This is an easy and oh-so-delicious recipe that includes some of the most wonderful flavors of fall… pumpkin, cinnamon and maple. I made these last weekend for a pot-luck and received tons of rave reviews! These are soft, cake-like cookies.
Pumpkin Cookies with Maple Icing
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (use slightly less if fresh ground)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
15 oz can of pumpkin (1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup raisins (optional, but delicious)
~Directions~
1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a medium bowl and set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until fully blended and slightly fluffy. Mix in eggs and beat. Add pumpkin, raisins and vanilla and continue to mix until well blended.
3. Add flour mixture, and mix until combined.
4. Chill batter in fridge at least 15 minutes (this will help the cookies from spreading too much while baking).
5. Scoop batter onto parchment lined, Silpat lined or lightly greased cookie sheets using a cookie scoop, or a large spoon.
6. Bake cookies in a preheated oven at 375*F for about 12 minutes. Cool a few moments on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack. Frost cookies with Maple icing (below) while still slightly warm.
Maple Icing
4 Tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter (salted or unsalted)
2 cups confectioners sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon maple extract
~Directions~
While the cookies are baking, melt butter in a small sauce pan or in the microwave. Mix melted butter with powdered sugar in a large bowl, using a whisk until well combined. Add milk, and extracts. Whisk until smooth. Use a small knife or the back of a spoon to spread icing on top of cookies. If you frost the cookies while they are still just slightly warm, the icing will dry with a nice smooth finish.
*Note- If you don’t have maple extract on hand, but want to makes these cookies with just the vanilla flavoring, they will still be good. But the maple is really the secret ingredient in this, it adds such a wonderful flavor!
These cookies will keep quite well for at least 3 days, stored in an airtight container.
Recipe Source- Final recipe by Glory Albin. Inspiration from several different recipes, but most resembles a recipe from Martha Stewart (Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing).
Make these this season… then make a pot of coffee and invite me over.
Happy Baking!
I recently helped a good friend of mine (Amy) put together a “Pink and purple princess tea party” (as requested by the four year old birthday girl). The birthday girl’s mommy and I had lots of fun planning the party many months in advance, and collecting lots of girly, pink and purple goodies!
Welcome to Princess Adison’s 4th birthday party…
I made pretty pink cupcakes and topped them with custom toppers from The Tomkat Studio.
Amazingly beautiful dipped Oreos from Sweeties by Kim (photos above and below). I expected these to be beautiful, and they were… but I was surprised by how delicious they were!! I’ve been craving them since the party!
Bite sized pink and purple heart cookies (above) made by me.
Favor bags (above) included princess stickers, nail polish, dress-up rings and bracelets, and a pink star shaped sucker.
One of the first activities of the party was finger and toe-nail painting (by the birthday girl’s older sister and friends). After their toes were painted, each guest received an adorable pair of glittery flip-flops. These cute toes belong to my youngest sweetie. =)
Above the tea party table hung a frame (designed by me, made by hubby, originally used for THIS party) full of pink and purple ribbons. It took my friend and I the better part of one evening to set it up, but it makes such a special statement!
Personalized place cards (from The Tomkat Studio).
Lunch included fresh fruit, cheese (cut into butterfly shapes) and crackers, pretty little sandwiches, fresh veggies with dip, and mini muffins.
Activities that filled the afternoon included nail painting, lunch, a princess crown pinata, crafts (including ribbon princess wands), and of course enjoying a few treats!
Above are some of the adorable guests along with the birthday princess herself Adison (bottom left).
~ All the details ~
Party styling, cupcakes, cookies and photos by me (Glorious Treats).
Custom cupcake toppers and place cards by The Tomkat Studio.
Custom dipped Oreos by Sweeties by Kim.
I love pretty packaging. A bit of extra care in packaging can turn even simple treats into a special gift. I packaged up a few of the Halloween cookies I made last weekend, as special treats for my nieces. These little bags would be super special treats for lunches, adorable favors for a Halloween party, or sweet little gifts for friends.
~ Supplies and Directions ~
1. Cut a piece of patterned paper (I used some of my scrapbooking paper) the width of the cellophane bag you’re using and about 3 inches tall (my bags are 4″ wide, so the paper is 4″ x 3″).
Fold the paper in half lengthwise.
2. I printed out some party circles from The Tomkat Studio’s Halloween collection. Cut using a 2″ circle punch. You could also use a sticker or other embellishment.
3. Fill your cellophane bag with treats, and seal bag (the bags I used have a self-stick seal, but if you’re using bags with no seal you could use a sticker or staple the bag closed).
4. Use double sided tape to attach the prepared paper to the top of the treat bag. Add party circle, or other sticker or embellishment.
Share some treats with the sweet people in your life!
Last weekend I got a kid-free day to spend as I chose…
It didn’t take me long to decide that the day could be best spent decorating cookies! It was great to have a day to just play, with no real expectations or requirements. And no pressure… if they didn’t turn out, I can always just send them to work with hubby. My husband’s co-workers are always glad to take cookies off our hands (or in my case… hips).
The photo above is a set of Halloween cookies I made last year. But I liked them so much, I stuck with some of the same designs this year. Cute, fun and not too spooky.
No tricks, just treats =)
Want to make some fun Halloween cookies of your own?
My sugar cookie recipe is HERE.
I have a simple decorating tutorial to get you started is HERE.
And I have a cute packaging post for these cookies HERE.
A winner was chosen using random.org, congratulations to the author of comment #24- The Hrudowsky Family! Please contact me
glorioustreats@gmail.com so I can give you the information you need to receive your prize.
I can’t wait to see how you use your beautiful bunting!
