the battle of the cookies: the pumpkin edition

just as october began, the leaves started turning yellow and the air was all of a sudden chillier, my seasonal admiration of pumpkins arose again. in no time the interwebs was filled with all sorts of autumnish recipes that required pumpin puree, most of which came my way, accompanied by beautiful photos of the pastries. being the same old me, this was yet another band wagon i just had to hop on and ride along with the rest of the blogger crowd. this is how, on one gloomy saturday afternoon, i ended baking three different kinds of pumpkin cookies. because, you know, baking only one kind of cookie on long and lazy saturday afternoons is, apparently, not enough anymore.

as follows, is the second round of 'the battle of the cookies', this time pumpkin is the main theme. similarlay to the chocolate chip round, i only baked half batch of each kind. and, since in hungary there's no such thing sold as canned pumpkin puree, i used freshly made pumpkin puree when baking these cookies. (i bought fresh pumpkin at the market, halfed them, scooped out the seeds, cut them into smaller squares, then baked them - covered in foil -  in the oven on low temperature for about 2 hours, until they were tender. once cool, i peeled off their skin, and smashed the soft pumpkin with a fork. and voila, i had the perfect pumpkin puree.)

 
so, the contestants of the great pumpkin cookie battle are:

#1 iced pumpkin cookies via allrecipes.com 

#2 pumpkin chocolate chip cookies via nat the fat rat, originally from liz stanley 

#3 pumpkin chocolate chip cookies via allrecipes.com

iced pumpkin cookies via allrecipes.com

ingredients:

•  2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

icing:

•  2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit (175 degrees celsius). combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
2. in a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. mix in dry ingredients. drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
3. bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
4. to make glaze: combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies via nat the fat rat, originally from liz stanley 

(ingredients and instructions copied entirely from nat the fat rat.)

ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar 
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup pumpkin 
• 2 3/4 cup flour
• 4 tsp pumpkin spice seasoning (or: 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp nutmeg)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup chocolate chips

method:

1. preheat oven to 375F. mix wet ingredients till creamy, add dry until thoroughly mixed.

2. drop by the spoonful onto greased cookie sheet.

3. bake for10-12 minutes, until they turn golden brown.

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies via allrecipes.com 

 (ingredients and directions copied entirely from allrecipes.com)

ingredients:

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

directions:

1. combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. in a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.

2. add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.

3. drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm. 

some additional info about my adaptation of the recipes:

• since i wanted only half a batch, i halfed each ingredient listed, except the egg. for all three recipes i used one egg each.
• instead of butter and shortening, i used simple baking margarine. 
• i did not have any brown sugar at home, so i only used simple white sugar. i usually find american cookies too sweet, i used a bit less sugar than listed. about half a cup (maybe a bit less) for all three recipes (for a half batch).
• i could not be bothered with icing for the first cookie  - i thought it was needless, so i did not make any icing. works perfectly well without it as well. 

*drumroll*

and the winner is:

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies via allrecipes.com

without the slightest doubt, the cookie that turned out the best was the one from allrecipes.com. it was soft and tender on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside. the vegetable oil provided a great texture, while the spices, the chocolate chips, and the chopped hazelnuts (which i used instead of walnuts) gave it a rich, spicy, but sweet and crispy taste. once you had a bite of this cookie, it was really hard to stop and resist munching half a dozen more. it proved to be a 5 star recipe, and thus definitely a keeper. in fact, i am making them again this afternoon with the leftover pumpkin puree i still have in my freezer.

at the same time, nat the fat rat's recipe was quite a disappointment. altough i accidentally added double the amount of spices i was ought to - i simply forgot to half them as i was making the half batch - it still ended up a bit tastless and too dry - maybe it needed more margarine? anyway, this one is a no go.

the iced pumpin cookies had already been a keeper, this was my second time making them. i found the recipe two years ago, made a whole batch (i ended up with about 60 cookies) then, and its gingerbread-like christmasy taste and scent turned out a big success. the recipe did not let me down this time around either, it's still a simple, tender autumn cookie with rich flavoring. a great addition to a cup of tea or coffee as an afternoon treat.