Soft, chewy autumn cookies with warming spices, toasted hazelnuts, and sweet pumpkin cream filling

Ingredients:

For the cookies:

• 115g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 100g light brown sugar
• 50g caster sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 150g plain flour
• 100g rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 75g hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

For the pumpkin cream filling:

• 75g unsalted butter, softened
• 200g icing sugar
• 50g pumpkin purée
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1-2 tablespoons double cream (only if needed)

Method:

Toast the hazelnuts:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Spread hazelnuts on a baking tray and toast for 8-10 minutes until fragrant and golden. Rub in a clean tea towel to remove skins (don’t worry if some remain). Chop roughly and set aside to cool.

Make the cookies:

1. Line two baking trays with baking parchment. Keep oven at 180°C (160°C fan).
2. In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream together the softened butter, brown sugar, and caster sugar until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes).
3. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and honey. Beat until well combined and smooth.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, cinnamon, ginger, bicarbonate of soda, and salt.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
6. Stir in the chopped hazelnuts until evenly distributed.
7. Using a tablespoon or cookie scoop (about 1 tablespoons of dough), drop balls of dough onto the prepared baking trays, leaving about 5cm (2 inches) between each one as they will spread.
8. Gently press each ball down slightly with your palm to flatten just a bit – they should still be domed but not tall balls.
9. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are set and lightly golden but the centres still look slightly soft. Don’t overbake – you want soft, chewy cookies!
10. Let cookies cool on the tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely (about 30 minutes).

Make the pumpkin cream:

1. Whilst cookies cool, beat together the softened butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add the pumpkin purée and cinnamon, and beat until smooth and well combined. The mixture should be thick and spreadable like buttercream.

Assemble the sandwiches:

1. Once cookies are completely cool, match up cookies that are similar in size and shape to create pairs.
2. Turn one cookie from each pair upside down (flat side up). Spread or pipe about 1-2 tablespoons of pumpkin cream onto the flat side.
3. Top with the matching cookie (flat side down) and press together very gently – you want the filling to reach the edges but not squish out.