My husband talks about his great grandma and how one of her qualities was being able to make a mean batch of cookies. Armed with parchment paper, I'm determined to get there. I'm still not good at baking but I make a mean batch of frosting. Like this cream cheese frosting that's my absolute fave in the fall. (Throw in the cookies so you don't look like a pig eating it straight from the bowl.)
Pumpkin Cookies
Preheat oven to 350˚f
In bowl one combine and set aside:
2 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
1tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
In bowl two, cream together:
1/2 C softened butter
1 1/2 C white sugar (or 1 C white/ 1/2 C brown sugar)
Add:
1 C canned pumpkin
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
beat until creamy.
Mix in dry ingredients.
Drop by tablespoons onto parchment covered cookie sheets. Flatten slightly.
Bake 15-20 minutes at 350˚ then move to cooling rack.
Once cool, add frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
(you could make just a half batch of this for these cookies but why would you want to?)
Beat together until creamed:
8 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 C softened butter
Gradually beat in:
2 C powdered sugar
Add:
2 tsp vanilla (I use Watkins clear vanilla in my frostings)
Add milk to thin (I typically use a couple tablespoons but you may use up to 1/4 cup if you want a thinner frosting).
Cookie Baking Tips (from an FCS teacher that teaches the rules but doesn't always follow them):
-Make sure if the recipe calls for softened butter that you soften it at room temperature. Don't try to speed the process up.
-Don't mess around with the amounts of the important ingredients. As much as I like to play with existing recipes and come up with my own, the baking powder and baking soda need to be left alone. If you wanted to add chocolate chips to the above recipe, by all means do. If you want to cut the soda and powder, good luck eating them....
-Use parchment paper. Okay this one isn't a necessity but if you are really bad at baking cookies like I am, this one will help you out a lot. Just trust me.
-Make sure your cookie sheet is cool before using. Don't bake a batch of cookies on one then reuse it right away.
-Don't over-bake. They are going to continue baking once you take them out so it's okay if they don't look completely done.
-Use the cooling rack. If you leave them on the cookie sheet they are going to continue baking too much and you'll end up with the H special of hard, crunchy cookies (that were supposed to be soft and chewy).
