Brown Butter Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Step 1

Make your brown butter: melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk constantly during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to crackle and foam, and then brown on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma.

Step 2

Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning (make sure you scrape all of it out of the pan - every last drop!). Set aside to cool for 10 minutes. It is important that your butter cools off.

Step 3

With an electric mixer (or you can mix by hand), mix the cooled brown butter, brown sugar and regular sugar until well combined and creamy. Beat in the egg white, vanilla and pumpkin puree until well combined.

Step 4

In a separate medium bowl whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. With an electric mixer on low speed, slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Step 5

Place plastic wrap over the bowl and refrigerate the dough for 1-2 hours so that the flavors meld together and the butter has a chance to solidify a bit. This is extremely important. You want the dough to be fairly cold so that it's easier to work with and so the cookies bake up properly.

Step 6

When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Step 7

Once dough is chilled, make your dough balls: measure about 1 ½-2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. If dough is too hard to roll into a ball, you may need to let it sit out at room temperature for 10-20 minutes while your oven preheats.

Step 8

Meanwhile, mix 1/4 cup sugar and the 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a bowl. Roll dough balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture, then place on the cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 11-14 minutes or until cookies are just slightly golden brown around the edges. Cool cookies on baking sheet for 5-10 minutes then remove and transfer to a wire rack. Makes about 14 cookies.