These soft cookies are made with pumpkin mash and rolled into a mixture of sugar and warm winter spices. So colourful and so delicious!
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These soft pumpkin cookies are ideal for fall baking. Made with regular cookie ingredients you already have at home plus pumpkin mash, these cookies are an ideal choice. Soft cakey interior, warm spices and vibrant orange colour are what make these cookies so adorable.
We are sure that both you and your young ones will love these delicious cookies. They pair perfectly with a cup of hot tea!
What makes these cookies unique is PUMPKIN MASH, which is ultra-versatile and perfect for use in a variety of different dishes. It's a great addition to muffin or cake batters, an ideal choice for healthy pancakes or for making creamy pumpkin soup.
For the pumpkin mash use any kind of pumpkin - sugar pumpkin, kabocha squash, hokkaido squash or even butternut squash. The pumpkin mash can be prepared in several ways but this time we choose roasting the pumpkin which brings out an amazingly sweet caramel flavour.
Choose a small pumpkin, not more than 1-1.5kg. From 1kg of pumpkin you get approximately 400-500g of mash. For this recipe you will only need 120g of pumpkin mash so you can use the rest for other recipes or freeze for the later use.
Just wash the PUMPKIN (or BUTTERNUT SQUASH), slice the pumpkin in half (using a sharp knife), scoop out the seeds (using a metal spoon) and place the pumpkin halves on the baking sheet cut-side down.
Baking time varies depending on the size of pumpkin, from 40 to 60 minutes. The pumpkin is ready once you can easily pierce the outer skin with a fork. Cool until you can handle, then scoop out the flesh using a spoon and mash until creamy. Roasted pumpkin is so soft that you can mash it using just a fork but you can also use a potato masher or stick blender.
Making these cookies is so easy, once you have prepared the pumpkin mash. You will need 2 mixing bowls, an electric hand mixer and baking sheet. Simply follow the steps to make the perfect cookies:
The dough is very soft so we place it in the freezer to firm for 1 hour. Shaping these cookies is so easy, just pinch some dough (the size of large walnut), roll into balls and place on the baking sheet lined with baking paper (brush the paper with oil). Leave 2-3 cm between cookies as they will spread while baking. Bake until cookies are slightly brown on the edges. You will need to bake in 2 batches!
EXTRA BAKING TIP: The trick for baking these cookies is that the dough should be slightly frozen before baking them. This way the cookies don't spread too much and stay thick and soft.
If you love to bake then this solid easy to clean Cookie Sheet is a great addition to your kitchen.
Once the cookies are baked, roll them immediately into a mix of caster sugar and pumpkin pie spices - CINNAMON, NUTMEG, GINGER and CLOVES. Using these WARM winter spices is the key to the incredible flavour of these cookies.
These cookies are best on the day they are baked, but they will last up to 1 week. To store, place them in an airtight container (cool completely before storing) and keep at room temperature. We are sure that these cookies will look great in this cute glass jar with airtight lid.