Nutella Pumpkin Samoa Cookies

The twins are going to be a pumpkin and a lion for Halloween, which is a decision that was made by Patty in September and communicated to me as an announcement. Owen is the lion. Nora is the pumpkin. When I asked Patty why Owen was the lion she looked at me as if I had asked her to explain something self-evident and said "look at him." I looked at him. He is, in fact, built like a small lion. This makes sense.

Halloween falls on a Tuesday this year, which is a school day, and my students are going to arrive in costume and I am going to spend the day teaching fourth-graders who are thinking about candy and will be thinking about nothing else, and I have planned the entire day around this reality because there is no use fighting it. We are doing a math lesson about estimating using candy corn. I am not above this.

I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies on Saturday. This is my fall baking tradition, started in 2017, when I was twenty-two and Jess had been gone for a year and I needed something that smelled like a season I wanted to be in. The recipe is simple: canned pumpkin, flour, eggs, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, a bag of chocolate chips from Aldi. They are soft and dense and taste like the best version of October and I have made them every year since and I always think of Jess when I make them and that is the point.

Owen tried pumpkin puree this week. He regarded it with the wariness of someone encountering an unfamiliar substance and then decided it was acceptable. Nora ate it with complete enthusiasm and then smeared some on Owen's ear. Owen's expression suggested he had decided to rise above this. He is eight months old and he is already demonstrating character.

The pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are already gone — Owen and Nora’s enthusiasm for anything orange-colored is not limited to their Halloween costumes — so this year I decided to push the tradition a little further. These Nutella Pumpkin Samoa Cookies take everything I love about my annual fall bake and layer on toasted coconut and caramel and a generous drizzle of Nutella, because if you’re going to smell like October, you might as well go all the way. I made them on Sunday while the lion and the pumpkin napped, and I thought of Jess the whole time, which is exactly right.

Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 1 hr (includes cooling) | Servings: 24 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
11 oz soft caramel candies, unwrapped
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup Nutella, warmed until pourable
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, melted (for drizzle)

Instructions

Make the dough. Beat butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add pumpkin puree and vanilla and mix until combined. Add flour, pumpkin pie spice, and salt and mix on low until a soft dough forms. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 20 minutes.
Preheat and prep. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface and cut into 2-inch rounds. Use a small round cutter or the back of a piping tip to cut a smaller circle from the center of each, creating a ring shape.
Bake. Place rings on prepared baking sheets and bake 11–13 minutes, until the edges are just set and barely golden. Cool completely on a wire rack before topping.
Toast the coconut. Spread coconut in an even layer on a dry baking sheet and toast at 350°F for 6–8 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until golden. Watch closely — it goes fast. Set aside.
Make the caramel topping. Combine caramel candies and heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until fully melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in toasted coconut until evenly coated.
Top the cookies. Spoon a generous layer of the caramel-coconut mixture onto each cooled cookie ring, pressing gently to adhere. Let set for 10 minutes.
Drizzle with Nutella and chocolate. Transfer Nutella to a small zip-top bag and snip a tiny corner, then drizzle over topped cookies in a zigzag pattern. Repeat with melted chocolate. Let set fully at room temperature before serving, about 15 minutes.

Nutrition (per serving)

Nutella Pumpkin Samoa Cookies — The Fall Baking Tradition That Tastes Like October