Repeat after me: Y-U-M.
Now repeat a few more times.
Yum yum yum.
Yum yum.
Yum.
These cookies are soft, rich, chocolatey… and filled with pumpkin pie!
Oh my.
If you own the cookbook, Vegan Cookies take over your Cookie Jar, you’ll probably remember one of the yummiest-looking cookies in the book: their peanut butter chocolate pillows. When I saw that particular recipe, I fell in love with the concept of a “stuffed” cookie. The possibilities swirled through my head like a soft-serve frozen yogurt machine.
Why stop at peanut butter?
I could stuff cookies with raspberry jam, with chocolate fudge, with pumpkin…
Today, we’re going with pumpkin.
“Inside-Out” Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies
Filling inspired by Pumpkin Peanut Butter.
- 3/4 cup white-ww flour (or white or spelt)
- 6 tbsp plus 1 tsp cocoa powder
- scant 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar (xylitol might work, but I haven’t tried it)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup or agave
- 3 tbsp milk of choice
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp plus 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 3 tbsp pureed pumpkin
- 3 tbsp nut butter of choice (I used pb. For a fat-free option, a few readers have subbed more pumpkin. I can’t personally vouch for it, though.)
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 packet stevia (or 1/2 tablespoon sugar)
- 1/8 tsp pure vanilla extract
Combine first 5 ingredients, and mix very well. Add ingredients 6-9 and mix again to form dough. In a separate bowl, combine all other ingredients to make the filling. Using about a heaping tablespoon of dough, roll into a ball and then flatten. Place a little scoop of the filling in the center and fold up the sides of the dough. Form into a ball. (The sides might crack a little, but that’s ok. They don’t need to be perfect.) Bake at 330 F (preheated) for around 10 minutes. They should be a little undercooked when you take them out. Let stand 10 minutes… if you can wait that long!
Fill in the blank:
What would be a dream cookie filling?
Mine would be filled with this recipe: Healthy Nutella.
I’m also dreaming up ways to do a mint filling.
My dream cookie would be gluten/dairy free, peanut butter flavored, filled with peanut butter and have a peanut butter frosting. But my days are filled with dreams of peanut butter, so why wouldn’t my nights be?!
Actually, as soon as I opened up my reader and saw these cookies, I set off to the kitchen. I just cooked up a kabucha squash and had some puree that would sub perfectly for the pumpkin (pumpkin puree does not exist in Japan) and had just stirred up my second 16 oz. jar of chunky organic peanut butter (thank you iHerb for shipping overseas!)…waiting for them to come out of the “moven”–microwave that doubles as a small oven–as I type!
I am in the same boat with you! I live in Japan and there is NOWHERE where I can get pumpkin puree! Or apple sauce, come to think of it. And apples are too blasted expensive to “waste” making applesauce. I dunno if you’ve tried it, but can you use foil in the moven when it’s on an “oven” setting?
And Katie, I tried your banana bread! I put chopped up kabocha and amaguri (sweet Japanese chestnuts) in it =D See: https://picasaweb.google.com/108473094537301294365/Mindi9111211?authkey=Gv1sRgCIiQn7b9uefK0gE#5663923581386605922
And I put a post up on my blagh I thought you might enjoy, since I seem to recall you liking purple things! http://nmmumaw.blogspot.com/2011/10/whee-purple-potatoes.html
Oh yum, I adore your purple bread pictures! I love purple sweet potatoes… I wonder if our Asian market has them.
I think you can use metals in it when it’s on the oven setting. I use small baking pans and they are definitely some sort of metal and have yet to cause sparks to fly! As for applesauce, I’ve been buying big bags of the cheapest variety (maybe ¥350 here in Hokkaido for 6-8 apples), then just making my own. It’s kind of expensive but homemade applesauce is so worth it! I just chop them up, add some water, cinnamon and nutmeg to a big pot and boil it all until the apples start to fall apart. Stick it in my blender, distribute it among recycled glass jars and freeze whatever I won’t eat right away. Best after school snack ever (besides those cookies, of course!).
these look delish!! and i also love the photos… the cookies look like they’re smiling 🙂
Mint! I used to love York peppermint patties
I made these yesterday and they were sooo good! My mom, who hates healthy cookies, said that they tasted like “real” cookies! Thanks for another great recipe 🙂
This definitely wins for one of the stranger posts I’ve come across today!
My dream cookie would probably be filled with….brownies. Chocolate chip cookie surrounding a brownie, yep yep
Pumpkin inside a cookie? Who could say no to that? Certainly not I. And to answer your question, my dream cookies would be filled with carmelized bananas.
I recently discoverd your blog while researching peanut butter vegan frosting. I’ve enjoyed reading it thus far and quite identify with your approach to desserts. Keep it up!
Aw, thanks! I am so glad you found me! 🙂
This look amazing! I’ve been so obsessed with pumpkin lately. It’s the best!
My dream cookie would be filled with mint! Please create recipe soon! 🙂
This is my dream cookie! Couldn’t think of a better combo =)
Vanilla cream! I’m in love with almost anything vanilla. Maybe some kind of squash puree, Sweet potato puree?
OMG Katie! I just finished making these and they are absolutely delicious. I even used Pamela’s Gluten Free baking mix for the flour and couldn’t even tell a difference. It only made half (9 cookies)what the recipe says but that was a good thing because they were too good to not finish them all in one sitting 😉
I am SO grateful you tested them out with Pamela’s! When I get a chance, I’ll write it into the recipe, so that gf people know it’s a do-able option.
cheesecake!
these look amazing though, I can’t wait to try them!
Awwww these are SO CUTE!! 😀 They also look like a lot of fun to make!! Have you tried using stevia in the recipe?
Definitely filled with cookie dough! Or maybe brownie batter 🙂
<3 <3
for the mint filling, maybe you could fill it with your healthy whipped cream and put some mint extract or something along those lines into it. that could be yuuuuuumy!
They are just out of the oven & they are amazing. Used liquid vanilla stevia in the filling & it tastes fine. Time to go for a hike 🙂
Well…CCK… I have to start by telling you that I love, no, let me be honest, I am obsessed over your recipes!! They are totally scrumptious and sinfully healthy at the same time. I don’t know how you do it! But the reason I’m writing is because I am having major issues making your healthy whipped cream. You know the one with tofu… it just won’t get into a light fluffy texture. Mine always stays super runny. HELP!! Please keep the yummy recipes coming – I look forward to every new experiment! 🙂 Cheers. Lyanne
Hmmm… sorry, I don’t know what to tell you! Honestly, I don’t really make tofu whipped cream much anymore. I usually use my soy-free (agar) version or my coconut cool whip recipe.
Maybe it’s the type of tofu you use?