Pumpkin Cookies

Nothing says fall like my favorite fall baking ingredient.... pumpkin!! Love love love. I've made pumpkin breads, pancakes, muffins, cupcakes, but this is the first recipe I've found for cookies so I had to try it out. Credit goes to another blogger at http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2010/09/30/pumpkin-cookies-with-cream-cheese-frosting/ because I only changed one little thing from her recipe. Happy Halloween!

Cookies:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 can pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix dry ingredients together in small bowl. In separate larger bowl, blend butter and sugars until smooth, then add egg, vanilla, and pumpkin and mix completely. Gradually add dry ingredient mixture to the wet mix. The dough is pretty sticky so this next step can be tricky, but form the dough into small balls and roll in sugar to coat. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, then gently flatten each with a thumb so they're not too thick. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or so.

When cooled, mix up the frosting:
4 oz cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2-1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Blend until smooth, then add to a ziploc baggie. Cut off a tip of the bag and use to pipe frosting on each cookie in desired pattern. Pumpkin-y goodness!! Nice and chewy in the middle with a little bit of a crust from the sugar coating, and the frosting is the perfect little accent.

And although I didn't use it in the cookies, I couldn't resist sipping on a little pumpkin beer while I made these, just to enhance my little pumpkin mood!