A Small Consolation:Pumpkin Spice Cookies

With freezing temperatures, harsh winds and even snow in some parts of the country, I think the best days of fall may be gone already. It's a depressing thought, but I'm sure we'll get a few more crisp, sunny days before winter. Fortunately, I was able to take a trip to Washington, DC last weekend. Fall hasn't yet arrived there, and I just love the drive through the mountains at this time of year.




I'm pretty sure that this is the kind of thing that everyone loves about fall, don't you? That, and richly flavored, sweetly spicy things, like pumpkin cookies (or maybe pumpkin bread, or pumpkin beer). It's easy to take solace in beautiful scenery and delicious baked-goods. Around this time of year, I have trouble avoiding the "pumpkin gobs" that they make at the grocery store bakery, usually right after Labor Day and until Thanksgiving. However, they're never very good, being dry and overly sweet. So, I decided to make my own, and I'm really glad I did, since I got all of the flavor and freshness the store ones were missing. No surprise there!





Pumpkin-Spice Cookies
Makes about 36 cookies

I got this recipe from Very Best Baking, which is operated by Nestle. Not very creative of me, I'll admit, but they are the superior version of those "pumpkin gobs" I mentioned above. These might also be good with some butterscotch chips and no glaze, or a 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves. Nestle recommends adding chocolate chips or nuts as variations.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (one stick)
1 cup pure pumpkin puree, lightly packed
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three or four baking sheets (cooking spray works just fine).

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Beat sugar and butter in a large bowl with a mixer until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, egg, and vanilla extract; mix until smooth. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, then move to wire cooling racks. Allow to cool completely.

For the glaze, combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Frost the tops of the cooled cookies with the glaze.

Who Thought of These?

Blowing my diet today on one of these little guys. Please excuse the picture, as it was taken from my cell phone. My boss's boss got them from the Macy's/former Kauffmann's Bakery in downtown Pittsburgh. I didn't really have a choice in the matter of eating it or not. Basically, it's a sugar-thumbprint cookie with sprinkles/jimmys, and a huge dollop of very yummy icing on top. The icing on this particular cookie is mint-chocolate flavored. They are surprisingly delicious. This came as something of a surprise to me, since I tend to dislike desserts that promote what I call "gratuitous sweetness". Of course, I am the one who suggested that you all make a s'more pie, so I can't be too smug.

It Goes with Everything

The first cookies that I remember making entirely on my own were some chewy gingersnaps (is that a contradiction?). My mother found the recipe in Yankee Magazine. I always thought the cookies were best when baked to a very light brown and allowed to cool completely. I then would eat them with a bowl of vanilla bean ice cream. To me, it always tasted perfect.

The magazine article in which the recipe was contained suggested peach ice cream with the cookies. I think some nice, ripe peaches in season would be even better. Gingersnaps are also great with coffee, tea, hot chocolate, or even chocolate icing. They really do seem to go with almost anything for dessert. And I have noticed that non-dessert eaters (I will never understand these types)love fresh-baked gingersnaps.

I have since looked for the recipe on the Yankee Magazine website, but none of the gingersnap recipes available match what I remembered. For the past month or so, I have been looking for the perfect gingersnap recipe. I personally don't like cookies that have whole pieces of ginger in the recipe, as I think this makes the flavor overwhelming. The cookies should also not be too hard, as this reminds me of the kind that you buy in the grocery store, in the brown bags. They taste stale, in my opinion.

The fist gingersnap recipe I tried during this search called for 1 1/2 sticks of butter. Normally, I prefer to use butter more than any other type of fat. But the end result of these cookies was a batter that was too thin. I put the dough in the refrigerator for half an hour to try to remedy this problem. While this made the dough more pliable, the cookies were too thin when they came out of the oven. As you can see in the picture below, the they spread pretty badly in the oven. I wasn't happy with their looks, and the texture was way off.




A gingersnap should have nice cracks in the surface. They tasted great, though. As I remembered that the original recipe containing shortening, this was the ingredient that I turned to for a rebake.

Gingersnap Cookies

This is adapted from a recipe that I found on the Yankee Magazine website. I made a few adjustments so they would be similar to the cookies I had in mind.

3/4 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 cup white sugar, plus more for rolling the cookies
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose white flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


In a mixing bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar. Add the molasses and egg and beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, soda, salt, and spices. Add to the creamed mixture and blend well.

Refrigerate the dough for an hour to one day.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease three or four baking sheets. Place about one cup of sugar on a plate or shallow bowl.

Roll dough into a ball about the size of a quarter. Roll the ball in sugar. Continue this process, placing the balls about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Do not press the balls down.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Watch the baking cookies carefully, as they will burn rather easily. Allow to rest on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Serve with your favorite ice cream, coffee, fresh fruit, or whatever else you like.

No More Than a Pretty Face...

I had really high hopes for these cookies, as found on The Wednesday Chef. Despite all of the chocolate and butter the recipe contains, the flavor really isn't there.

However, they look perfect.




After reviewing other recipes online, I've found that the majority of chocolate crinkle cookies contain espresso, vanilla, or cognac. I have to assume that this additional flavoring is what is missing from the San Andreas cookies. However, I have attempted an espresso-chocolate crinkle cookie from the December 2008 issue of Cooking Light. This recipe called for instant espresso granules, which I couldn't find. Since several commenters stated that they used a shot of espresso instead, this is what I used. The cookies tasted fairly good, but they were not pretty to look at, and I didn't care for the texture.

However, the point of this post is not to complain about failed attempts at chocolate crinkle cookies. I want to perfect a recipe for these cookies, maybe using cognac, though espresso or vanilla would be easier. Does anyone have any ideas or alternate, better recipes for such cookies? I am not an extremely experienced baker, so I am not entirely sure where to begin here, except to add vanilla to the San Andreas recipe. As you can probably tell from the picture, these cookies look beautiful, so the flour and baking powder ratio is correct, I think. In place of almond meal, I crushed some slivered almonds in a zip-lock bag with a rolling pin. This doesn't really add to the flavor, but it does lend a nice, crunchy texture to the otherwise rather cake-like cookies.

I used Ghiradelli chocolate chips, which I have had success with before, and they melt down (and taste) much better than most chocolate chips. However, now I am wondering if that was a good idea.

If anyone has any thoughts, or experiences making this type of cookie, please share. I'd love to find a way to make them more flavorful. When I make them again, I will report back to record my progress. I'm looking forward to hearing your ideas.