Soft Pumpkin Cookies

We have company coming tomorrow and they will be bringing a bunch of kids.  This means I will have some guinea pigs...I mean taste testers!  It also means I won't end up with a bunch of cookies that I will have to eat all by myself.  These are kids who are super polite, so they might not actually tell me what they think, but the littlest ones might leave cookie halves behind and that will be my clue.  I'll come back to this post and let you know if this is a fail!

Once again I am making a kid friendly food that uses squash.  It is not a trend.  I like healthy food as much as the next person, but it is not a calling. Next I am going to make chocolate cupcakes and unless you consider cocoa beans a vegetable, they will be decadent and not at all healthy!

 

Soft Pumpkin Cookies

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.  Get out cookie sheets and line with parchment or use Silpats.

 

In a large bowl, place the flour and the next six ingredients.  Stir them around with a fork to mix well. 

 

I used a micro plane to grind the nutmeg, so the amount I used is approximate.

 

Put the softened butter in a stand mixer.  I use a KitchenAid.  My butter was not soft enough, so I put it in the microwave for 5 seconds.  Using the paddle, whip it until the butter is all spread out.  Then add the 2 sugars.  Stir until well blended.

 

Add the egg and the vanilla and keep mixing.  Add the pumpkin puree. 


 
When everything is incorporated, add the flour mixture one cup at a time.  Be sure to start slowly with each addition or you will be wearing the flour.

I have three sizes of scoops.  The large one is for filling cupcakes.  The small one is for little cookies.  I used the medium one for these cookies.  I thought the little one would make the cookie less soft...more cooked surface and less interior area.  I wanted soft, cake-like cookies.

  

Place the cookies, which will be soft and airy, on the lined cookie sheets and bake for 12 to 14 minutes.  I combined several recipes and they suggested 10 to 12 minutes.  This was not long enough for mine.  They were still a wee bit raw in the middle.  Use a toothpick to test and see if they are done.  If the toothpick comes out clean, they are ready.  Don't overcook as the whole soft cookie thing will become a hard hockey puck.  Test each batch.  Mine were best at 13 minutes.  If your cookies will be small, start testing at 10 minutes.

These get over soft when not eaten the first day.  I just put them back on a cookie sheet for 5 minutes at 350.  I put about 2 dozen on each cookie sheet because they didn't spread out at all.  They were still soft and delicious.