Pumpkin Pie Snickerdoodles: Denver

I would like to start by noting that this recipe was so simple I actually am struggling with what all to say about it. I followed some simple directions. I got incredible results. I ate a lot of cookies. Wham, bam, thank you, ma’am.

Like Nora’s, my pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies were cakey – I think I liked them extra for that fact. I like soft cookies, and these were little clouds of pumpkin spice. I swear, I don’t think Crepes of Wrath has ever lead me awry.

I love snickerdoodles, in part because they remind me (for no reason other than nomenclature) of one of my VERY favorite childhood books – The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews (yes, that Julie Andrews). It’s a fantastic book and maybe one day I will sit down and re-read it as an adult.

That said, these were fairly un-snickerdoodley, if you overlook the sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. They didn’t have any cream of tartar in them (one of the hallmark tastes of snickerdoodles, in my book), and as Nora said in her post, they didn’t have that signature crisp of snickerdoodles. So, perhaps “pumpkin snickerdoodle” is a misnomer. I don’t care much at all – these were some of the best cookies I think I’ve produced in quite a long time.

I started sifting dry ingredients…

I actually cut the dry sugar down and amped up the molasses content in these cookies. I know I have expostulated about my love of molasses on this blog before, but I do so love it. It’s the southerner in me, I suppose.

Anyway – I left enough sugar in this recipe to help mix the butter into tiny fat particles, but eliminated enough that I could still add some extra molasses without having them be too sweet.

So – extra molasses into the wet mixture (which I did not photograph because I am lazy and also it was not very appealing). Then, I got the dry and wet mixtures juuuuuust mixed together –And…

What a texture! This dough was like satin.

I rolled it into balls and dipped each ball into the cinnamon sugar mix before flattening them onto a cookie sheet.

I love that my unbaked cookies have the exact same indentation pattern as Nora’s did.

In and out they came. (Easiest. Cookies. Ever.) Unlike with a LOT of seasonal pumpkin baked goods, I didn’t think these were too heavy on the spices (regularly, I find that all I can taste in this sort of thing is nutmeg, which is a nice flavor, but not exactly “pumpkin spice”).

I am already thinking I might need to make another batch of these ASAP. Honestly, I’m hard-pressed to think of another cookie that I liked as much as these. My Orange Chocolate Brownie cookies with M&Ms (linking to Nora’s, since my post for those was weak) from almost exactly a year ago maaaaaybe squeak by this batch, but it’s a close one.