Pumpkin Pie Cookies

Can you believe Thanksgiving is exactly two weeks away? I certainly can’t. It seems like a million years ago it was October 1^st and now half of November has flown by.

So I know most of you have your own traditional foods that make their way into your Thanksgiving Day feast, but I’m hoping you consider adding these simple little cookies to the holiday dessert table.

These are just little shortbread type cookies with a pumpkin pie filling in the center. The cookie is soft and crumbly, but not too crumbly and it has just enough snap to it. The filling should have been a little sweeter, but other than that, it tasted like the best part of pumpkin pie. Of course I’m talking about the filling here.

I know a million things are going in and out of the oven every minute on Thanksgiving, so I did a little experiment. I baked a batch as soon as I was done filling the crevices in the cookie, and then I froze the rest of it to bake later. It turns out I liked the texture of the frozen cookies better. They were softer and didn’t brown as harsh. So if you do make these for Thanksgiving, which you should, you can make them now, freeze them, and bake them while everyone is gorging themselves on turkey, cranberry sauce, and bread rolls.

And because these are perfect for the holidays, I decided to add them to the 7^th week of Brenda’s 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats blog hop. Check the bottom of the page to see what other holiday goodies await you!

Pumpkin Pie Cookies

Adapted from Heather Likes Food

Makes about 2 dozen

Ingredients

cookies

½ cup (8 tbsp.) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 cup + 2 tbsp. unbleached all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt

filling

¼ cup pumpkin puree

1 ¼ tbsp. sugar

pinch of salt

1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground numeg

dash ground cloves

½ tbsp. beaten egg

½ tbsp. milk

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Beat until no dry spots remain. The dough will be crumbly, but it will come together when you form it into balls.

Take 1 tbsp. worth of dough and roll it into a ball. Place the ball on the prepared baking sheet and gently press down with the palm of your hand. With the back of a teaspoon, make an indentation in the center of the flattened dough. Place the tray in the fridge to chill for 15 minutes while you make the filling.

To make the filling, just whisk all of the filling ingredients until nice and smooth. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Scoop a heaping ½ tsp. worth of filling into each indentation.

Bake cookies for 11-13 minutes or until the edges have just started to turn brown. Cool on the tray for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

Cake Slice Bakers - October 2012: Pumpkin Walnut Cake

This is the best pumpkin bread you will ever taste. I’m being completely serious here. I know many people are skeptical when it comes to “the best” anything because who am I to tell you what is the best? I am no one, and I am telling you this really is the best pumpkin bread you will ever taste. I should end the post right here; right now, and just give you the recipe. In fact, I’ve contemplated doing so for a few seconds, but I’ve decided against it.

If you haven’t noticed already, it is the 20^th of October, which means it’s Cake Slice Bakers time! This marvelously tender cake is the last cake I am baking for the group. Like last year, each group member was allowed to pick any cake they wanted to bake and present. I did not have the luxury of choosing this cake only because the book is in Colorado and I am in South Carolina. Knowing I wouldn’t have the book with me, I asked my mom to go through the book and pick a cake that looked like something I would enjoy baking and eating (she has very different cake taste than I do). Last weekend my mom finally came through and gave me the recipe for the best pumpkin bread in the whole world. (Thank you mama!)

Yes, I know I’m still hyping up this cake, but I don’t care. I really don’t think I have tasted pumpkin bread any better than this, something I thought was impossible. Impossible because there is a pumpkin farm just a few miles away from my home in Colorado. This has the best pumpkin pickings, pumpkin pancake mix, pumpkin squares, and of coarse, the bestest pumpkin bread ever! I’m actually quite depressed that I can’t have that bread this year. But now that I have this recipe, I don’t think I’ll be to dissapointed.

I’m still not sure what to call this. I want to call it pumpkin bread, but the title in the book says Pumpkin Walnut Cake. Whatever, I don’t care, all I know is I can’t stop thinking about this cake.

If you are following me on Instagram (rblooney) you noticed I posted a picture of a cute little mini loaf pan, yeah I baked this cake in that cute little pan. I halved the recipe below and got four mini loaves out of it. I gave one loaf to a family friend after having dinner with her, who later that night e-mailed me asking for the recipe because it was the best pumpkin cake she has ever tasted (see I’m not the only one). That left three loaves for my roommates and me. When I came home from dinner, my roommates sheepishly asked if they could have some. I of coarse said yes, and the first words out of my mouth were “Oh my freaking god this is the best pumpkin bread I’ve ever tasted”. My roommates hurriedly agreed.

This ends the year of The Cake Book. Click here to see what the rest decided to bake. Stay tuned next month for the new book we will be baking from. And if you’re contemplating getting this book, I highly recommend it. It has been the best cake book I have ever baked from.

By the way, I’m so sorry this post is so frantic; I’m just really excited about this cake.

Pumpkin Walnut Cake

From The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

Makes one 9-inch square cake (you can also make it into a loaf)

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups (200g) cake flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

¾ tsp. ground ginger

¾ tsp. ground nutmeg

½ tsp. salt

2 large eggs, room temperature

¾ cup (142g) sugar

¾ cup (142g) brown sugar

½ cup canola oil

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

¾ cup chopped walnuts (I omitted this)

Directions 

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch square pan with cooking spray; set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk to combine and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and the sugars together until creamy and pale. Add the oil, pumpkin puree, milk, and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix until all the flour has been completely incorporated. If using walnuts, stir them in now. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake on the center rack for 25-30 minutes. My mini loaves baked in about 20 minutes, so I would check around the 18-20 minute mark, just to be safe. When a toothpick is inserted in the middle, it should come out clean.

