Hazelnut Pumpkin Spice Cookies

These thin and crispy pumpkin spice cookies combine the best of fall all in one delicious treat. The cookies have a wonderful texture that strikes a great balance between hardy and delicate. And the flavor combination is pure fall happiness: pumpkin spice, hazelnut and a delicious sweet maple glaze.

Discover more delicious pumpkin spice recipes, from cookies to chocolates to trifles.

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• Cookie ingredients:
• How to make the cookies:
• Glaze ingredients:
• How to make the glaze:
• Can the cookies be frozen?
• More delicious cookie recipes:
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Cookie ingredients:

A few notes on some of the ingredients:

• The butter and the cream cheese need to be at room temperature for this recipe in order to get whipped properly and to take up enough air during the whipping process. It takes about an hour to let the butter come up to room temperature after you take it out of the fridge and a bit less for the cream cheese. If you’re short on time, cut the butter into little pieces, that will speed up the softening process significantly. (Don’t try to stick the butter in the microwave, that will melt it on the surface while still leaving it ice cold in the center.)
• Cream cheese is an unusual ingredient in cookie dough but it works very nicely here. It doesn’t make the cookies taste tangy, it just adds richness and gives the cookies a nicely tender texture. NOTE: Don’t use any cream cheese products labeled as low-fat or reduced-fat. Those have a higher moisture content than full-fat cream cheese and that will interfere with the baking process.
• Pumpkin spice is a spice blend made with cinnamon, ginger, allspice, clove, nutmeg and mace. You can buy the blend but you can also make your own. The recipe I recommend is this one by The Kitchn: How to make Pumpkin Pie Spice.
• You don’t have to remove the skins from the hazelnuts in this recipe. Just rough-chop them with the skins.

How to make the cookies:

Step 1. In a standing mixer or with a handheld mixer, whip 16 tablespoons softened, unsalted butter and ¾ cup granulated sugar together until pale and fluffy.

Step 2. Whip in 2 ½ teaspoons pumpkin spice and 3 tablespoons softened cream cheese.

Step 3. In a separate bowl, whisk together 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour and ¼ teaspoon salt. Add the dry ingredients to the batter and whip until the dough starts to clump together.

Step 4. Whip in 3 tablespoons chopped hazelnuts, then briefly knead the dough into a ball.

Step 5. Cut the ball in half.

Step 6. Shape each half into a disk. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Step 7. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough and cut out the cookies.*

*RECIPE NOTE: If the dough is too hard to roll out easily, simply let it sit on the kitchen counter for a few minutes to warm up.

Step 8. Bake the cookies on parchment-lined baking sheets or sheets lined with silicone baking mats for 10 to 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool.

Glaze ingredients:

A few notes on some of the ingredients:

• There is cream cheese in the glaze for these cookies as well and here you can taste it just a little bit. Mostly though the cream cheese adds great texture to the glaze and the predominant flavors are sweetness from powdered sugar and intense maple flavor from maple flavoring.
• Be sure to get high-quality maple flavoring with a strong, pure maple aroma for the glaze. You also want the flavoring to be dark brown in color in order to get the color into the glaze.

How to make the glaze:

Step 9. Whisk together 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon softened cream cheese, a few drops maple flavoring and 1 to 3 tablespoons milk (start with 1 tablespoon of milk, then add more to get a thick but spreadable consistency). Taste the glaze and add more maple flavoring to taste.

Step 10. Glaze the cookies with the brown glaze.

Step 11. Once the glaze has dried, whisk ¼ cup powdered sugar with a splash of milk and drizzle the white glaze over the maple glaze.

Can the cookies be frozen?

Yes, you can freeze the cookies glazed or unglazed by stacking them in a freezer bag. If you freeze the cookies glazed, use aluminum foil to separate the layers. To thaw the frozen cookies, let them sit on the kitchen counter for about 30 minutes.

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