Browned Butter Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cookies

When you need a dessert in a pinch, these Browned Butter Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cookies are my go-to! These cookies are soft, chewy, and decadent. They are made with delectable browned butter and honey to top it all off, chefs kiss! 

So, I don’t know about you, but I love adding in my sourdough anywhere I can. My sourdough starter, Ezekiel, is always hungry so there’s usually plenty of him to go around. Plus, it adds a little extra razzle dazzle to a homemade from-scratch recipe. These sourdough pumpkin cookies are a great way to prepare for the upcoming chilly weather season, they’re such a cozy cookie recipe.

I love baking pumpkin recipes for the Fall and Winter seasons, it’s such a fun way to bring in the seasons. You’ll most likely find me baking all types of sourdough bread, quick bread, or a loaf of pumpkin bread. Really anything sourdough and sweet! Also, I’ve made sourdough cinnamon rolls, but I want to try sourdough pumpkin cinnamon rolls. 

Now, for the fun part! Grab yourself a cup of coffee or your favorite warm drink and let’s get you making your very own delicious cookies. 

What you’ll need for these browned butter cookies:

This cookie recipe is so easy, it does not have as many tools needed as a lot of recipes. The tools you will need for this sourdough pumpkin cookie recipe are:

• Large mixing bowl or large saucepan
• Wire rack 
• Cookie sheet
• Cookie scoop or ice cream scoop
• Rubber spatula

Now, for the ingredients! I use a lot of locally sourced ingredients for my recipe. Our eggs are from a local farm, the butter is from a small town grocery store, we make our own vanilla extract, etc. Even though we do get store-bought items, I do make sure to grab the most natural products as possible. Like turbinado sugar (raw sugar), organic olive oil, Celtic sea salt, and things like that.

The ingredients you’ll need for these browned butter sourdough cookies are:

• Salted melted butter (browned)
• Honey
• Salt (I use Celtic sea salt)
• Sourdough starter (active starter or discard)
• Brown sugar
• Pumpkin pie spice (or pumpkin spice)
• Pumpkin puree
• Vanilla extract
• Baking soda
• Egg yolk
• All purpose flour
• Raw sugar (turbinado sugar)
• Cinnamon
• Pumpkin spice

That’s it! Not much to this recipe at all, just a few simple tools and ingredients to make these delicious sourdough cookies. 

​Additionally, you can use your own pumpkin puree (homemade) or canned pumpkin puree, just not pumpkin pie filling. Also, if you use pumpkin pie filling, these will not turn out that well.

How To Brown Butter and Why

So, I’ve found my new favorite way to bake with my butter is to brown it. I really don’t think I will be baking much with butter any other way. 

I believe you should brown your butter if you want to add a rich flavor to your recipes. Browning your butter will elevate the flavor of any baking recipe, and even some cooking recipes! Although it is an additional step, it’s a very easy step and one that you won’t regret taking. 

You can add it to granola, brownies, cookies, pan sauces, cake frostings, pie crust, and a whole smorgasbord of things! Give it a try once and you are going to be hooked just as I am.

All you need to do to brown the butter is place your butter in a medium bowl/saucepan and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Additionally, you will stir it constantly until it has formed a beautiful amber color. 

You will also smell a nutty aroma from the browned butter, which is a good indication it’s ready to be removed from the heat. Once it’s finished and you’ve got your color/smell, remove it from the heat for about 30 minutes to completely cool before baking.

How To Make Browned Butter Sourdough Pumpkin Cookies

Now, to start, you’ll want to brown your butter. Follow the instructions above and while your butter has finished browning, while it’s cooling off, mix your honey and salt in a small bowl. 

Preheat your oven to 350 and prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper. Set aside.

Once the browned butter has completely cooled to room temperature, add the honey/salt mixture to the browned butter. You can transfer the butter to a large bowl if needed. 

Next, add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl, including dry ingredients and wet ingredients. Sourdough, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin puree, vanilla extract, baking soda, and egg yolk. Mix well and then add the all-purpose flour. Mix everything together until it is smooth. Then, you’re ready to disperse your cookie dough. 

You can mix everything together in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed but, I just left everything in my medium-size saucepan and it worked wonderfully. Saves me from having to dirty up additional bowls.

