Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Add the softened unsalted butter and brown sugar to a large mixing bowl. I use my KitchenAid when making these cookies, but you can use an electric mixer. Mix on a medium high speed until creamed.
Next, you're going to add in the pumpkin puree, eggs and vanilla. Beat well into the butter and brown sugar mixture. After mixing the wet ingredients, set aside.
Take a 5 ounce bag of Churro Cinnamon chips, put them into a large Ziplock bag and start to crush them using a rolling pin. You want to end up with 4 cups total of crushed Churro Cinnamon chips. You're going to add only ½ cup of crushed Churro Cinnamon chips to the dry mixture. Place the rest of the crushed chip mixture aside until later in the process.
Add the ½ cup of the crushed chips into the wet mixture, along with the baking soda, salt, rice flour, gluten free all purpose flour, and cinnamon.
Lower wire whisk attachment and mix well until the batter becomes a dough like consistency. It's important to note that the consistency of the batter is going to be wet.
Next, you'll want to scrape the cookie dough from the mixing bowl into a separate bowl, cover with a lid and then place in the freezer for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. The dough needs to harden a bit before you roll the cookies into balls.
While your dough is getting firm in the freezer, wash your KitchenAid mixing bowl and wire whisk attachment so you can start making your cream cheese filling.
Take 4 ounces of softened cream cheese, vanilla and brown sugar and place into the mixing bowl.
Add on the wire whisk attachment and beat on medium speed until all ingredients are well mixed together. Scrape the cream cheese mixture into a separate bowl and place in the refrigerator for 45 minutes to chill and harden.
When the Churro Cinnamon Pumpkin dough is chilled and of a hardened consistency, take it out of the freezer. Grab the chilled cream cheese mixture from the fridge. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Take your leftover crushed Churro Cinnamon chips and place them in a flat dish. Using a small cookie scoop or a spoon, scoop out 2 balls. Take 1 teaspoon of cream cheese mixture and place in the center of one of the balls. Then, you're going to flatten another ball of dough and carefully lay it on top.
Press down the balls until it flattens into a cookie shape. The next steps is to place the cookie in the crushed Churro Cinnamon crumbs on both sides until it's covered and evenly coated with the cookie crumbs.
Place the flattened cookies onto the cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. If you're like me and want a bit of a chocolate kick, add a Tablespoon of mini chocolate chips on the top of each cookie.
Place the cookies in the 350 degree fahrenheit pre-heated oven and cook for 14-16 minutes.
Let the Churro Cinnamon Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese completely cool before eating. I typically let these cookies cool for 20 minutes on a wire cooking rack.