Spicy Pumpkin Pie Cookies

I had some strokes of genius today, and these cookies were one of them. 

So these cookies all go back to my friend NT who a year or so ago gave me these cream cheese cookies she tried that she found on the internet. They weren't that great, but something about them made you want more, and I liked the idea of cream cheese cookies.

So I went home, found the recipe, and got creative… and I’ve been playing with them ever since.

The recipe is fairly different now from what it used to be. I’ve added a few things, taken some away, and adjusted things to my taste to make them work better.

So today, when I was looking for something with pumpkin in it, I was getting so disappointed that nothing I saw on the internet was inspiring me. I must have surfed through hundreds of pumpkin recipes… but nothing was doing it for me.

Until I saw the base recipe for those cream cheese cookies. I was inspired. I literally jumped out of my chair and ran to the kitchen, got the butter and cream cheese out of the fridge to bring up to room temperature and started measuring.

You would have been excited, too. In fact... I hope you're that excited when you're done reading this!

Here's what you'll need!

1 cup butter (room temperature)

8 oz cream cheese

1 cup brown sugar

1 can pumpkin puree (NOT PUMPKIN PIE MIX)

1 tsp salt

2 ½ cup AP flour

1 tb baking powder

1 tb vanilla

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tb ground cinnamon

Graham cracker crumbs

Pecans

STEP 1: Set oven to 350° Put your butter, cream cheese, and brown sugar into the mixer. Make sure your cream cheese and butter are both at room temperature. 

Now cream the bajeezus out of 'em. Set the mixer to med/high and just let it go. You'll want to scrape down the bowl every now and then to make sure that everything is properly creamed. 

Keep going until it looks like this:

Yum. I could just eat that as is! But don't. 

Too fattening. =D

STEP 2: Add the pumpkin slowly. Just like when adding eggs to a creamed mixture, you'll want to do this very slowly... about a tablespoon at a time will be great. You don't need to scrape the bowl after each addition, but do go slowly so as not to shock the butter too much. 

There will be some separation. That's okay. Don't freak out. 

Add your vanilla next. 

Now, I hope you've measured out all your dry ingredients...

STEP 3: Dump the dry ingredients into the mixer with the wet stuff. Start the mixer out on slow and then mix until everything is combined. Give the bowl a scrape down just to be safe and mix it a tad more until it looks like...

... that ^^. Yum, right? Best part... no eggs! So feel free to eat as much raw dough as you like! WOO!

So here comes the complicated part. It's not really complex, it requires no skill, but it is a bit time consuming. 

Fill up a bowl with graham cracker crumbs. You can use pulverized vanilla wafers, or gingersnaps if you like, but I like the graham crackers. 

STEP 4: Get a scooper and drop a scoop into the bowl of crumbs. Roll it around until the dough is well covered. 

Line up your cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment. 

Here is a cool trick I use for parchment paper on a cookie sheet. I can't stand when the paper starts to blow around in the oven, or slide when I placed the pans on the racks, so here is a neat trick I learned in culinary school...

Take a small dollop of dough, about the size of a pencil eraser, and place one under two corners of the parchment. 

This will keep your paper from sliding around! 

STEP 5: So, once all your cookies are rolled, 

go ahead and press half a pecan (or walnut if you like) into the top of each cookie. 

Pop them in the oven and bake them for 12 minutes. 

Yup. 12. 

Put them on a cooling rack, and go to work on the icing!

You'll need: 

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tb melted butter

2 tb orange juice

1 tsp maple syrup

Mix it all up! Pour it into a plastic ziplock bag, cut a teeny tiny hole into the corner, and drizzle your icing on cooled cookies. 

So good. These cookies were amazing. Spicy, pumpkiny, and SO moist! 

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

And if these ever become famous.. just remember that you saw them here first!

Ingredients: 

Cookies

• 1 cup butter (room temperature)
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 can pumpkin puree (NOT PUMPKIN PIE MIX)
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 ½ cup AP flour
• 1 tb baking powder
• 1 tb vanilla
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tb ground cinnamon
• Graham cracker crumbs (about 2-3 cups)
• Pecan halves

Icing

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tb melted butter
• 2 tb orange juice
• 1 tsp maple syrup

Directions:

Cookies

1. Set oven to 350° 
2. Cream butter, cream cheese, and sugar on med/high heat until light and fluffy. 
3. Scrape down bowl and turn mixer back on, then add pumpkin puree slowly, allowing mix to come together between each addition. 
4. Add the vanilla. 
5. Scrape the bowl, then add dry ingredients. 
6. Mix slowly until well combined. Do not over mix. 
7. Scoop balls of dough and drop into graham cracker crumbs one ball at a time, being sure to completely cover each cookie. 
8. Press half a pecan (or walnut) into each cookie 
9. Place racks in oven and back for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on cooling racks.

Icing

Mix ingredients to combine.

Easy as that! Enjoy!!