Guest Post Friday ~ Iced Pumpkin Cookies

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

by Aaron Rumley

So my girlfriend loves pumpkin. Doesn't matter what, if it has pumpkin in it, she's probably going to love it. Naturally, fall is the heyday for her adored flavor. It's not exactly fall weather yet, but that didn't stop her from getting a serious craving for something pumpkin-y a few days ago. We agreed it was too early in the year for a pie, and a cake would be too much temptation just lying around, looking all delicious and such. So we agreed on cookies, small portions, easy to make, and easier to give away before we ate them all for dinner.

Ingredients: 

• 
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 1 tsp baking soda 
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp ground cloves
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups white sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Icing:

• 2 cups confectioners sugar
• 3 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp melted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.

3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.

4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.


A few notes on my personal experience with this particular recipe: I'm not sure where I got off on my mixes, but 15 to 20 minutes was not enough to get them completely done. I didn't keep track of all the “few more minutes” they were put back in for, but it probably came out to more around 35-40 minutes. And I'm sure the drizzle-by-fork method of applying icing would be fine, but I chose to use an empty clear condiment bottle to squeeze it out from, which gave them a nice cross-hatched design. The end result was still a little doughy, but I'm a fan of chewy, doughy cookies anyway, and they still managed to satiate the lady's craving, so I'm calling it a win.

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Aaron Rumley is a good friend who enjoys hanging out with us listening to live music AND bakes pumpkin cookies for his girlfriend.