Beer Girl Cooks

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holiday cookies

Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

by 25 Comments

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Are y’all on sugar overload yet from all these cookies for The Sweetest Season Sweetest Cookie Giveaway?  There’s still time to enter and be sure to check out all the other fantastic recipes by searching  #sweetestseasoncookies or clicking on the links in the highlighted post link two lines above.  I did some serious face plants after seeing some of the epic creativity my friends have posted!

 

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I think this may be my last post for the event because I am on sugar overload and 4 days in a row is totally a lot for me!  Seriously, dudes.  I have 4 dogs, a social life, a full time job, and this here website. I be busy, yo!

 

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So unless I get ambitious, the moon is in it’s seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars, my kitchen cleans itself, and the pulled muscle from my bum to my knee cures itself, this is my last post for the week of this fun The Sweetest Season event.

 

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But not to worry, if you are into my ramblings and shenanigans I’ll be here next week.  I found something I was looking for, so I hope to make it over the weekend, not jack it up, and share it with you next week.  Fingers crossed.

 

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Can someone please focus me?  I don’t know what in tarnation happens (I’m totally sure it has nothing to do with booze), but I tend to get lost in my own head.  I mean, can we finally talk about the subject matter of this post?  Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting?  About time.

 

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This is another one of the recipes I hijacked from my gram’s recipe box and has always been my #1 favorite cookie recipe of all time.

 

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It was the first thing I went looking for in this recipe box after my mom gave it to me.  I actually just put the box in a special place in my kitchen and didn’t open it for quite some time, but when I did this pumpkin cookie recipe was what I was looking for.

 

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Clearly this recipe card has been around for quite some time.  I’m fairly certain I’ve said this before, but just to be clear, this is not a accurate reflection of my age.  I’m just sayin’….

 

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When I found this recipe card I felt like I won the lottery because (as you may have seen from my mom’s comments here and there – she goes by Mags 🙂 hi Mom!) my gram probably only wrote down about half of her recipes.  She just put stuff together and made magic.  I’m not sure we will ever figure out her pineapple upside down cake or that dang chocolate cake made with coffee, but I’ll be sure to let you know if we do!

 

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Happy Holidays, friends!

 

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Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

For the Pumpkin Cookies

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 1 8 ounce block cream cheese softened
  • 1 stick butter softened
  • 1 cup confectioners sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Instructions

For the Pumpkin Cookies

  1. Mix together sugar, pumpkin, and shortening
  2. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice
  3. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and mix well
  4. Cover and chill overnight
  5. Preheat oven to 350
  6. Use a 1 tablespoon size scoop or two tablespoons to drop on parchment lined baking sheet
  7. Bake 12-15 minutes
  8. Cool on baking pan for a few minutes then transfer to a rack to cool completely

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

  1. Combine cream cheese, butter, confectioners sugar, and vanilla bean paste in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment
  2. Mix on low until combined, then increase speed to medium and mix until smooth
  3. Top each pumpkin cookie with a heaping tablespoon of cream cheese frosting - or as much as desired

Note:  These cookies look like a biscuit and have the texture of a cake.  Top them with tons of cream cheese frosting and you’ll be gobsmacked!

I received free product from Imperial Sugar, Dixie Crystals and Bob’s Red Mill as part of The Sweetest Season Cookie Exchange. As always, all opinions and recipe are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that support Beer Girl Cooks!

Snickerdoodles

by 22 Comments

Happy baking season, friends!  I’m having so much fun with The Sweetest Season Cookie Exchange! I’m so thrilled that Erin from The Speckled Palate invited me to this event.

 

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I don’t know about y’all, but there is just something for me about holiday baking that’s just so nostalgic. I can’t remember a childhood Christmas  without my grandparents.  There were always cookies (snickerdoodles were a fave) and other fantastic sweets involved. My gram made the absolute best peanut butter fudge in the whole wide world. And trust me, if I could find that recipe it would be on this here website.  I promise to keep looking.

 

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I’ve mentioned a few times before how I inherited my gram’s recipe box her dad made for her back in 1932 when she married my pap.

 

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This date is absolutely no reflection of my age.  I’m just sayin’……..

 

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I tend to digress.  Why aren’t you keeping me on track here?  I had a point.  At some point.  Really.   I promise.

 

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Right.  Christmas cookies.  My point was that I always think about Christmas with my grandparents, the wonderful cookies my gram made, and how magical it was spending time with my family while waiting for Santa. My pap used to sneak out of the house and run around with sleigh bells so my sister, Molly (she got the cool name!) and I would think Santa was circling the house and waiting for us to go to bed before he could shimmy down our non-existent chimney.  We used to scramble to get the cookies and milk ready, run to bed, and do our best to fall asleep while giggling the whole time.

 

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So, in order to try to tie this together with snickerdoodles and my ramblings, when I received the invitation to join The Sweetest Cookie Exchange, I went all retro and raided my gram’s recipe box to share with you all the flavors and cookies of my magical Christmas childhood.  I thought snickerdoodles was a good place to begin with my family’s recipes since I love them so much and they’re so classic.

 

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Happy Holidays, Y’all!  And don’t forget about the giveaway!

 

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Snickerdoodles

Ingredients

  • 1 cup shortening
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 3/4 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Instructions

  1. Beat together shortening, sugar, and eggs
  2. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt
  3. Add in dry to wet in thirds, incorporating in between
  4. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight
  5. Preheat oven to 400
  6. Mix the 3 tablespoons of sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  7. Roll into balls
  8. Roll in cinnamon/sugar mixture
  9. Set 2 inches apart on parchment or silicone lined baking sheet
  10. Bake 10-15 minutes, depending on size
  11. Cool on baking sheet a few minutes then transfer to a wire cooling rack

 

I received free product from Imperial Sugar, Dixie Crystals and Bob’s Red Mill as part of The Sweetest Season Cookie Exchange. As always, all opinions and recipe are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that support Beer Girl Cooks!