Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups brown sugar, packed
- 1 egg
2 teaspoon vanilla extract- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 500 g wheat berries half soft white and half hard red wheat
- 2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
Brown Butter Icing
- 3 tablespoon butter
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
- 2.5 tablespoon milk or cream if too thick, add a teaspoon at a time until it is the right texture to drizzle over the cookies
Equipment
Method
- Mill the wheat berries into flour using a home grain mill — half soft white wheat and half hard red wheat.500 g wheat berries
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar with a mixer for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.1 cup butter, softened, 2 cups brown sugar, packed
- Add the egg, vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree. Cream again for a full minute until light and fluffy — this step is what gives the cookies their soft, cookie-dough texture, so don't rush it.1 egg, 2 tsp vanilla extract, ½ cup pumpkin puree
- Gently mix in the milled flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger until no dry flour remains, being careful not to overmix. Cover and rest the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes while the oven preheats.500 g wheat berries, 2 tsp cornstarch, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp cinnamon, ½ tsp cloves, ½ tsp nutmeg, ¼ tsp ginger
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Once preheated, scoop the dough into balls on the prepared sheet.
- Bake for 10–12 minutes, until puffy with edges just set.
- Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for 10 minutes to finish setting, then move to a wire rack and cool completely before icing.
- While the cookies are baking, melt the butter for the icing in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat, swirling often, until it foams and then turns golden-amber with a nutty smell. This takes about 3–5 minutes. Watch closely as it can go from browned to burnt fast.3 tbsp butter
- Remove from heat and let cool slightly before pouring into a bowl and whisking with the powdered sugar and milk (or cream) until smooth. If it's too thick to drizzle, add more milk a teaspoon at a time; if too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar.1½ cups powdered sugar, 2.5 tbsp milk or cream
- Drizzle the icing over the fully cooled cookies with a spoon or piping bag. Let sit 15–20 minutes for the icing to set before storing.
Notes
Make sure to bake these cookies on a light baking sheet with parchment paper and to pull when the cookies are puffy and just barely set! Let them continue to bake on the warm cookie sheet for 10 minutes after they've been pulled from the oven. This will give them the perfect chewy texture. If you wait to pull them after they've finished baking they'll be overbaked once they've cooled.
Watch the butter closely once it starts foaming, as it can go from brown to burnt very quickly, so pull it the moment it turns golden-amber and smells nutty. You'll want to use a light-colored saucepan so you can see when the milk solids start to brown.