{"id":48,"date":"2007-08-18T13:20:22","date_gmt":"2007-08-18T17:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thisfoodthing.wordpress.com\/2007\/08\/18\/soft-pumpkin-cookies\/"},"modified":"2007-08-18T13:20:22","modified_gmt":"2007-08-18T17:20:22","slug":"soft-pumpkin-cookies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thisfoodthing.com\/index.php\/2007\/08\/18\/soft-pumpkin-cookies\/","title":{"rendered":"Soft Pumpkin Cookies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today is a cool day for August, and one that makes me wish for\u00a0Autumn days.\u00a0\u00a0I&#8217;ve been making these cookies for years and years.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a tradition\u00a0&#8211; making the cookies, and then of course, it&#8217;s a tradition for my son and I to argue\u00a0if nuts should be added, or not.\u00a0 I, of course, say yes.. he says NO!!!\u00a0 (Usually 1\/2 of the batter is reserved for a nut-free cookie).<\/p>\n<p>You can do a light glaze, or a cream-cheese frosting (as is below), or none at all.\u00a0 When my son was a baby, these had no nuts added, and no glaze or frosting, either.\u00a0 I also reduced the sugar to 3\/4 cup, and 1\/2 cup brown sugar with success.<\/p>\n<p>These cookies are more cake-like, than a traditional cookie&#8230; soft and moist, flavorful and filling, too.\u00a0\u00a0 They keep well on the counter, tightly covered, and freeze for about 2 weeks, if wrapped well.<\/p>\n<p>Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thisfoodthing.files.wordpress.com\/2007\/08\/pumpkinglaze.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-width:0;\" src=\"http:\/\/thisfoodthing.files.wordpress.com\/2007\/08\/pumpkinglaze-thumb.jpg\" alt=\"Pumpkin Cookie\" width=\"431\" height=\"323\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Soft Pumpkin Cookies<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>4 1\/2 cups\u00a0flour<br \/>\n1\/2 teaspoon baking soda<br \/>\n4 teaspoons baking powder<br \/>\n1 1\/2 cups sugar<br \/>\n1 cup brown sugar, packed<br \/>\n1 cup butter, softened<br \/>\n2 teaspoons\u00a0 cinnamon<br \/>\n1 teaspoon maple extract<br \/>\n1 teaspoon vanilla extract<br \/>\n1\/2 teaspoon ground ginger<br \/>\n1\/4 teaspoon ground cloves<br \/>\n4 eggs<br \/>\n1 cup pecans, chopped (optional)<br \/>\n1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin, (almost 2 cups)<br \/>\n1 cup pecan halves (optional)<\/p>\n<p>In a large mixing bowl, cream together sugars, butter, spices and extracts.\u00a0 Add the eggs and mix well.\u00a0 Mix in the pumpkin and blend for about a minute.\u00a0 Measure the flour, soda, and baking powder, mix in by hand and then blend with a hand-mixer until well mixed.\u00a0 After this is mixed, you can add the optional chopped pecans, mixing well.<\/p>\n<p>Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.\u00a0Drop by spoonfuls.. about \u00a02 tablespoons of batter for each cookie, onto an\u00a0ungreased baking sheet, or one lined with parchment paper.\u00a0 Keep about 2 inches apart, as these expand quite a lot.\u00a0 Place a pecan half on top of the cookie (optional), and\u00a0bake\u00a0for about\u00a018 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.<\/p>\n<p>Move cookies to a\u00a0rack to cool. Store in tightly covered container for up to 5 days.<\/p>\n<p>This recipe makes about 6 dozen, officially.\u00a0 However, I tend to make these rather large, almost like little cakes, so I usually get 3-4 dozen.<\/p>\n<p>Frost with Pumpkin-Orange Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe below.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h4>Notes:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>This could be done w\/o a hand mixer, but you will get a lighter cookie if you use it.<\/li>\n<li>I didn&#8217;t have pecan halves, but used some chopped pecans instead &#8211; i just sprinkled them on a few of the cookies instead of all as some do not like nuts.<\/li>\n<li>I use 1\/2 teaspoon cloves instead of 1\/4<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h4><strong>Pumpkin-Orange Cream Cheese Frosting<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened<br \/>\n1\/2 cup pumpkin puree<br \/>\n1\/4 cup unsalted butter, softened<br \/>\n1 tablespoon fresh orange juice<br \/>\n1 teaspoon grated orange zest<br \/>\n1\/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract<br \/>\n4 cups confectioners&#8217; sugar, sifted<\/p>\n<p>Blend the cream cheese, pumpkin puree, butter, orange juice, zest and vanilla in a large bowl using a hand-held mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and creamy &#8212; about 5 more minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Omit the pumpkin if you like.\u00a0 I like this recipe on sugar cookies, with pumpkin omitted, and extra orange zest added.\u00a0 Mmmy goodness<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thisfoodthing.files.wordpress.com\/2007\/08\/upchili23.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-right:0;border-top:0;border-left:0;border-bottom:0;\" src=\"http:\/\/thisfoodthing.files.wordpress.com\/2007\/08\/upchili2-thumb2.jpg\" alt=\"upchili2\" width=\"103\" height=\"72\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today is a cool day for August, and one that makes me wish for\u00a0Autumn days.\u00a0\u00a0I&#8217;ve been making these cookies for years and years.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a tradition\u00a0&#8211; making the cookies, and then of course, it&#8217;s a tradition for my son and &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/thisfoodthing.com\/index.php\/2007\/08\/18\/soft-pumpkin-cookies\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[119,487,160,258,304,305,348,497],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-desserts","tag-cookies","tag-desserts","tag-food","tag-orange-icing","tag-pumpkin","tag-pumpkin-cookies","tag-soft-cookies","tag-thanksgiving"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thisfoodthing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thisfoodthing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thisfoodthing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thisfoodthing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thisfoodthing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thisfoodthing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thisfoodthing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thisfoodthing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thisfoodthing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}