In light of the festive season fast approaching, I've discovered a deliciously fun and simple recipe to try. For the past week I've been in the U.S- California actually. This will be my first ever Thanksgiving since we don't celebrate the holiday in Australia. I'm really excited to be spending it with my boyfriend and his family and being constantly woahed by the amounts of pumpkins around. I'm pretty sure I've seen more pumpkins this week than in my entire life combined. I've never really appreciated the slightly ugly orange fruit until now (yes, not a veg). Last year I was delighted to finally try my first Pumpkin Pie and fell in love with pumpkin flavoured desserts, so I decided it was time for me to bake something pumpkiny myself to show my appreciation to my new orange friends.
Enter, pumpkin snickerdoodle. Another first for me, I've never baked a snickerdoodle before, and frankly the only reason I was drawn to this recipe is because its uber fun to say. Go on, just say it one more time out loud [Pumpkin Snickerdoodle].
You too might be scratching your head just like I was...why not just call it a pumpkin cookie? Why are snickerdoodles so special anyways? Well fine friend, according to Wikipedia, snickerdoodles originated in Germany and are characterised by the 'cracking' on the top of the cookie. After tireless amounts of research, ive come to the conclusion that snickerdoodles are special because of the sugar/cinnamon coating which the dough is rolled in before baking. It gives it a slightly crunchier texture and since when has extra sugar on a cookie ever been a bad thing?
Makes: 36 big cookies
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 10 min (plus 1 hour chill time in the fridge)
What you need for the Cookie Dough:
-1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature
-1 cup white sugar
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-3/4 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
-1 large egg
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
-1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
What you need for the Rolling Sugar:
-1/2 cup white sugar
-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
-1/2 teaspoon allspice
1. First for the pumpkin liquid mixture. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter until fluffy, it only took me about 2 minutes. Add white and brown sugar to the butter and beat for about a minute. Add the pumpkin puree and beat well it all well. Mix in egg and vanilla, scraping down sides of the bowl to incorporate all of the ingredients. By the time your first set of ingredients are done, your mixture will most probably look like baby vomit… a baby who just finished eating mashed pumpkin for dinner. Delish. But don’t worry! Once the mixture is mixed with the flour it will look like cake batter, not puke.
2.Now to make your cookie dough look like dough. Mixing the dry ingredients with your pumpkin mix. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon. Add your flour mix to the pumpkin little by little beating for about a minute each time you add more flour. Once its all mixed through it should have a peanut-butter type texture and look.
3. Cover the bowl with all your dough with plastic-wrap and put it in the fridge for at least an hour, or until dough becomes slightly firm. The firmer and cooler the dough, the smoother your cookies will turn out and the easier it will be to roll them out. I only chilled mine for about half an hour, frankly because I’m way too impatient and was really looking forward to the sugar hit. Chill for about an hour. Let the beater licking begin!
4. While the dough is in the fridge chillin like a villain, take this time to mix up sugar topping. This is what you are going to roll the dough in before it goes in the oven. Mix all the rolling ingredients in a small bowl; sugar, cinnamon, ginger and allspice.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Line baking trays with parchment paper (or spray with nonstick spray). I used about 4 baking trays.
6. Remove cookie dough from fridge. Use a medium cookie scoop (1 1/2 Tablespoons) or a large spoon to scoop out dough and roll into balls. Use your hands to roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar and make sure they're coated really well! Place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Use a glass with a nice, flat bottom to dip in sugar and flatten the balls.
7. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes, or until they are slightly firm to the touch. It’s kind of hard to tell when they are done, I left one of my trays in for too long because I thought they needed to get golden brown…don’t make that mistake! They just need to be slightly firm. Let the cookies cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes or so, then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Now to enjoy your snickerdoodles! Don’t be afraid to experiment with flavours…maybe try adding powdered Chai or Chocolate or just try them plain with lots of cinnamon.
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| Patrick's dog Snickers...appropriately named. |
