forchancookie | Cookies Cookies Cookies Part 2

I took crappy pictures of my cookies which I shall inflict on you!

Here's the assortment plate. There's Peanut Butter Temptations, Pumpkin Ginger Pillows, Gingerbread, Spritz and Rum balls ^___^ I haven't rolled out and baked the sugar cookies yet >_> Maybe tomorrow.

The other ones, you can just look at over in my Holiday Gallery. And now, a recipe! Yay! Come find the secret of soft and spicy Pumpkin Ginger Pillows!

Pumpkin Ginger Pillows

Ingredients:

* 2 1/2 cups flour
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 1 cup pecan halves, finely chopped
* 1/2 cup (3 oz) finely chopped crystallized ginger
* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
* 1 tsp ground cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp ground ginger
* 1/4 tsp ground cloves
* 2 large eggs
* One 15-ounce can (1 3/4 cups) pumpkin puree

Frosting:

* 2 tbsp unsalted butter
* 1/4 cup light brown sugar
* 2 tbs heavy cream
* 1 cup confectioners sugar, sifted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350* and lines cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Whisk flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in a medium bowl; stir in nuts and crystallized ginger.

3. In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes. Then, add brown sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in spices. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in pumpkin puree. Mixture might look curdled; that's okay. Add about one-third of flour mixture and mix on low speed. Gradually add remaining flour, mixing just until blended.

4. Drop by generously rounded tablespoon 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.

5. Bake until light golden brown and just dry to touch, but still a little soft inside, about 15 minutes. You should be able to gently lift edge of a cookie up from sheet with spatula, and a toothpick will test clean. Slide parchment onto racks to cool cookies completely.

6. To make frosting, combine butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until butter melts. Bring to a boil and let boil 1 minute. Scrape mixture into a medium bowl and allow to cool 5 minutes. Add heavy cream and whip with mixer until combined. Add confectioners sugar and beat until thick, creamy and spreadable.

7. Right before serving, spread frosting on each cookie using a small offset spatula.

Thoughts: These cookies are super delicious. They're very cakey, so they're light and fluffy little spicy bites. They're so good, you can totally bypass the frosting if you're feeling lazy and serve them as is. If you're going to frost them, follow the directions and do it right before you serve them, otherwise they get sticky. I frosted them just cause I thought it would be a pain to do it later on. They store just fine frosted, but they do get sticky. Also, there is not a lot of frosting, so each one gets only a little dab of frosting, if you want to go wild, double the frosting recipe. Better yet, double (or triple) it and put it in a bowl and let people dunk their cookies in! Any way you do it these are really delicious cookies that I highly recommend.

Here's a picture!