Category: Cooking and Baking

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Sugar Frosting

All Things Pumpkin, Desserts

A friend of mine shared this cookie recipe with me several years ago (thanks, Marci!) and it’s still my favorite.


The cookies are always light and moist.  In fact, they’re delicious without any frosting at all  but the brown sugar frosting provides a nice change from the traditional pumpkin cookie with chocolate chips in it.

For the cookies:

2 cups flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. ground allspice 1 cup butter, softened 1 cup sugar 1 egg 1 cup canned pumpkin *you can also add 1 cup chopped, toasted pecans to this recipe, but I generally skip them.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and allspice.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds.  Add sugar and beat until combined.  Add egg and beat until incorporated.  Stir in pumpkin.  Add flour mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon.  Add nuts, if desired.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes (I usually bake for 10 minutes so they don’t dry out at all) or until bottoms are lightly browned.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.


Now for the frosting!

Brown Sugar Frosting 6 Tb. butter 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 2 cups sifted powdered sugar 1 tsp. vanilla 2-3 tsp. hot water In a medium saucepan, heat and stir butter and brown sugar until butter melts.  Remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar and vanilla.  Stir in enough hot water to make a smooth, spreadable frosting.  Frost cookies immediately.  If frosting becomes grainy and hard to spread, add a few more drops of hot water and stir until smooth.

Store in airtight container for up to 3 days.  Yield:  about 40 cookies.


Enjoy!
And just because I’m curious…  what’s YOUR favorite pumpkin recipe?


Hopeful Homemaker

3 comments ,

Dinner in a Pumpkin

All Things Pumpkin, Main Dishes



This dish isn’t sweet, but it certainly spotlights pumpkin!


My Mom made this dinner for us when I was growing up, and I make it every fall for my own family.  Traditionally, we eat it around Halloween, but it’s a lot of fun to make it during November as well.

Dinner in a Pumpkin 1 small to medium pumpkin 1 onion, chopped 1 Tb. oil 1 1/2 to 2 pounds ground beef 4 Tb. soy sauce 4 Tb. brown sugar 1 (4 oz) can sliced mushrooms, drained 2 cans cream of mushroom soup 1 1/2 cups cooked rice 1 ( 8 oz) can sliced water chestnuts, drained.

Cut off top of pumpkin and thoroughly clean out seeds and pulp.  Preheat oven to 350.


Note:  The recipe says that the pumpkin cooks in about an hour, but my experience has been that it always takes about twice as long as that for the pumpkin meat to be tender.  Therefore, when I clean out my pumpkin I lightly salt the inside, replace the lid, place the pumpkin on a baking sheet and bake it by itself while I prepare the meal.  This gives the squash a head start on cooking.

In a large skillet, saute onions in oil until tender.  Add meat and brown.  Drain drippings.  Add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms and soup.  Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add cooked rice and water chestnuts.


Remove pumpkin from oven.  Spoon mixture into pumpkin and replace pumpkin top. Bake 1 hour or until inside meat of the pumpkin is tender.  Remove from oven and serve.  For a vegetable, scoop out pumpkin flesh and serve with salt and pepper.


I always enjoy seeing my children taste the pumpkin meat.  Several of them are usually wary of it, but I scoop them all a small spoonful of it, and almost invariably they request more.  It’s a fun way to help them try new things.


Enjoy!  And thanks, Mom, for making this all those years ago, and for passing it on.
Jennifer

One comment ,

Pumpkin Dip

All Things Pumpkin, Desserts



This is my newest pumpkin recipe,  shared this season by a good friend.   I like it so much that it’s first on the list for my “Queen of the Season” series.


It’s quick and easy, tastes light, and requires no cooking!  The ingredients are easy to keep on hand and it makes a good-sized batch.  My family loved it.  Are you interested yet?  Here goes!

Ingredients:

1 small (15 oz) can pumpkin 16 0z Cool Whip 1 package (5 oz)  instant vanilla pudding 1/4 tsp. ginger 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 1/4 tsp. allspice 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 cup raw sugar or brown sugar gingersnap cookies (I used Anna’s Gingerthins.  You can find them at Costco during the holiday season, or call your local grocery stores to locate some.)


In a bowl, mix together pumpkin, pudding and spices.  Fold in Cool Whip.  Just before serving, mix in raw sugar.  Serve as a dip with gingersnap cookies or with sliced granny smith apples for a healthier treat.  I served it in these little bowls for the perfect sized serving.   This dip will keep in the refrigerator for a few days.  It’s delicious, and I hope you love it!


Jennifer

One comment
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