Matt and I had so much fun in the kitchen with our cookie “cook off”! He was making this pumpkin cookie recipe given to us by a wonderful friend, Marcia, who lives near Canandaigua, New York. Ever since Marcia gave us this recipe, I have made these cookies for my family and neighbors at Thanksgiving. To me it’s a fun way to kick off the holiday cookies baking, and my family has no complaints about that!

Ingredients

• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup margarine or butter
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• ¾ cup of nuts (optional)

Frosting:

• 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 2 Tbsp. margarine, softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 3-4 tsp. milk

Instructions:

1) Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2) Combine both sugars and margarine until light and fluffy.

3) Add the pumpkin, vanilla and egg and blend well.

4) Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

5) Add dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix well.

6) Stir in chopped walnuts if using.

7) Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls, (NOT ladlefuls like Matt did in our food video!) and place two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

8) Bake 10 to 12 minutes and let cool before frosting.

9) Mix together the frosting ingredients until smooth. Coat the tops of the cookies and for fun, add a small candy pumpkin. Recipe makes about 2 ½ dozen cookies.

Important Note:

It’s important to refrigerate these cookies after they are frosted because the frosting contains cream cheese that can spoil at room temperature. Don’t let that scare you. These are some of the tastiest cookies I’ve ever had and once you try them I’m sure they’ll become a family favorite as well!

Shari

Comments (13)

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written by Bonnie G, September 30, 2009

Ooooooo! those cookies look so good. thank you for sharing that recipe. Can't wait to try them.
Bonnie

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written by Shari, October 01, 2009

Bonnie,

You will LOVE these cookies. They are moist and gently flavorful. Just don't forget to refrigerate after you've had a dozen or so of them just frosted!!!

Shari

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written by divalee, October 01, 2009

Thanks Matt and Shari! I'm the group leader for a bunch of very enthusiastic young girls, and I KNOW they will flip for this! Happy Halloween to you both!

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written by Shari, October 09, 2009

Happy Halloween right back at cha!!! Tell the girls we both said hello and have fun making (if that's the plan) the cookies!!

Shari

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written by Marie, October 14, 2009

I'm thinking that it may be nice to replace the walnuts with pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)? I don't know how easy it is to find the unsalted ones, but maybe the recipe can be modified to reduce the amount of salt to compensate. What do ya think?

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written by Shari, October 14, 2009

Hi Marie,

Not a bad idea. I haven't seen the shelled pumpkin seeds...are they usually by the spices, or nuts? I absolutely love walnuts, always put them in chocolate chip cookies and my Thanksgiving stuffing even though the rest of the family isn't crazy about them. Maybe they'd like the pepitas better...hmmm. Let me know how it goes. The other thing is the cookies are moist and they benefit from the crunchy texture of the walnuts. Would the pepitas make enough of an impact? I guess the only way to know would be to try it! maybe make a batch half and half!

Shari

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written by Marie, October 14, 2009

YUM ! Guess what I am munching on this very moment?! Yep; they just came out of the oven. Forget the icing, I'm eating them warm.
Because of a member of the family having severe food allergies to tree nuts and peanuts, we have had to find substitutes for many baking incredients. Pepitas as shelled pumpkin seeds and they look almost exactly like sunflower seeds. They can be found in different areas of the supermarket --- sometimes with the nuts/snacks, sometimes with the Mexican food, or health food, or even by the beer. This morning I found them in the produce section. Unfortunately, the brand that I found was manufactured/packages on the same equipment that does tree nuts; so, I couldn't use them. But, I did add in sunflower seeds instead. And, they worked out great. I did add in closer to a full cup of them though. And I think that the cookies do indeed benefit from that "crunch" from the seeds. These cookies are great. (I wonder if there will be any left by the time the kids come home from school -- already ate about half a dozen.)

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written by Shari, October 14, 2009

Marie!

I'm jealous! Sure, I'll bet the sunflower seeds work great...I love those too. Wow, so many people these days are allergic to tree nuts and peanuts...I wonder what that's all about. Cam can't take a snack for himself into school if it has any trace of nut in it. I don't remember this from when we were kids?

Shari

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written by Marie, October 15, 2009

Yes, the sunflower seeds worked out great -- they added a nice crunch. I am going to have to try the other pumpkin cookie recipe next week, and add in some chocolate!

As for food allergies, yes, they are definately a growing health concern in the U.S. They were not so widespread when we were kids. Peanut allergy doubled in children over a five year period (1997-2002). The estimate is that more than 12 million Americans have food allergies (one in 25). It is a higher ratio for children. Scientists are not sure why -- maybe all the chemicals that have been added to our foods? An important note is that food allergy is not the same as food intolerance --- allergies involve the immune system and are life-threatening; intolerance does not involve the immune system nor is it life-threatening. Schools deal with the allergies in different ways, like Cam's school. Our schools did not restrict snacks.

The pumpkin recipes are great, esp. for the fall. I make a stuffed sugar pumpkin this time of year. *How 'bout adding a pumpkin or squash soup to your recipes?

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written by Shari, October 15, 2009

Hi Marie,

Thank you for comments on the food allergies....very interesting. I'm working through some things at my home about the chemicals added to food. We are trying to eat vegetarian and all organic. You'll see a new section on this coming soon. And I have to ask, what is a stuffed sugar pumpkin?

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written by Marie, October 15, 2009

You are quite welcome.
Stuffed sugar pumpkin is a Native American dish. A sugar pumpkin is much smaller and sweeter than a carving pumpkin, and the 'grooves' are not as deep (smoother skin). It is hollowed out and stuffed with a wild rice stuffing and baked. I will send you the recipe. It is quite good. The most prevalent spice is sage. Looking forward to the new vegetarian additions.
Thanks, Shari
I love all the recipes on your site, and revisit them from time to time.

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written by Cathy 48315, November 14, 2009

I too find it amazing that children's food allergies have gotten so severe that we all have to watch what snacks we send to school. We never had to worry about this when we were kids! When my children were in grade school and we were told no one could bring PB&J for lunch because of one child's allergy to peanut butter, I couldn't understand it. As time went on, there were more and more. Our schools finally had to make a separate lunch area for those children with allergies so that the others could eat what they wanted and parents wouldn't have to worry if someone forgot about the rule. That would be very scary for the parents of children with severe food allergies!

Anyway, LOVE these cookies! I don't need all the sugar so I try to limit my serving of iced cookies to a half-dozen or so before I start on the un-iced.

~Cathy

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written by Shari, November 16, 2009

Cathy, you know, you are right. These cookies are just as good unfrosted!

Our school does the same thing. There is a table specifically for the students with peanut allergies and no one else is allowed to sit there. And those poor kids have little packs on their belts with epi-pens or something in case they come in contact with something. You're right, the parents are probably in fear all the time! It's quite a dilemma.

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