These cookies have the great taste of pumpkin and spice, and are loaded with crunchy toasted walnuts and sweet raisins. You may choose to bake these great cookies and just eat them as is, without the decoration. Or, add the orange glaze and decoration to make them look like they are just picked from your pumpkin patch.
Ingredients:
Dough:
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
2½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoon ground ginger
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1¼ cups canned pumpkin
1½ cups toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
1½ cups raisins
Orange Glaze:
6 cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons corn syrup
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice, plus more if needed for thinning
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon pure orange extract
Orange food coloring
Black food coloring, optional
Decoration:
About 8 ounces Rolled Fondant for pumpkin leaves
Green Food Coloring
Pepperidge Farm Cream Filled Pirouette Rolled Wafer Cookies, for pumpkin stems, cut into 1 inch pieces
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare 2 large baking sheets; lightly grease with shortening, or line with parchment paper, or line with a non-stick baking mat.
Dough:
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger; sift or whisk together to mix. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and granulated sugar; beat together until thoroughly combined. Add brown sugar and continue beating until mixture appears light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula so the mixture blends evenly. Add egg and vanilla; beat until thoroughly mixed.
4. With the mixer on low speed, add about one third of the flour mixture, mix just until the flour is almost completely blended. Scrape the bowl down, and add about one half of the pumpkin, blending just until mixed. Scrape the bowl down again and continue alternating with the flour mixture and pumpkin, ending with the last portion of the flour, and stirring just until blended.
5. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Using a large rubber spatula, fold in the walnuts and raisins.
Bake:
6. Drop mounds of dough, about 2 heaping tablespoonfuls, and spacing dough 3 to 4 inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until cookies are set and the edges are very lightly browned. Remove cookies from baking sheets with a metal spatula and place on a wire cooling rack to cool. Tip: Try to keep the dough mounded like a pumpkin shape. The cookies will spread some while baking. An ice cream scoop is ideal for making uniform-sized cookies.
Decoration:
7. Plan on making the pumpkin leaves and vines at least a day in advance so they will be ready when time to use. Knead the green food coloring into the fondant to make the desired shade of green.
8. Roll the fondant out to about 1/8 or 1/16 inch thick on a pastry mat or pastry board lightly sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar or cornstarch, or lightly greased with vegetable shortening. Cut out leaves using a 1 inch leaf cookie cutter. Use the back of a knife to press veins into each leaf. Roll small pieces of scraps into skinny logs and loosely spiral wrap them around a ¼ thick dowel to form spiral vines; set aside for about 10 minutes to slightly dry. Slide the vines off the dowel. Let the leaves and vines dry several hours or overnight.
Orange Glaze:
9. Sift the powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
10. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the corn syrup and orange juice and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and pour the hot syrup mixture into the powdered sugar. Add vanilla extract and orange extract and stir until completely combined and glaze is smooth and free of lumps.
11. Transfer about 1/3 cup to another bowl to make the pumpkin ribs. Add orange food color to make a light color orange. Cover tightly with plastic wrap to keep from drying out. Set aside.
12. With the remaining glaze, add orange food color to make the desired shade of pumpkin orange. Stir until completely combined. The glaze should be thin enough to easily spread over the cookies. Tip: Stir in a drop of black food color to make a richer color of orange for the main pumpkin color.
Glazing and Decorating Cookies:
13. Place a large wire rack on top of parchment paper or wax paper to catch drips and make clean up easier.
14. Place one cookie at a time on a fork and hold over the bowl of pumpkin colored orange glaze. Spoon glaze over cookie until completely covered.
15. Run a small spatula under the cookie to scrape off any excess. Place the glazed cookie on the wire rack and insert a wafer cookie in the middle of the glazed cookie for the pumpkin stem. Let the glazed cookie sit to allow the glaze to partially harden, 15 to 30 minutes. If the glaze gets too thick to spread easily, stir in a few drops of orange juice until the glaze is fluid enough to spread easily. Repeat with remaining cookies.
16. Spoon the reserved light orange glaze into a small plastic freezer bag. Put a little piece of tape on corner to reinforce the tip, and then roll over top of bag to keep neater. (You could also use a plastic squeeze bottle with a tip available in decorating stores or a pastry bag and decorating tip), Twist the top of the bag to create some pressure to make easier to squeeze out. Cut a tiny corner off the tip of the bag.
17. Pipe 6 to 8 ribs over the top of each cookie.
18. For each glazed cookie, put a dab of leftover glaze on the bottom of one fondant leaf and one spiral curl and place on the glazed cookie next to the stem.
19. Let the glaze dry at least 30 minutes before serving.
