Pumpkin and Spice Cookies
We're gearing up for Thanksgiving over in Canada, this weekend - and while I've got my pumpkins all ready for pie-making for Saturday, last week I had an urge to bake cookies. Oodles of cookies. So many cookies, holy moly. This recipe was one of the ones I tried out!
These spiced-pumpkin cookies are moist and chewy, smell tantalisingly of your favourite pumpkin pie, and just scream 'autumn', especially when topped off with a delectable bit of brown sugar icing to give them a maple-esque flair.
Ingredients
1 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice*
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin purée
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dried currants
*Note: The amount of spice as given here produced a pretty delicately spiced cookie. If you prefer lots of spice in your pumpkin, you might want to increase the amount a bit!
Directions
Preheat your oven to 375F/190C. In a large mixing bowl, beat shortening with a mixer on med-high speed until it's broken down; add sugars, spice, and baking powder and soda, and cream until combined, scraping sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the egg and pumpkin until combined. Add flour and beat until just combined; toss in currants and mix a little more to incorporate.
(Of course, you can cream and beat by hand, too, but mixers make everything easy!)
Drop your dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. I found the best way to get nice shapes was to roll them into 'balls' (the batter is kind of sticky, though) and then squish them down with damp fingers. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the tops are firm and they bounce back when lightly poked. Transfer to a cooling rack; let cool completely.
Brown Sugar Icing
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp milk
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Combine brown sugar, butter, and milk in a small saucepan. Heat and stir until the butter is melted. Remove from heat, and stir in icing sugar and vanilla. Frost by knife or piping bag to your heart's content.
You'll want to frost the cookies as soon as the icing is done, as the icing sets up really quickly, so make sure the cookies are cool first! If the icing does get too hard before you're done, you can stir in a couple of drops of hot water and it should make it workable again.
And - tried and tested - they go great alongside a pumpkin spice latte, too.