Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies

 

 

   These are Phil's favorite fall time cookie. I will admit that they are one of my favorites too. I've been thinking about making them for a few weeks now and as we are expecting a bit of snow later on this week I think I may have missed the mark on fall. Luckily it is still October, and pumpkin will be in vogue for at least 2 more months. These cookies are more cakey than say a chocolate chip. They are also pretty sweet,  but that can be adjusted by the amount of butterscotch chips that you add.

The recipe took some trial and error to perfect, but I couldn't be more proud of the fruit of my experimentation. The secret is in NOT over-mixing the dough.

Ingredients:

4oz      Butter

1 C      Sugar

1 C      Pumpkin Puree

1 tsp    Vanilla

2 C      All-Purpose Flour

1/4 tsp  Salt

1 tsp     Baking Soda

1 tsp     Baking Powder

1 tsp     Cinnamon

1/2 tsp  Nutmeg

1/4 tsp  Cloves

1/2 tsp  Ginger

1 1/2 C  Butterscotch  Chips

1/2 tsp   Pumpkin Pie Spice

Pumpkin Pie Spice (make this amount and save it in a small jar or just adjust the amounts for a single batch of cookies)

1/2 oz    Black Pepper

1/2 oz    Ginger

1/4 oz    Mace

1/4 oz    Nutmeg

Procedure:

- Preheat oven to 350 F. (bake time approx. 12 minutes)

  make sure racks are in the center of the oven

- Cream butter and sugar with electric mixer on Med. speed until light and fluffy

- Beat in pumpkin and vanilla

- In a separate bowl measure out the dry ingredients, sift them or use a dry whisk and stir it all together to make sure that the spices, salt and leavening are all evenly distributed

- Take the paddle or beaters out of the mixing bowl with the butter and pumpkin mixture (you will not need the mixer any more)

- In 3 additions, add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture by folding

- After the last addition, before all the dry has been completely mixed in, add the butterscotch chips

- Continue to fold together until all the flour has been mixed in and the chips are distributed evenly.

-Drop the dough on to cookie sheets in 1 1/2 oz portions (approx. 3Tbs)

  Really you can make them whatever size you want, but this is my standard home size

-Press each cookie down lightly with your fingers (these babies don't spread very much so they need a little help to flatten out)

- Bake for 9 minutes then check for doneness

- Flip pans around and bake for approx. 3 more minutes

 - The cookies should be very soft, matte in color, not glossy (glossy means doughy), if you bake these until they are golden on top they will be overdone

- Allow them to rest 3-5 min on the hot cookie sheets before moving them to a cooling rack