Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

It's offically Fall which means time for lots of pumpkin treats! I couldn't find canned pumpkin at my two usual grocery stores until this week, so I've been saving recipes like crazy. Now it's time to make some of them. These are the perfect fall cookie- pumpkin and cream cheese frosting. Such a great pair. The cookies are very, very moist and almost like a dense cake.

Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe from My Baking Addiction

Ingredients

1 cup butter flavored shortening

1 cup unsalted butter; softened

2 cups white sugar

2 cups canned pumpkin (solid; not pie mix)

2 eggs

2 teaspoons baking soda

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

4 cups all-purpose flour

Cream shortening, butter, white sugar and pumpkin. Add eggs and mix well.

Sift together the baking soda, ground cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, salt and flour. Add to pumpkin mixture and mix well.

Drop from 1/4 cup cookie scoop to cookie sheet. Bake 13-15 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Cream Cheese Icing

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons butter, softened

4 cups confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (extract will also work)

1 Tablespoon milk

Mix the cream cheese with the butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract, and milk in a bowl. Frost and smooth with the back of a spoon or a spatula. Add sprinkles as desired.

Chewy Sugar Cookies

My original intent was to make these sugar cookies and roll them in orange sugar to be festive for October, but I couldn't find any orange sugar in my baking cabinet. They still came out pretty though. They are similar to the chewy Pepperidge Farm cookies, but they aren't quite as thick. I try not to eat much sugar, but I've already had 4 of these. That's how good they are!

Chewy Sugar Cookies

Adapted from Bunny's Warm Oven (I omitted the lemon)

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup sugar for rolling cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Using a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and very fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.

Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and roll in sugar. Place on lined cookie sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.