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Easy Caramel Stuffed Pumpkin Cookies are the BEST pumpkin cookie recipe stuffed with chocolate caramel candy! Every bite is filled with gooey caramel, and they are easy to make. Perfect for the fall season and the holidays!

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Caramel stuffed pumpkin cookies with top one cut in half to show inside caramel filling


All you need to know about this pumpkin caramel cookies recipe is that it’s the bomb. As in, the BOMB DOT COM – do people still say that?!

I mean, who can say no to a delicious pumpkin cookie stuffed with caramel chocolate candy? If there is someone, please let me know, and I will convince them. They are seriously the best.

Why You’ll Love These Cookies

  • For this recipe, I took my easy pumpkin cookies that are soft and chewy and turned them into caramel stuffed cookies. It’s a very decadent upgrade.
  • The cookies are UBER GOOEY when you bite into them. The combination of pumpkin, pumpkin spices, caramel, and chocolate is the best.
  • They are freezer-friendly! When I make a batch, I toss them in the freezer as soon as possible to lessen the temptation to eat the entire batch.
  • They are the best surprise-inside cookies. From the outside, they look so simple, but that first bite… it’s ooey-gooey caramel heaven.

Ingredients

Butter: Use softened unsalted butter. If using salted butter reduce salt to 1/4 teaspoon.

Pumpkin Puree: Not pumpkin pie mix!

Sugar: This recipe uses a combination of brown sugar and granulated sugar. Light or dark brown may be used, be sure to pack it.

Egg: Because of all the wetness that the pumpkin gives the recipe, we’re just using one large egg yolk

Vanilla Extract: For flavoring

Baking Soda: This helps the cookies rise and spread.

Salt: Needed to balance the flavor because we started with unsalted butter.

Spices: You can use pumpkin pie spice or a combination of spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, allspice).

All-purpose Flour: Be sure to measure it correctly!

Caramel Candies: You have options for what kind to use. You can use plain caramels, like Werther’s chewy or soft or Kraft caramel squares. Or use chocolate covered caramel, such as Rolos or Dove. Any of them work in this recipe.

Six photos showing the process of making caramel stuffed pumpkin cookies

How to Make Caramel Pumpkin Cookies

  1. Mix the butter, pumpkin, and both sugars in a bowl. You can use a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
  2. Mix in the egg yolk and vanilla. Add the baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice and mix until combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl, so everything is thoroughly mixed.
  3. Slowly mix in the flour. Once a smooth dough forms, stop mixing.
  4. Scoop one tablespoon of dough to form each ball. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Chill the dough balls for 30 minutes or until they are soft but not sticky when you touch them.
  5. To make stuffed cookies, take a candy and place it between two balls of dough. Then, roll them together so the candy is completely covered and the ball is smooth.
  6. Roll each ball in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and then place them back on the cookie sheet. Chill the dough balls again for at least one hour.
  7. Divide the chilled balls between two prepared cookie sheets and space them apart. Bake them for 12 to 15 minutes at 350°F or until the tops are no longer shiny and the bottoms are just turning golden brown. Cool the cookies on the sheets before removing them.
Caramel stuffed pumpkin cookies with top one cut in half to show inside caramel filling

Tips for making Caramel Pumpkin Cookies

  • Chilling: Don’t skip the chilling steps. When you first make the dough, it needs to firm up so you can easily work with the dough. As you stuff the dough balls, they will warm up, which is why you need the second chilling step. That will ensure the cookies don’t spread too much when you bake them.
  • Cooling: It’s tempting to dive right in when the cookies are warm from the oven, but it’s better to let them cool. The caramel center will be molten, and the cookies need time to set up. If you remove them too soon, they can fall apart. 
  • Storage: These pumpkin caramel cookies will stay fresh in an airtight container for up to three days at room temperature. Or, store them in a freezer bag and freeze them for up to one month.

Whether you want to make Halloween stuffed cookies or need a batch of unique stuffed cookies for the fall, this pumpkin cookies with caramel recipe is a must-make. Enjoy!

