Lofthouse Pumpkin Spice Cookies

I remember when I was a teenager in my parent's house, and my Mom would always (most of the time, anyway) buy those really soft bakery style lofthouse cookies from the bakery at the supermarket on grocery day. They were always perfectly round and were frosted and sprinkled to perfection. They were also the softest cookies I'd ever had, and it was always super tricky to talk myself into only eating one... they were just too good for well, their own good! 

Fast forward a few (ehem) 10-something years, and I still crave those cookies. I never buy them, though, because I seriously can't trust myself with them... 

Unfortunately, if you're familiar with the oven and a recipe, you can easily talk yourself right back into eating them - after you smell them baking in YOUR oven! And transforming them into a Fall celebration by incorporating pumpkin spices, cloves, and 100% pumpkin puree... 

... you have yourself a dang good cookie to stuff your face with share with your friends and family this beautiful Autumn season! 

I mean.... seriously. 

I couldn't help myself! 

Could you?! It was super hard to not eat a lot of these, but it was also a lot of fun making them and taking them to friends and family (even Ward Council for my church - can we even do that? Oh well, they liked them either way! haha). It's the perfect cookie to share. And good news - this recipe makes A TON of dough. I made half the dough into cookies, and left the other half to continue chilling in the fridge. The first half of the dough made about 20 giant cookies. A day or two later, I rolled out the second half of the dough and made them fresh on Sunday morning. It was so nice to have the cookies already be practically finished, and all I needed to do was add frosting. Lifesaver of a recipe here, my friends. 

I made a few changes to the original recipe. I love lofthouse cookies, but I knew that a good portion of cake flour does much better in a cookie like this versus regular all-purpose flour. I subbed in half the all-purpose flour for cake flour and the softness... oh the softness is transformed into something heavenly. I also added cloves. I LOVE the taste of ground cloves. It tastes more like Fall to me than pumpkin pie spice. Maybe because a lot of ginger cookies I make at the end of Fall and beginning of Winter are filled with cloves. It's a strong flavor, but there's a lot of dough to be spread around in this cookie, so it works perfectly. 

Lastly, I found these darling candy-corn colored sprinkles at Target in the dollar section. 

NEVER EVER EVER GO TO THAT SECTION. 

Trust me.

 I basically hand them my purse and say "take all my monies!!!" (much to the constant distress of my husband - budgets are his middle name... and are nowhere to be found in my radar. He keeps me in check). Anyway, I knew with these sprinkles that we were in business. I dunked half of each almond buttercream frosted cookie in the sprinkles, and called it Fall. Hope you all enjoy! Next time I think we'll do a cream cheese cinnamon frosting! Super yummy!! 

Lofthouse Pumpkin Spice Cookies

with Almond Buttercream Frosting 

makes 4 dozen

ingredients:

3 C cake flour

3 C all-purpose flour

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

3/4 t pumpkin pie spice

1/2 t ground cloves

1 C butter, at room temperature

2 C sugar

3 eggs

1 t vanilla extract 

1 1/2 C pumpkin puree 

Almond Buttercream Frosting:

1 C butter

1 t vanilla

1/2 t almond extract 

pinch of salt

4 C powdered sugar

1/2 C cream

garnish: sprinkles or cinnamon

method:

1. In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda baking powder, salt, cloves, and pumpkin pie spice. Stir with a whisk, and set aside. 

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until creamy, then add the sugar and cream until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides between eggs. Add in the vanilla and pumpkin and beat until combined. Slowly add in the flour mixture (preferably with a mixer cover) until completely combined (don't overmix, though). 

3. Divide the dough in half, and wrap each half in plastic wrap until sealed. Chill for 2 hours up to a day. 

4. When ready, take one of the dough balls out of the fridge (repeat the following steps with the other half when the first half is completed - the dough does better chilled). Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. 

5. Lightly flour a work surface. Roll the dough into about 1/4 inch thickness, using extra flour as needed. Cut circles the size of about 2 to 2 1/2 inch thickness with cookie cutters or the open end of a glass cup. Transfer to a baking sheet, roll up the scraps for another batch of circles. Bake for 6-7 minutes. They'll be a little soft in the middle, but shouldn't be doughey. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting. 

6. Prepare the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until soft and there are zero lumps (creamy). Add in the extracts, pinch of salt, and then add in the powdered sugar a little at a time (about 2/3 C at a time). Add in a little heavy cream between the powdered sugar additions as needed to get the consistency you want. Frost the cookies with a flat cake knife and top with sprinkles or cinnamon. 

recipe adapted from: taste and tell