Cut into squares and serve. This cake is so good it doesn’t need anything on top, but if you are one of those people who need a garnishing I recommend a cinnamon glaze (1 cup powdered sugar, ¾ tsp. ground cinnamon, 1-2 tbsp. milk) or some caramel sauce (can be homemade or store bought). 

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Donuts with Cinnamon Glaze

It’s definitely starting to get cooler here. Every morning when I go to my car I see the windows are covered in condensation and when I drive I’m surrounded by fog. It kind of makes me feel like I’m in a horror movie. It’s kind of cool, yet kind of creepy in the same way. It’s cool because Halloween is just around the corner, but creepy because all I see on the roads are two little beams of light in a swirl of mist.

On a completely different note, I made donuts. Or is it doughnuts. I still can’t tell the difference. Maybe doughnuts are used for the fried variety because it’s actually dough. Yeah, I like that idea. These donuts (notice the spelling) are made in the super special donut pan that everyone and their mother now has, or at least it seems that way.

Like I said last week, I am on pumpkin mode right now. I can’t help but want to save, pin, mark, jot down everything that has to do with pumpkin. It is just an amazing flavor, especially when paired with all the good spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.

I got this recipe from the lovely Erin of Texanerin Baking. I’ve made one of her lovely treats on the blog already, and it was pretty dern good. These donuts are no exception. They are so soft and tender, like cake…only better. Say what? I don’t know. It’s funny how the same ingredients can yield totally different things. It amazes me every day!

Ok so back to pumpkin donuts. Like I said these are so soft and tender and the pumpkin shines enough to make your belly full of fall happiness. I also added a cinnamon glaze on top to give it a little extra cinnamon kick. The glaze I made isn’t too sweet and pairs perfectly with the warm flavors of this donut.

Happy Fall Baking!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Donuts with Cinnamon Glaze

Adapted from Texanerin

Makes 6 donuts

Ingredients

½ cup + 2 tbsp. white whole wheat flour

1 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground ginger

dash ground nutmeg

dash ground allspice

2 ½ tbsp. canola oil

¼ cup brown sugar

1 egg yolk

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

¼ cup + 2 tbsp. pumpkin puree

¼ cup milk

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 6 count donut pan with cooking spray; set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil and brown sugar. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla until smooth. Beat in the pumpkin. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, followed by half the milk. Repeat for the remaining 2/3 flour mixture and milk.

Scrape batter into a piping bag (or do what I do and use a ziplock bag). *Helpful tip: place your piping bag/ziplock bag in a glass cup. Fold the tips over the cup for easy, mess-free sealing. Snip off the tip of your bag and pipe enough batter into the molds to fill between 1/3 and ½ full. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the donut.

Allow the donuts to cool in the pan for a few minutes before inverting them onto a cooling rack. If you have trouble getting the donuts to come out, run a toothpick around the sides of the outer circle and the inner circle. I feel the toothpick is better than a knife when it comes to the donut pan.

While you wait for the donuts to cool make the glaze. Combine ½ cup of confectioners’ sugar, a dash of cinnamon, ¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract and 2 or 3 tsp. of milk. Dip the tops of each donut into the glaze. Allow to dry for a few minutes, then go in for a second dipping to ensure a nice glaze.   

Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I’ve got pumpkin fever! I am so excited it is finally fall (see here if you are confused). And I’m celebrating the fall with pumpkin. Lots and lots of pumpkin!

Over the weekend I was in total pumpkin baking mode! First I will share these delectable little pumpkin cookies with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

I found these little fall beauties on Audra’s blog The Baker Chick. She has so many tasty looking treats on there. When she posted these pumpkin cookies I knew I had to make them this fall.

These cookies are like little pillows of pumpkin and spice goodness. My roommate was watching me make these and went back into her room. When she came out she was raving about the wonderful smell coming from the kitchen. She tasted one of the unfrosted cookies and closed her eyes and a smile appeared on her face.

The cookies are slightly firm on the outside, but perfectly soft and puffy on the inside. The cream cheese frosting is perfectly cinnamony and creamy. It really does make the cookie complete.

I hope you enjoy these little pumpkin goodies.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from The Baker Chick

Makes 2 dozen

Ingredients

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

¼ tsp. ground cloves

¼ tsp. salt

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, soft

¾ cups sugar

½ cup pumpkin puree

1 egg yolk

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, soft

4 tbsp. cream cheese

¾ cup confectioners’ sugar

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the pumpkin. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg yolk and the vanilla. Gradually add the flour mixture in three increments. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Using a small cookie scoop (mine was about 1 ½ inches in diameter) portion out the dough onto the lined cookie sheet. Space each cookie about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 14-16 minutes or until the cookies spring back when lightly touched. Let cool on the pan for 2 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely. Make the frosting while you wait for the cookies to cool.

In a medium bowl beat the butter and cream cheese until creamy. Slowly add the confectioners’ sugar. Add the vanilla and cinnamon. Spread about 1-1 ½ tsp. of frosting on each cookie.