Wow- it is utterly amazing to me that it’s already the last week of October! I can’t believe Halloween is this Friday! Halloween is the beginning of a very busy few months in our home- T’s birthday comes up next, followed by Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, etc. It all seems to come in such rapid succession each year. I always struggle with enjoying the moment when things get busy, but I try to set aside a little time each day to enjoy a relaxing activity.
Today I made one of my favorite cookie recipes of all time and changed it up just a bit for Halloween. I took K’s recipe for Soft Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting and altered them just slightly to make Soft Sugar Pumpkin Cookies! You don’t even need a cookie cutter to make this super soft, buttery cookies. I love how each cookie turned out to be a slightly different shape and size- just like pumpkins!
This month I have been trying International Delight’s French Vanilla flavored cream with my coffee. It was just perfect with my afternoon pumpkin cookie treat! I’m feeling pretty confident the kids and my husband will enjoy these soft sugar pumpkin cookies for their treat tonight as well.
- 4½ cups AP flour
- 4½ tsp. baking powder
- ¾ tsp. salt
- 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature (1½ cup)
- 1½ cups sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 5 tsp. vanilla extract
- 5 cups confectioners’ sugar
- ⅓ cup (5⅓ tbsp.) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
- 7-8 tbsp. milk (plus more, as needed)
- Food coloring
- Sprinkles
- Line baking sheets with silicone non-stick mats or parchment paper. In a medium sized bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Next in a large bowl or the bowl of your electric mixer combine butter and sugar, Mix on medium–high until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time until combined. Next mix in vanilla extract being sure to scrape down the sides to combine everything. Gradually add in dry ingredients on low speed until combined, then cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using the large cupcake scoop or a ¼ measuring cup scoop out portions of dough and roll into balls (reserve a small amount of dough to make the pumpkin stems._ Flatten each dough ball with hand and place cookies 2-3 inches apart from one another on baking sheet. Take reserved dough and roll out tiny dough balls and attach to top of large, flattened dough balls. Pinch each “stem” to resemble a pumpkin stem. Bake for 10-12 minutes until set. Let cool on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes then move over to a cooling rack.
- In the bowl of the mixer with a whisk attachment add in 5 cups of confectioners’ sugar. Add in melted butter, vanilla and milk and whisk at low speed until smooth. Continue to whisk for 1 minute. Reserve a small amount of frosting in a small bowl and add a couple drops of green frosting for the stems. Add in orange food coloring to the large mixing bowl at this time and mix to combine. When cookies are completely cool, frost the round part of the cookies orange and the stems green. Leave cookies out at room temperature until the frosting hardens on top. Place the cookies in an airtight container and place wax paper between the layers.
Source– adapted from Annie’s Eats
International Delight is currently offering everyone who signs up for their Member Delights program gets a free instant coupon towards I.D. This month, they are also giving away a DSLR camera to a lucky Member Delights participant!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.
