius!
pumpkin & peanut butter!!
Yum this sounds like an awesome combo. I just made peanut butter carrot pancakes and decided peanut butter is an excellent addition to almost anything…will have to try these next!
I tried pumpkin and Nutella this year. It was great!! Can’t wait to try pumpkin and peanut butter! Thanks.
Ok. So peanut butter on toast WITH pumpkin butter is one of my absolute favorite things to eat. Daily. And I LOVE that you made cookies with these very fall items :) How happy and lovely and DELICIOUS. Can’t wait to try this one out! I’ve made several of your other recipes – all winners, and all worth making again. Oh! Do you ever have peanut butter toast with maple syrup? Try. It. Now (if you happen to be hungry.)
fudge-covered = mind-blown
Ugh! These look so freaking amazing! I cannot. Where are they? I need someone to bake me a batch while I’m at work so I can enjoy them for dinner.
P.S. your breakfast of peanut butter, pumpkin butter and blueberries sounds, to die for! I’m definitely trying that next time I make it to the grocery store.
I’m totally not complaining about the abundance of pumpkin :)
Ya know, just the other day I was wondering about the combination of peanut butter and pumpkin and here you are, POOF!
Pumpkin is super healthy, too. So these are basically breakfast cookies… Don’t mind if I do!
OMG you are killing me! I thought I was done finding pumpkin recipes to try but I MUST try these!!!!! They look amazing!
Never would have thought of combining pumpkin and peanut butter, but I’ll take your word for it. You rarely set us astray! Plus, they’re totally pretty.
This makes me really want to make a pumpkin-chocolate chip skillet cookie….at 8am.
I LOVE pumpkin and peanut butter. I’ve been making peanut butter pumpkin granola this season. Adding chocolate to the combo in the form of drizzle looks fantastic :)
No matter if some one searches for his necessary thing,
so he/she needs to be available that in detail, thus that thing is maintained over
here.
So funny!! I made some pumpkin butter and it’s been sitting in the fridge because I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Just last night my boyfriend confessed that yesterday he used pumpkin butter instead of jelly on his peanut butter sandwich since we were out of jelly. I thought he was crazy until I added it to my peanut butter toast this morning. Delish!
Every flavor I love in one cookie! Perfect!
I REALLY want to make these. They sound amazing. BUT every time i bake it ends terribly! hopefully these won’t. any thoughts on using chunky PB instead?
Could you use milk instead of cream??
You could try whole milk, but it may not create the ganache you need for the chocolate to firm up. If you use regular milk it will probably just be melty and somewhat messy, but you could skip it and just do a melted chocolate drizzle. It may just turn a little firmed than the ganache.
I used whole milk and chocolate chips and it set up well on the cookies at room temperature. I didn’t really measure quantities of either though :/
Surprisingly I’m not pumpkin’d out yet this year – normally by this time I can’t even look at another pumpkin recipe. These look amazing!!
I’m not a huge pumpkin fan, but I’m finding that the chocolate chip + pumpkin combo is totally converting me. And I didn’t think the addition of peanut butter sounded weird. Does that make ~me~ weird?
I like pumpkin everywhere! These sound awesome!
These look just sensational! I bet they tasted fantastic too :)
Chloe & Sarah
PB and Pumpkin will be the new peas and carrots, you trendsetter, you.
Yum! These are so cute and look delicious!
These are “cooling” in the fridge before baking. The recipe doesn’t mention when to add the pumpkin pie spice, so I went all risky and put it in with the other dry ingredients before adding them to the wet.
I love how the dough looks so far…like a delicious peanut butter cookie! These are going to be awesome!
I am visiting some gals from church tonight and was going to make boring old chocolate chip cookies. I’m so glad that I check your blog every day! I am baking these for them instead. Thanks for making me so popular in my neighborhood!
ah so sorry about that! fixing it right now – but you were correct. :) report back! let me know how they are!
Good news…people won’t stop texting me at how wonderful they were. I have tried a few myself, and they are heavenly. I love how subtle the pumpkin is. And the cookie is so stinkin’ chewy! Well done, my friend. Very well done!
Both the cookies & the accompanying glass of milk are staring me down. Almost as if they’re saying, “What’s the f#*%$ing hold up, lady?!”
Pinned, bookmarked, printed, etc. Thaaaank you [:
Oh my goodness…must buy a pumpkin right now.
a trifecta indeed Jessica! I have a hard time with pumpkin and cookies. Makes hte dough so freaking gloppy. Is that a word? It just makes it such a mess and the cookies end up like blobs or way too cakey. I’ve had recent success though – used oats to soak up all that glop. pb + pumpkin + chocolate. HEAVEN. These are so freaking adorable!
you had me at pumpkin. the peanut butter part just isn’t even fair.
totally acceptable breakfast food, especially if you bring a pile of bacon to sop up the leftover chocolate.
dear you, whom I read (nay, stalk) every.day.
can there please be a way for every recipe you post to automatically be pinned onto my “foods I would kill someone to have but have no time or skill to make myself” (that’s a working title).
also, please get out of my head. about once a week you post a recipe for something that I’ve been craving. while I super appreciate it, and really I do,it’s kinda freaking me out. mm-k? thnx.
OH, I LOVE YOU!!!!! Really, like I feel like I need to buy you a Christmas present…you know just what I need, even before I need it!!! I am making these…today… CAN.NOT.WAIT!!!!
So, techy question though: I have been baking for years; I am all things flour and sugar, but with no training to help me trouble shoot, so last year, when all my cookies were turning out flat, I was stumped and frustrated…I did a few things to rememdy: parchment paper, got new flour, new baking powder, made sure to “fluff and sift”, had DTE come out and check my oven temps, etc, etc….I think I improved some, but not all, issues. ALAS, my questions are simple for you: do you use convection heat when you bake? Do you make sure your butter is not TOO soft and the eggs ARE room temp? ( I find that one unlikely since patience is…well…you know :)) Do you ALWAYS use parchment? What kind of cookie trays do you use?
That should cover it…if you can reply, I’d be so grateful :)
P.S. I have already cut out one batch of Christmas cookies…I’m right there with you with being consumed with baking and recipe searches…BTW, I have 2 great cookies that involve brown butter frosting AND a Toffee Cresent dipped in Dove chocolate that are my cookie exchage cookie this year….they are addictive!!! Looking forward to seeing what YOU choose to create!!!
I’m a pumpkin freak and annoy everyone within a two-mile perimeter as soon as September hits, so these look right up my alley! And with peanut butter?! Yum!