Ronald's Saturday Off: Soft Pumpkin Cookies

Fall is officially in the air. With that in mind, I want to share a few recipes that is great for the Autumn season. Throughout the season, we experience a mixture of creating things from Pumpkin, Apples, Sweet Potatoes, Squash, herbs and also nuts. These key ingredients make up the fall cuisine come to life. Even though as a society, we are more geared to “The Pumpkin”, because it’s actually the number one staple item in American Cuisine. But I had just found out, why not separate food items based on the months? It would make much sense to have Apples in September. Anyway,  since we are talking about the pumpkin, I guess I’ll stick to the topic.

I never actually grew up eating pumpkin at all. That includes pie, cookies, cakes, bars, you name it. In fact, it wasn’t until I got to College, when I started to enjoy “Pumpkin Foods”. Now, I have carved a pumpkin in my childhood. I’ve made pumpkin cookies in school, and I have also ate a slice of pumpkin bread. If I can recall, I actually did make a pumpkin pie in daycare. I think the reason why I didn’t want to try anything pumpkin related, is because we associate a pumpkin to human characteristics. It was like eating a “Living creature”….But what the heck. The past is the past. Right? Anyways,

The other day, I went to the store to buy some Pillsbury Pumpkin cookies with cheesecake bites in them. The cookies had me thinking about my mother’s pumpkin cheesecake that she had made about a week ago. So I thought to myself, there’s a recipe I recall from school. It goes as follows

Ingredients

·      2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour

·      1 teaspoon of baking soda

·      1 teaspoon of baking powder

·      1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

·      ½ teaspoon of salt

·      1 ½ cups of granulated sugar

·      ½ cup of butter, softened

·      1 cup of canned Pure Pumpkin pie filling

·      1 egg

·      1 teaspoon of Vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. on a greased baking sheet.

Combine your dry ingredients; flour, baking soda, powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a bowl. In another mixing bowl, beat your sugar and butter until it is well blended. Beat in pumpkin, egg, and vanilla until it is very smooth. Gradually in your mixing bowl, beat in the dry ingredient mixture. Next, drop rounded batter on a baking sheet.

Bake the cookies for about 15 to 18 minutes or until the edges are firm. Cool on a baking sheet for two minutes.

What you can do for these, is to make a nice glaze for these cookies. You can also throw in some pecans, white chocolate chips, and regular chocolate chips as well. I wish I can find cheesecake bite chips in a store.

Best Wishes and Happy Cooking!!

Ronald Atkinson Jr.