Pumpkin Spice Cookies

I LOVE the holiday season! For me it means traveling to visit my family in California, eating good food, relaxing and having fun! In my mind, today is the real start of the holiday season. I'll plan some trips to go to the outlets for present shopping (although I'm not big on presents, I'm big on shopping), and I'll make lots and lots of cookies.

Gosh, I love cookies. And there are few things as wonderful and warm gooey cookies fresh from the oven and a hot cocoa or cider (or something something alcoholic for us big kids). This season, I will be making one new cookie recipe every week and share the results with you!

Today, I bring you an ultimate holiday-y flavor of spices and pumpkin in one scrumptious cookie!

Just getting off my vegan diet, I'm finding it a little hard to reintroduce dairy, fish, and eggs into my typical diet. So I kept this recipe vegan-ish. The cookie itself is vegan, but adding a little spiced cream cheese frosting is definitely not vegan. You could do it with vegan cream cheese, of course, but this was a last-minute ingredients run and I didn't find any vegan cream cheese at my local Safeway.

This recipe is adapted from one I found handwritten in a recipe book I've had for a long time. The original recipe is non-vegan, so I made a couple of simple substitutions to veganize it with awesome results. You can make the non-vegan version according to my ingredients notes.

Pumpkin Spice Holiday Cookies + Cream Cheese Frosting

Things you'll need:

• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 2 tsp cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp ground cloves

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 cup Earth Balance (or 1/2 cup butter for non-vegan)

• 1 1/2 cup white sugar

• 1 cup pure pumpkin puree 

• 1/4 cup silken tofu (or 1 whole egg for non-vegan)

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 F

Cover a baking or cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together Earth Balance and white sugar. Add pumpkin, tofu, and vanilla. Beat until creamy. Add in the flour mixture and mix to combine well.

Drop by spoonful onto baking sheet, 1" - 1 1/2" apart. 

Bake 15 - 20 minutes until set (mine were perfect after 20 minutes).

Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Makes 3 dozen (so you can share)

Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1/4 cup vegan cream cheese (or regular, fat free cream cheese for non-vegan)

• 2 tbsp powdered sugar

• 1/2 tsp vanilla (adjust to taste)

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (adjust to taste)

Mix together all the ingredients in a small bowl. Use a fork or whisk to break up cream cheese. If your frosting seems to thin, add more powdered sugar. Refrigerate until you are ready to frost your cookies.

If you like really gooey warm cookies, pop these back into a warm oven for about 5 minutes before serving/ eating them by the fistfuls.

Happy Holidays!

<3 Jen