Now, you’ll want to take a small mixing bowl and add granulated sugar, pumpkin spice, and cinnamon. Mix these well, this will be for your topping.

Then, take your cookie dough and scoop out 1-2 tablespoons of the dough. Also, be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to get all the cookie dough. Roll the dough balls around in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet. Place into the oven for 9-11 minutes or until the edges of the cookie are golden brown.

Optional Cookie Sheet Drop

So, this step is optional if you want to give your cookie the cracked look. When you remove your cookies from the oven, drop or bang your cookie sheet onto the counter. You can pick them up and drop them 4-6 times from about 5 inches high.

This will give them a cracked effect and will flatten them out to give a more chewy texture. Again, it’s totally optional but I do love the look and taste of them when I do this. 

Q & A:

Why am I mixing salt and honey beforehand?

So, this mixture enhances a recipe and it gives it such a salty-sweet flavor. The honey adds to the chewiness and the salt pairs well with all the sweetness. 

Can I freeze these browned butter sourdough pumpkin cookies?

Yes! You can allow them to cool completely and place them in an airtight container. Then, place them in a freezer for up to 30 days. However, you can do longer in the freezer but the flavor might not be the same any longer after 30 days. 

Do I use an active sourdough starter or a sourdough starter discard?

Well, you can use either! Since you’re not letting these browned butter cookies sit, they won’t have time to rise. I used my sourdough started, Ezekiel, that I had just fed that morning. I made these later in the afternoon and they still turned out great! 

What Can I Add To These Cookies?

However, I haven’t ventured out into variations for this recipe, I’d like to try to add chocolate chips or maple syrup. If you have added or tried any variation to this recipe, let me know! Maybe you could add pumpkin butter or a pumpkin flavor drizzle on top. 

Also, this recipe will make about 25-30 cookies depending on your sizing. Additionally, I like to double this recipe and give them as gifts. Everyone loves these and they’ll be the perfect addition to your Thanksgiving table this year.

​Browned Butter Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cookies Printable Recipe Card

Continue to Content

Yield: Yield 26-28 cookies

​Browned Butter Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Print

When you need a dessert in a pinch, these Browned Butter Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cookies are my go-to! These cookies are soft, chewy, and decadent.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 9 minutes

Total Time 19 minutes

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons of honey
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/4 cup sourdough starter (fed or unfed)
• 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cups pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• For the cinnamon sugar mixture
• 1/4 cup raw sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice

Instructions

1. Start by browning your butter. Follow the instructions above and while your butter has finished browning
2. Mix honey and salt in a small bowl. 
3. Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper. Set aside.
4. Once the browned butter has completely cooled to room temperature, add the honey/salt mixture to the browned butter. You can transfer the butter to a large bowl if needed. 
5. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl. Sourdough, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin puree, vanilla extract, baking soda, and egg yolk. Mix well and then add the all-purpose flour. Mix everything together until it is smooth
6. In a small mixing bowl, add raw sugar, pumpkin spice, and cinnamon. Mix these well, this will be for your topping.
7. Take your cookie dough and scoop out 1-2 tablespoons of the dough. Also, be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to get all the cookie dough.
8. Roll the dough balls around in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet.
9. Place into the oven for 9 minutes or until the edges of the cookie are golden brown.
10. Let cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes.
11. Serve and enjoy.

Notes

You can use a stand mixer for this but I just prefer using a medium-sized saucepan and stirring with a rubber spatula.

See the above optional cookie sheet drop step.

Make SURE that the browned butter has completely cooled before adding in your ingredients. If you put your ingredients in when it's still warm, they won't turn out. If you happen to do this, then just stick the cookie dough in the fridge for about half an hour to stiffen up the dough.

So, let me know what you guys think of this recipe! I absolutely love a good cookie recipe, and these are the BEST way to bring in the Fall spice season! Also, how did you serve them, or, did you give them away as gifts? I’d love to hear!

Thank you so much for stoppin’ by and I hope you stay awhile!

More Sourdough Recipes

Shop This Post:

Baking sheet

​Rubber Spatula

Related Posts:

Sourdough Cinnamon Apple Dutch Baby

​Pumpkin Spice Bread with an Icing Glaze

Easy Cream Cheese Pumpkin Roll