Pumpkin Cake Cookies W/Spiced Cream Cheese Icing

These soft, cake like pumpkin cookies topped with a spiced cream cheese icing are a great fall comfort food. Not to mention they help make your home smell amazing when making!

Step 1: Ingredients!

Cookies (Makes around 35)

1/2 Pound Unsalted Butter, Room Temp

2/3 Cup of Brown Sugar

1 Teaspoon of Salt

9 Oz of Pumpkin Puree

1 Egg

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

2.5 Cups All Purpose Flour

Icing

1 Stick of Unsalted Butter, Room Temp

1 8oz Package Cream Cheese, Room Temp

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

1 Pound of Powdered Sugar (Add another 1/2 Cup to 1 Cup more depending on consistency and how thick you want the icing.)

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

Note: You will probably notice my ingredient photos don't line up with the ingredients listed above. That is because I sometimes forget I am not working in a mass production bakery anymore and I go big when I need to adjust recipes. I had to half these recipes for the actual Instructable because I ended up with like 76 cookies. Please follow the recipe listed above. Not the photo.

Step 2: Cream That Butter!

First up, one of the most important steps. The creaming process.

In your mixing bowl you will combine the butter, sugars, and salt.

Step 3: Cream That Butter!

Mix on medium high speed until your ingredients have combined and become light and fluffy. The creaming processes aerates your dough which assist in the rising process and helps you to get more cookies out of the recipe!

Step 4: Add Wet Ingredients!

After you have creamed the sugars and butter, it is time to add in those wet ingredients: pumpkin puree, egg, and vanilla. Mix until these ingredients have incorporated with the others.

Also pictured, taking a pause to give puppy-eyed begging doggo a spoon of fresh pumpkin, one of their favorites!

Step 5: Add Dry Ingredients!

In a separate bowl, I measured out the remaining dry ingredients: baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and flour and whisked them together so that they were combined before adding them to the rest of the batter. I like to do this so I avoid undesirable pockets of baking soda and other dry ingredients from forming.

Once adding the dry ingredients, only mix until combined. You don't want to over mix at this stage and overwork the gluten. This makes for a tougher cookie, not a delicate melt in your mouth kind.

Step 6: Scoop the Cookies!

I unfortunately broke my scoop the day before I made these and haven't gotten another, so I used a table spoon and did the drop method, which probably worked out for the best as this dough is a stickier one with the moisture from the pumpkin.

Scoop cookies out onto baking sheets and bake at 350 Degrees F for 12 minutes.

Step 7: Creaming the Icing!

While your cookies cool, make the icing.

In a mixing bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, salt, and vanilla.

Cream at a medium high speed for 10 minutes. After that, stop and scrape the bowl and put on for another 10 minutes.

Step 8: Finishing the Icing!

This may seem excessive, but again it's that important creaming process. During this time you will see the icing double in size and get lighter and fluffier. After the second round of 10 minute creaming, scrape down the sides once more.

Switch to the lowest possible speed and add your powdered sugar and cinnamon until fully combined.

Scrape down the sides once more and do a quick finishing whip for 1 minute.

Step 9: Ice the Cookies!

Once your cookies have cooled and your icing is made, time to have some fun.

Load up an icing bag with your favorite tip and ice away to your hearts desire.

Step 10: Finished!

There you have it! Store your cookies in an air tight container. These don't have to be refrigerated, though they will last longer if you do. They won't stay as soft and cake-like though when cold as they are when served at room temp.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe, please feel free to share if you give it a go! Thank you!