Description
Delight in these festive Chocolate Filled Halloween Pumpkin Cookies, featuring soft brown sugar cookies shaped like pumpkins with cut-out faces filled with rich hazelnut spread and chocolate. Perfect for Halloween celebrations, these cookies combine warm spices like cinnamon with a creamy, chocolaty surprise inside.
Ingredients
Scale
Brown Sugar Cookies
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
Decorations
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (melted)
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon (for cinnamon sugar mix)
- 1 cup hazelnut spread
- Remaining melted chocolate (for piping and filling faces)
Instructions
- Prepare Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon until well combined. Set aside for later use.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large mixing bowl, add the unsalted butter, brown sugar, and vanilla extract. Use an electric hand mixer to whip the mixture for about 5 minutes until it becomes pale and fluffy.
- Combine Ingredients: Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture. Use a spatula to fold everything together until a uniform dough forms.
- Chill Dough: Divide the dough into two equal portions, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight to firm up.
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Baking Sheets: Set your oven to 175°C (350°F). Line two baking trays with baking paper and set them aside.
- Roll Out Dough and Cut Shapes: Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin. Roll out the dough and use a pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter to cut out as many cookies as possible, approximately 36.
- Chill Shaped Cookies: Place the cookies on the lined baking sheets. Refrigerate the trays for 30 minutes to help cookies hold their shape during baking.
- Cut Faces on Half the Cookies: Using a small or Stanley knife, carefully cut out small smiles and eyes on half of the pumpkin cookies.
- Bake Cookies: Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.
- Prepare Cinnamon Sugar: While the cookies bake, mix 1/2 cup caster sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon to create cinnamon sugar.
- Cool and Decorate: Once baked, brush the cookies with melted butter and sprinkle them with the cinnamon sugar mix. Allow cookies to cool to room temperature.
- Fill and Assemble: Warm the hazelnut spread slightly and spread a small amount on the flat side of each uncut cookie. Sandwich each filled cookie with one of the cookies that have cut-out faces.
- Fill Faces with Chocolate: Place the remaining melted chocolate into a piping bag and carefully fill the cut-out eyes and smiles on the pumpkin faces for a festive, chocolaty finish.
Notes
- Storage: Store cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks to maintain freshness.
- Chilling the Dough: Chilling helps the cookies hold their shape and makes cutting easier.
- Custom Faces: Get creative with your pumpkin faces by changing the expression or using different shapes.
- Hazelnut Spread Substitute: You can substitute hazelnut spread with any chocolate or nut butter of preference.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 150 kcal
- Sugar: 10 g
- Sodium: 90 mg
- Fat: 8 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 18 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 25 mg
