IT'S FALL Part 1

IT'S FALL, EVERYONE! Not today, because it's going to get up to 87 degrees F, but last weekend it was storming and almost chilly, so I had to feverishly make two pumpkin cookie recipes that had been haunting my dreams.

Pumpkin Cookie Weekend Part 1:

This recipe: Soft Frosted Pumpkin Spice Cookies by The Baker Chic
What I changed: I substituted 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar with brown sugar. Why? Because yum - brown sugar gives a deeper more maple-y flavor in my opinion. I also halved the frosting and BFF put it on in swirls. I halved the frosting recipe because I didn't want the delicious frosting disguising the delicious pumpkin and spices in the cookie.

Ingredients:
Cookie:
- 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (canned or homemade)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting:
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 1/4 cup softened cream cheese
- 1-2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

STEP 1:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together all the dry cookie ingredients in a medium sized bowl.

That is a lot of spices. But don't worry, it's totally delicious and worth it.

 STEP 2:
In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugars (both white and brown). After they are combined and looking creamy and fluffy and delicious, add the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla to this mixture. Mix in 1/3 of the dry ingredients in steps until the dry ingredients are completely mixed in. Don't overmix! These cookies are cake-like and will stay that way as long as you don't mix too much beyond the point where everything is just mixed together.

STEP 3:
Drop the cookies onto a sheet covered with parchment paper (this works better than straight on the sheet or on foil, I tested it for you guys!). You'll want to flatten them slightly, as the cookies won't spread out much during the baking.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

STEP 4:
Time for the frosting! This stuff is amazing. AMAAAAZING.

Cream the butter and cream cheese together until combined - I used my hand mixer. Slowly add the powdered sugar until the mixture becomes thick and creamy. This is, of course, subjective and totally up to you, which is nice. :)

STEP 5:
Add the vanilla and cinnamon to the frosting mixture. Try not to eat all of the frosting before you can put it on the cooled cookies.

STEP 6: 
Once the cookies have cooled (and pleeeease wait, otherwise the frosting will melt off), put the frosting on however you would like. BFF put it on in spirals because with halving the frosting recipe there wouldn't have been enough to spread on thickly.

As a special note, I brought these to a potluck at someone's house where I only knew the person I came with. The hostess' daughter cornered me and asked me for the recipe, and friended me on Facebook to make sure she would get it. THAT'S HOW GOOD THESE ARE. And the pumpkin flavor is wonderful!