Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing

It is about to be officially Fall in Texas and in our house we're already looking forward to everything and anything pumpkin. I just invested in a Ninja System and was too excited to try it out for the first time.

I found this recipe from The Baker Chic and adapted it a little bit. Which really means I can't follow directions very well :) The cookies were a hit, though!

My man came home from lunch with a buddy and they each ate two and took some to their coworkers, who finished the rest. Glad I saved some for us at home and glad that this adventure went well.

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 pure cane sugar (she used white sugar)
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting:
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup softened cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. ground cinnamon


To make the cookies:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

The Baker Chic suggests to cream together 1/2 cup butter and sugar and in a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt to set aside. I just threw everything except the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla into my Ninja and used the dough mixer. I pushed the "dough" button for about 20 seconds and then pulsed the ingredients. It didn't look promising, at first.

Then, I added the pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla and pulsed again. It started to look more like dough.

All mixed up and spooning
onto cookie sheet

I used a regular spoon to drop bits of dough on a cookie sheet covered with foil and the original recipe suggests to flatten the dough. I didn't. TIP: When the recipe says flatten out the cookies, really try to flatten them out or else you'll end up with ugly, but tasty, cookies.

Should have smoothed them flat, but they taste good!

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. 

To make the frosting:
Cream butter and cream cheese together. This time I used my hand mixer. I added powdered sugar and mixed until thick and creamy. Then, I added the vanilla and cinnamon. When the cookies were cool, I used a spoon to drizzle the frosting (which was kind of runny...not sure why) onto the cookies.

The results were tasty cookies that didn't look as fancy as the original pictures, but we really liked how soft they were. They had the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor. Next time I try them, I'll see if I can get them to be more flat. 

Have you tried to make recipes with a pumpkin flavor? What's your favorite?