As I've blogged before, autum is not my favorite season, but autumn flavors are my favorite. I went to a pumpkin carving party last weekend (see photo for impressive carved pumpkins!), and I intended to make these cookies then, but I ran short on time so it didn't happen. Tomorrow, I'm headed to a Halloween/Birthday party, and it still totally and completely pumpkin and cranberry season, so I gave these cookies a whirl. A friend makes pumpkin cookies by mixing a can of pumpkin w/ spice cake mix, and those cookies are delish and w/ a good amount of spice, but I just so happened to have ALL of these ingredients on hand (including pumpkin!), so I opted for this recipe.
The dough itself is easy enough to mix. There's some leftover pumpkin, but I imagine myself using it in pancake batter (OMG, I can't wait!). It didn't say to let it chill before making the cookies, and maybe it wasn't necessary, but the dough is certainly sticky and a little hard to work with. After making the first batch, I threw it in the fridge to harden it up a bit. My first batch were also quite big... ah well, you live, you learn. The cookies also are more cake like then I expected. But I do love soft cookies, so I'm pretty happy with them.
I'm not a huge frosted cookie fan. I don't think it's needed, and since I LOVE pumpkin, I didn't want to mask any of that deliciousness. BUT, I also love cranberries, so I thought to meself, perhaps I can add a fresh cranberry on top and it'll bake in. I was a bit worried that they may not burst, but they all did. I split the batch half and half, but they're all lovely...
Since today was the last day in the office before Halloween, we all dressed up. We ended up taking a bunch of pictures in the middle of the afternoon, and it was a blast. I didn't have my full costume on, but just a bit of a test run for tomorrow night's retro party! Here's a pic of me and my colleagues Shelby and Delysha...
