Thursday, October 11, 2012

Pumpkin Molasses Cookies...An Autumn Comfort Food

One of my comfort foods around the year are cookies. When I was growing up, there was always a dessert after lunch and dinner. If there wasn't, the meal felt incomplete.

So, it's no surprise that when I look in my recipe box that the desserts, cookies, and pies sections have the most recipes. Even in my "recipes to try" binder, there are substantially more dessert recipes than any other category.

Recently, I saw this pin for Pumpkin Molasses Cookies from My Baking Addiction, and wanted to try it.

The cookies are soft and have a subtle pumpkin-molasses flavor. They are a nice alternative to ginger cookies (which I make during the autumn) and pumpkin bread.

Pumpkin Molasses Cookies that I made.

Pumpkin Molasses Cookies
Yield: 24 cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
8 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup molasses
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
1/2 cup sugar, for rolling

Directions:

1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and pepper.

2. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the brown sugar, molasses, and pumpkin puree and beat for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the egg and beat for 1 minute more. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing until the flour and spices disappear. If flour remains in the bottom of the bowl, mix the last of the dry ingredients by hand to avoid over beating. You will have a very soft dough.

3. Divide the dough in half and wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Freeze for at least 30 minutes, or refrigerate for at least 1 hour. The dough is sticky, so chilling the dough for an even longer time is fine.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. Put the sugar in a small bowl. Working with one packet of dough at a time, divide it into 12 pieces, and roll each piece into a ball. Roll the balls in the sugar and use a the bottom of a glass to press down on the cookies until they are between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick. Transfer to cookie sheets.

6. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12-14 minutes, or until the top feels set to the touch. Remove baking sheets from the oven. Let cookies cool 5 minutes on the sheets before transferring them to a cooling rack.

7. Repeat with second batch of dough.

Notes:


I was a bit nervous about putting the 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper in cookies. I've never used black pepper in cookies. So, I was curious to see how that would affect the taste of the cookies. Honestly, I couldn't taste it in the cookies. Perhaps it just gives it an extra boost of spiciness.

Also, I was able to get 48 cookies from the dough. These were sufficiently large enough for a serving. So, in the future I would divide the dough into four sections and freeze it for 30 minutes.

It's also important to use the dough right from the freezer or refrigerator. If it gets to room temperature, it will soften quickly and the cookies spread out more when they are baked.



Whey Beyond the Naked Truth

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

mmmmm I am soooo making those! Thanks!

Rita said...

We never grew up using pumpkin for anything other than pumpkin pie...and I didn't care for it. Maybe it was my mom's recipe because I've had it since and liked it--LOL! And I've had pumpkin bread and liked it...so might have to try pumpkin cookies. We always had dessert after lunch and dinner, too. Doesn't help with the waistline, but it does feel incomplete without it. :)