Pumpkin Pie Cookies

Now that fall has started, it's time to make ALL the pumpkin recipes! Here's my first pumpkin recipe of the season. I'm not a big fan of pumpkin pie. Le gasp! I know. Everybody I have told this has said that I'm weird. My boyfriend joked that we couldn't be together anymore. But in small doses, I can handle it. Which is why I love this recipe.



The shortbread cookie is a great base for the filling in the middle. It's a little soft, but it holds its shape long enough to make it into your mouth. The filling definitely has enough pumpkin taste for me. Whenever you don't feel like making a whole pie, just make these cookies. It's a cute and fresh way to eat pumpkin pie. Plus, eating one small cookie makes me feel less guilty than eating a whole slice of pie!



For just the two pictures I'm posting in this entry, I sure took a lot. My sister and my mom visited me last weekend for less than 24 hours (including sleep time), mostly to drop off stuff that I wanted from home and to see my face since we hadn't seen each other since the summer. Ever since the battery to my little point-and-shoot Samsung camera died, I haven't been able to take pictures of anything I've baked or cooked. But now that I have access to a working camera that takes better pictures, too, I went crazy with the trigger. I also need to learn how to use it so I've just been playing around with it, so I hope the pictures improve as I go!

Pumpkin Pie Cookies
From Heather Likes Food

For the cookie
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt

For the filling
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 1/2 tbsp sugar
Pinch of kosher salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 tbsp egg, beaten
1 tbsp milk

White chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and combine. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt and beat until no dry spots remain. The dough will be stiff and possibly crumbly.

Scoop dough by the tablespoon and roll into smooth balls. Place on lined cookie sheets a few inches apart. Using a few fingers, press lightly on the top of each ball to flatten slightly. With the back of a teaspoon measuring spoon, make an indentation in the top of each ball.
Place unbaked cookies into the fridge and let chill for 15 minutes.

Make filling by combining all of the filling ingredients and mixing until smooth.

Remove chilled dough from fridge and spoon heaping 1/2 teaspoonfuls of the filling into each cookie.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. The bottom of the cookie will be lightly browned and the filling set.
Let cool and drizzle with melted white chocolate.