By Week 503. Year 10. Tommy is 43. Back to school. The annual transition. Rémy (14) in school, cooking and fishing. Colette (17) in high school, painting. The dinner table conversation getting deeper as the kids get older and the topics shift from homework to life and the shift is the growth and the growth is the point.
Made dark roux gumbo this week — the kind of food that fills the house with the smell of Louisiana and the knowledge that whoever walks through the door is walking into a home where the stove is on and the food is ready and the welcome is unconditional. The meal was the day. The day was the meal. Both were good. Come eat, cher.
The gumbo was the meal — no question about that — but after Rémy and Colette cleared their bowls and the conversation kept rolling the way it does when kids get old enough to really talk to, I wanted something to keep everyone at the table just a little longer. Pumpkin cheesecake cookies felt right: fall in every bite, sweet without being heavy, the kind of thing you pass around without ceremony while somebody’s still mid-sentence. That’s the whole point, cher.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 13 min | Total Time: 33 min (plus 30 min chill) | Servings: 24 cookies
Ingredients
- Cookie Dough
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- Cheesecake Filling
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make the filling. Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Scoop into 24 small rounds (about 1 teaspoon each) onto a parchment-lined sheet. Freeze for 30 minutes until firm.
- Mix dry ingredients. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugars. In a large bowl, beat softened butter with granulated and brown sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes.
- Add wet ingredients. Mix in the pumpkin puree, egg, and vanilla until combined. The dough will look slightly soft — that’s normal.
- Combine. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until a soft dough forms. Refrigerate dough for 20 minutes if it feels too sticky to handle.
- Preheat oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Stuff the cookies. Scoop about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough, flatten it in your palm, place a frozen cheesecake round in the center, and fold the dough up and around it, sealing the edges. Roll gently into a ball. Place 2 inches apart on prepared sheets.
- Bake. Bake for 11–13 minutes, until the edges are set and the tops look just done — they should not brown much. Do not overbake or the cheesecake center will dry out.
- Cool. Let cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. The centers will firm up as they cool. Dust lightly with powdered sugar if desired before serving.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 148 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 20g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 102mg