Three caramel stuffed pumpkin cookies with pumpkin candy next to them

More Fall and Holiday Cookies You’ll Love

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Caramel stuffed pumpkin cookies with top one cut in half to show inside caramel filling

Caramel Stuffed Pumpkin Cookies

5 from 20 votes
Easy Caramel Stuffed Pumpkin Cookies are the BEST pumpkin cookie recipe stuffed with chocolate caramel candy! Gooey cookies that are the best for fall!
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Chill Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Yield 20 cookies
Serving Size 1 cookie

Ingredients
 

  • ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter
  • cup (81g) pumpkin puree
  • ¾ cup (150g) packed brown sugar
  • ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon  ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1 ¾ cups (217g) all-purpose flour

For Filling and Rolling

  • About 20 caramel candies (Werthers chewy or soft, Kraft, Rolos or Dove)
  • ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

  • Place butter, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in the bowl of a strand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (You can also use a hand mixer.) Mix until combined.
  • Continue mixing and add the egg yolk and vanilla extract. Add the baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice and mix until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
  • Slowly mix in flour until a smooth dough forms.
  • Scoop 1 tablespoon sized balls onto a cookie sheet covered with wax or parchment paper. They don’t need to be far apart, this is for chilling. Chill 30 minutes or until you can easily touch them but they’re still soft enough to roll.
  • Sandwich the caramel candies between two balls of dough and roll into a large ball.
  • Stir together 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Roll each cookie dough ball in the cinnamon sugar and place back on the cookie sheet. Chill at least one more hour.
  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread cookies onto 2 lined cookie sheets and bake for 12-15 minutes, until the tops are no longer shiny and the bottoms just start to turn brown. Let cool completely before removing.
  • Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to one month.

Recipe Video

Recipe Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 127kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 89mg | Potassium: 36mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 791IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Caramel stuffed pumpkin cookies with top one cut in half to show inside caramel filling with recipe title on top of image

Easy Caramel Stuffed Pumpkin Cookies are the BEST pumpkin cookie recipe stuffed with chocolate caramel candy! Perfect for the fall season and the holidays!

Last Updated on October 13, 2021



Dorothy Kern

Welcome to Crazy for Crust, where I share recipes that are sometimes crazy, often with a crust, and always served with a slice of life.

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26 Comments

  1. These are great cookies! Only thing is the caramel sometimes seeps out of the sides when baking, even when I roll the balls together so the caramel is in between. Any tips to prevent that? Also, I am going to make these again and need to make them ahead of time for an event. You said they can be frozen, did you mean before or after baking? Typically cookies are frozen before baking but wasn’t sure if I could do that for these because of the caramel inside.

    1. I haven’t frozen these before baking, but I freeze everything after! It should work to freeze them before, just make sure to thaw them to cold before baking. Just make sure the caramel is completely sealed in the dough – and that the dough is completely sealed, no cracks or anything.

  2. Unfortunately the amount of cookies you get is off. I used a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop like recommended, and it only yields about 20 cookie balls for CHILLING. Once you get to the step to add the caramels and press two cookies together, you only get about 10 cookies out of the recipe. Very disappointing to not know until basically done with the cookies.

    1. It’s a fall/christmas spice, it’s often in gingerbread and pumpkin recipes. They have it in the spice aisle!

  3. Yield isn’t accurate at all. Only made 12 cookies. Also the stickiest most horrible dough to work with ever. I had to use copious amounts of cooking spray to keep it from sticking to the scoop. 0/10 recipe. Horrible.

  4. I see the measurement breakdown of each spice on this recipe and not for the following. How much pumpkin pie spice do I use?

  5. I made these today but the Dove Carmel’s stayed in the middle like a lump. I would make them again, I like the flavor, but without the candy. Shaping the balls for the first time after mixing was very messy to shape, so I refrigerated the dough three times, it helped, but I also had to flour my hands for the shaping because the batter was so sticky.

  6. I made these on Sunday! I doubled the recipe and took them to work and they were just the pick-me-up our Monday needed. SO delicious!

  7. These look insanely delicious. OMG, video for every recipe? I die just thinking about the time involved in that, LOL. This girl ain’t got no time for that 🙂