Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

In my culinary calendar, after Italian prune plum season, next up is pumpkin. I love pumpkin as much as the next gal, but (just like Halloween and Christmas), online and brick-and-mortar stores start advertising EVERYTHING pumpkin way too early, so by the time actual fall rolls around, I am sick of it. But that doesn’t deter me from baking at least one pumpkin-y goodie. Because, as you know, I am all about the baked goods!

This recipe is from gimmesomeoven.com & it’s a good one. To begin with, it is chock-full of the de rigueur fall spices — cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice; next, they are soft and chewy (which I love); and finally, they have a luscious cream cheese frosting which, just literally, is the icing on the cake. They keep well in the fridge for about a week, if you have any left over.

Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from gimmesomeoven.com 

Yields about 3 dozen cookies

Cookie Ingredients:

2-1/2 C AP flour

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 TB pumpkin pie spice (see below)

1/2 t salt

1/2 C (1 stick) butter, softened

1 C granulated sugar

1/2 C brown sugar

1-1/4 C canned pumpkin puree

1 egg

1 t vanilla extract

Frosting Ingredients*:

8 oz (1 brick) cream cheese, room temp

3 TB butter, room temp

1 t vanilla extract

1 C confectioners’ sugar (approximately)

Chopped walnuts (optional)

* The original recipe calls for low-fat cream cheese. Also, I reduced the amount of confectioners’ sugar to 1 cup, as I thought 2 cups was too much.

Pumpkin pie spice (gimmesomeoven.com):

1/4 C ground cinnamon

2 TB ground ginger

4 t ground nutmeg

2 t ground allspice

2 t ground cloves

Whisk all spice ingredients together in a small bowl until combined. Transfer to a sealed spice jar, where it will keep for up to 2 years.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt, until combined. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium-high speed for 1 minute until light and fluffy. Add in pumpkin, egg, and vanilla to butter mixture, and beat on medium speed until just combined. Fold in the dry ingredients until just combined.

Drop on cookie sheet by heaping tablespoons, then use your fingers or a spoon to flatten slightly (these cookies tend to poof up slightly rather than flatten during baking, so shape them beforehand however you like. They won’t rise much).

Bake 15-20 minutes, or until baked through and bounce back slightly when you touch them. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool until they reach room temp. Then frost or drizzle with frosting. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts (optional) or a pinch of cinnamon or the pumpkin pie spice. Refrigerate in sealed container.

Frosting:

With electric mixer, beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together on medium-high speed until smooth. Gradually add in confectioners’ sugar until it is well combined and the frosting is smooth. If it is too thick, add a tablespoon or two of milk (or water) until it reaches your desired consistency. If it is too thin, add a bit more confectioners’ sugar.

Gluten-free Quinoa Apple Snack Cake

Happy Saturday!

I have been testing gluten-free baking recipes like mad lately in preparation for a class I’ll be giving in September (more on that exciting news another time). The latest in my testing lineup is this delicious little number. 

While I’m pretty familiar with using almond flour (or almond meal) in GF baking, I wanted to expand my GF flour repertoire and this recipe, which uses quinoa flour, sounded perfect.

Besides the quinoa flour, it uses all-purpose gluten-free flour, but it’s the quinoa flour that gives it an interesting nutty flavor. And even though there is one cup of brown sugar, the cake is definitely not sweet. The apples provide moisture, and the chopped walnuts give it a nice crunch.

Another ingredient I had not used before is xantham gum, which helps with the body and texture of GF items. If you use all-purpose “cup for cup” GF flour, it already has xantham gum in it, so you don’t need to add it. I prefer to add individual ingredients myself rather than an “all in one” type flour. 

While the cake was really good on it’s own (with a simple dusting of confectioners' sugar), I felt like it was missing something, so the next day I whipped up a small batch of cream cheese frosting (thank you, Martha Stewart, for this not overly sweet version). Bingo - now I really liked this cake! It all just worked - grated apples, walnuts, dried cranberries, cinnamon, nutmeg - you get the idea. Perfect for an after school snack or afternoon tea. 

Do you do a lot of GF baking? Tell us about your successes (and challenges) with this type of baking. Let’s help each other create really fabulous GF desserts. Leave a comment below.

Here’s hoping you have a wonderful weekend!

Print apple cake recipe here.

Cream cheese frosting recipe.