Pumpkin season is here and there's a viral cookie recipe making the rounds on social media that makes perfect use of the fall squash staple.
Baker, food photographer and blogger Ginny Dyer of In Bloom Bakery started the trend for these chewy, cream cheese-filled pumpkin cookies on TikTok and racked up over 1.2 million likes.
Her pumpkin cheesecake-inspired sweet has prompted hundreds of home cooks to try their hand at the recipe, including food creator, cookbook author and recipe developer Nicole Keshishian Modic.
Modic, who regularly tests recipe trends on her page Kale Junkie, told "Good Morning America" that viral dishes like this one "are usually quick and easy with just a few steps."
"This one was definitely more involved, so I was surprised that this was a vital TikTok," she said. "But the trick of drying out the pumpkin [puree] is genius and most definitely made for a chewy, non-cakey, cookie."
Modic's final review of the recipe? "20 out of 10, make them."
Ingredients
For the Cheesecake Filling
6 oz cream cheese, cold
3 tablespoon granulated white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
For the Pumpkin Cookies
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
2 egg yolks, at room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the baking sheets with parchment paper.
Make the cream cheese filling by beating above ingredients together.
Spoon 16 portions on a baking sheet and freeze.
Next, add pumpkin to a plate and use a paper towel to press it out as much moisture as possible. Set aside.
Next, make the cookies. Add dry ingredients to a bowl. Add wet ingredients to another bowl and heat until creamy.
Add the pumpkin. Mix, then add dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet.
Form 16 balls of the pumpkin cookie dough.
Use your hands to fill each one with a frozen cream cheese ball and cover well. Roll in sugar and pumpkin spice.
Transfer the cookies to the baking sheet and bake 6 cookies at a time for 12-16 minutes.
Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack. Once cool, serve and enjoy.
Modic's recipe adapted from In Bloom Bakery.