What do you do when you’re craving fall, possess an urgent desire to bake, and hungry coworkers are freely dropping hints about their favorite cookie? Obviously, you make pumpkin snickerdoodles. Or maybe that’s just me.
The fact that the weather here in LA is still arguably too warm to be considered autumn and the thought of turning on an oven for a half hour gives you anxiety (and actual) sweats is a minor consideration. There were cookies to be baked!
(Full disclosure: I made the recipe straight from Annie’s Eats for the first batch, but I found they were missing a little something, so I made a fresh batch with the following recipe.)
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles (adapted from Annie’s Eats)
Yield: about 3-4 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
For the cookies:
- 3¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp. ground nutmeg
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
For the coating:
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and both sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Blend in the pumpkin puree. Beat in the egg and vanilla until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour (I did it overnight, and it really helped the rolling and sugar/spice coating.)
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine the sugar and spices for the coating in a bowl and mix to blend. Scoop the dough (about 2 tablespoons) and roll into a ball. Coat the dough ball in the sugar-spice mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough to fill the sheets, spacing the dough balls 2-3 inches apart. Using your fingers, flatten down the tops of your dough balls a little to make small discs. These cookies are definitely on the cake-y side, so they won’t spread much.
Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just set and baked through. Let cool on the baking sheets about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough. Store in an airtight container. Or devour immediately. Whichever appeals to you most.
