Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

When it comes to Sesame Street, Cookie Monster is by far my favorite character.  I think he's a hoot, and the fact that he and I share an extreme love of cookies doesn't hurt!  When Nick and I were heading up to Lake Winnipesaukee for the weekend, I thought some delicious fall cookies would make a great addition.  When I stumbled on Pumpkin Snickerdoodles I knew these would be perfect!

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

The Necessities (adapted from Pennies on a Platter)



Cookies

• 1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 3 and 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Coating

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• dash of all spice

The Ingredients

To begin, I beat (with an electric hand mixer) the butter and the sugars together.  My butter was not entirely warmed up so it did require a bit more mixing time to reach a light and fluffy texture. After about 5 minutes, I incorporated the pumpkin puree and followed up with the egg and vanilla.

Wet Ingredients

Once all the wet ingredients were blended, I added the baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Finally, I slowly added the flour and stirred it in with a wooden spoon.

Adding the Dry Ingredients

After the ingredients were fully incorporated and the dough was formed, I covered it with some parchment paper and popped it in the fridge for an hour.

Cooling off...

After the dough cooled for about an hour, I combined the coating ingredients in a small bowl.

coating

I spooned out balls of dough about an inch and a half in size and tossed them into the coating bowl, rolling them around so that they were fully covered.

Ready to Roll

I placed the coated dough balls on a baking sheet lined with a liner.  To flatten out the dough balls I rinsed the bottom of a glass with water, coated the bottom with the sugar mixture and pressed each cookie gently.

Flattened and ready for the oven

Once ready to go, I place the baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for about 14 minutes.  I let the cookies cool on the baking sheet a bit before moving them to a wire cooling rack.

Cooling!

These cookies were delicious!  Definitely light and fluffy and almost cake like.  The pumpkin flavor was strong, making it perfect for fall.  The spices in the cookie dough and the coating added a whole other layer of flavor in each bite.

Cookies!

More Cookies!

These cookies were a delicious dessert (or breakfast, as the case may be), and were the perfect addition to our weekend in New Hampshire surrounded by the peak Fall season.  This is a cookie I will definitely be making again.  If you are looking for a good (and easy) fall treat, this is a great option.