Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
Add pecans to a small skillet and place over medium-low heat. Cook, watching closely and stirring often, until toasted.
Remove pecans from pan and coarsely chop. Set aside to cool.
Cream butter and brown sugar using a stand mixer.
Mix maple syrup, cinnamon, and salt into butter mixture.
Slowly mix flour into butter mixture. Then add pecans to dough and mix until just combined.
Place heaping teaspoons of dough on the baking sheet, then flatten slightly with your fingers.
Bake cookies for about 10 minutes, or until the bottom and edge of cookies just start to turn golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on a cookie rack.
When cool enough to handle, use your hands to crumble enough cookies to make 1 ½ cups of medium chunks. (You will have leftover cookies). Chill crumbled cookies in fridge until ready to use.
Prepare Frozen Yogurt:
Combine yogurt, brown sugar, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, and vanilla in a medium bowl.
Refrigerate mixture for at least two hours or overnight.
Add yogurt to your ice cream maker and process according to the machine's instructions until thickened and frozen. The finished texture should be similar soft serve, and it should take about 10 to 20 minutes.
About 5 minutes before the frozen yogurt is done churning, add cookie chunks to machine. If your ice cream maker is already full or you can't access the churning yogurt, stir the cookie chunks into the frozen yogurt after you remove it from the machine.
Eat frozen yogurt immediately or freeze in an airtight container. Enjoy!
Notes
The cookie crumble is optional, but very delicious!You'll have leftover cookies after making the crumble. Eat them as-is, or use them to garnish the frozen yogurt when serving.
For the creamiest, best tasting results, make sure to use full fat / whole milk plain yogurt. Fat free yogurt can be used, but it won't be as creamy or flavorful. Greek yogurt also does not work as well.Every ice cream maker is different, so make sure to read your machine's instructions carefully. If you have a machine with a freezable bowl (like the Cuisinart which I use and recommend), make sure to freeze this bowl insert before starting (I recommend at least 24 hours to be on the safe side).Don't forget to read the info before this card for helpful tips and lots of related recipes!