Chocolate-Glazed Pumpkin Cookies
November 2007, pg. 182
http://www.marthastewart.com/338160/chocolate-glazed-pumpkin-cookies
I hadn’t made pumpkin cookies in a few years. They were one of my two ‘Go To Cookies’ when I lived with B in Syracuse. I suppose baking pumpkin cookies just wasn’t the same without B there. So I was pretty excited that pumpkin cookies were in the November 2007 issue (and B is somewhat part of the experience)!
I baked the pumpkin cookies at my parents’ house when I was visiting last week and then mailed them to my brothers. My mom and I like to bake cookies and then mail them to people (so we don’t gorge ourselves). Both of my brothers won’t be coming home for Thanksgiving so the chocolate-glazed pumpkin cookies would be a perfect snack for the coming holiday. Plus my baby brother, who is twenty-six, LOVES baked goods with pumpkin.
In the past I have prepared fresh pumpkin for recipes requiring pumpkin puree, and this is the perfect time of year to get a fresh pumpkin. However, Libby’s pumpkin puree is also easy to get this time of year and personally I think it’s just as tasty as fresh pumpkin (and there are less dishes to wash). So I went with the canned choice.
The cookies were extremely easy and didn’t take much time to bake. It took me less than 30 minutes to mix all the ingredients together and start dropping batter on the cookie sheets. I did use my mom’s ‘cookie dough scoop’, which was amazing. My finger didn’t get covered in raw batter! I found out the scoop was a little larger than a ‘heaping tablespoon’ because I only made 25 cookies, not forty-two. The cooking time still fell within the 15-20 minute range published in the EF recipe. I took Hank for a hike while the cookies cooled.
Later in the day I melted the chocolate for the top of the cookies. I did use the microwave, not the stove, to melt the chocolate. I cook it for 20 seconds at a time, stirring in between. I find it much easier than melting it on the stove and you dirty less dishes (which is very important when your only dishwasher is your own two hands).
The final product was delicious. Of course my mom and I tried a cookie or two before packaging the rest up for my brothers. The cookies were moist, spongy, and you could taste the pumpkin with the perfect amount of spice. The chocolate-glaze made the cookies look really nice and of course taste better. I’m not sure how the glaze will travel in the mail. My brothers might get pumpkin cookies with chocolate crumbs. Not that they care about how their cookies look, just how they taste! Next time, I might put chocolate chips in the batter if the final product will be travelling.
In hindsight I should have baked one of the more difficult desserts from Issue 47 while I was visiting my parents. They have a normal sized oven, that has a nice seal and you can trust the temperature setting. If you remember from an earlier post, my kitchen is less than average…. Oh well. The chocolate-glazed pumpkin cookies were a success and hopefully they will return to “Go To Cookie” status.
Next, back to my own kitchen to bake a Maple Nut Tart!
Cooking The Stripes 