OH YEAH BABY. Just look at those cookies! Are you drooling yet? Well, trust me, they are drool worthy. I’m not kidding here, these are totally worth every single calorie in them!
While these tasty nuggets of pumpkin, spice, and everything nice, are fantastic anytime, they would also be a massive hit on your Thanksgiving Dessert Buffet. Why not think ahead? Santa would be happy to down a couple of these before dropping off presents! Do you have an upcoming Christmas Cookie Exchange? Well, these taste amazing, are a wonderful gluten free option, and probably due to the pumpkin, keep extremely well, getting softer over time. So feel free to pre-bake and take, knowing they will be even better a day later!

Gluten Free Stuffed Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

For the cookie dough:
3 3/4 cups Gluten Free Flour blend. (I always use Pamela’s Artisan Flour)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Cream of Tarter
1/2 tsp Salt
3/4 tsp Cinnamon, ground
1/4 tsp Nutmeg, ground
1/2 tsp Ginger, dried ground
1 cup Unsalted Butter, softened *see note
1 cup Sugar, white (i use organic cane sugar)
1/2 cup Brown Sugar, dark
1 Egg, large
3/4 cup Pumpkin Puree
2 tsp Vanilla extract

For the stuffing:
8 oz Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup Sugar, white
2 tsp Vanilla extract

For rolling the cookies:
1/2 cup Cinnamon Maple Sugar *see photo below
1/2 tsp Ginger, ground
(If you cannot find Cinnamon Maple Sugar, simply add cinnamon and ginger to maple sugar OR mix together cinnamon, ginger and white sugar to taste. Approximately 1/2 cup sugar + 1 tsp Cinnamon and 1/2 tsp Ginger)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Line baking sheets with a Silpat silicone liner or Parchment Paper

First, whisk together the dry ingredients: Flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
Then, in your stand mixer (or hand mixer) beat the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy, add egg, pumpkin puree and vanilla. Mix well.
(*Note: I don’t always remember to soften my butter. So I cheat: Dice up the butter, add part of your sugar, then begin to mix on low. Add the rest of the sugar and continue to beat. The sugar will ‘cut’ up the butter and soften it, along with the friction of the beaters. It’s not the ideal method, but it works in a pinch.)
Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing well. (The flour has no gluten, so no worries about over mixing, they will remain tender)
Set these ingredients in the refrigerator while you make the stuffing.

In a clean bowl, beat the softened cream cheese with the sugar and vanilla. Do not over mix this. You are not whipping it, just mixing it altogether.

Now is the tricky part, though not difficult. This dough is a little soft, but not super sticky, you’ll understand what I mean when you make them. They are softer than a traditional snickerdoodle, so if your kitchen is not cool, that little time in the fridge does wonders to firm up the dough a bit.

Using a teaspoon or dough scoop (I use a small  muffin-cookie scoop which is kind of like an ice cream scooper), take 2 small wads of dough (a little under a tablespoon each) and slightly flatten. Then take a tsp of the cream cheese mix, lay it in-between the 2 pieces of dough and gently press/pinch the seams together to make a slightly flattened ball. My first batch, I rolled into a circular ball like I would a traditional snickerdoodle, and the cookies baked up too tall. When I used this flatten/pinch-to-seal technique, the end result was a more traditional looking cookie. Can you see the difference in the picture below? The one on the top was a wad of cheese that I wrapped the dough around. The flatter, more traditional cookies are a result of my modified technique.

Roll (or flip) the dough ball in the maple cinnamon sugar. Place on your baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes. They may, or may not develop cracks. The cookie will be moist but not raw when done.

Remove to a cooking rack and let cool, if you can wait that long. Half were gone before I finished baking them all!

These cookies do not disappoint. I think how many you end up with, will depend on how big of a cookie you roll. I was able to end up with just under 2 dozen cookies.
Enjoy, and as always, I’d love to hear your feedback or answer any questions in the comment section!