Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Since fall has officially begun, pumpkin has been EVERYWHERE! 

Pumpkin spice syrup in my coffee (recipe to come)

 Pumpkin in my breakfast muffins

Decorative pumpkins at HEB. Can you see that label? Cinderella Pumpkins!

and Pumpkinators at Hey Cupcake (which I just can't resist)

And since I had all of this wonderful pumpkin puree left in my pantry, I, of course, needed to whip these up for my students. 

I really loved the texture and consistency of these cookies- they stayed thick and soft, which is just the way I like them! 

Here's what you'll need:

For the cookies:
3¾ cups all-purpose flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the coating:
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
Dash of allspice

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  In another bowl, beat together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. 

 Blend in the pumpkin puree.  

Beat in the egg and vanilla. 

 With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients until it's just all combined. If you have a $7 mixer from Wal-Mart that you had to run out and buy because you killed your other mixer, you may consider doing this part by hand. Because this dough gets pretty thick.  Cover the dough and refrigerate for about an hour- this will make it much simpler to shape and bake.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F and grease your baking sheets (unless you use fancy silicone mats or something... in that case, just prep your fancy mats :) )Combine the sugar and spices for the coating in a bowl and mix to blend.  Flour your hands, scoop the dough and roll into a ball.  Keep in mind when forming your dough balls that the cookies will retain the shape you set!

Coat the dough ball in the sugar-spice mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet.  Repeat with the remaining dough to fill the sheets, spacing the dough balls 2-3 inches apart.  Dip the bottom of a flat-bottomed drinking glass in water, then in the sugar-spice mixture, and use the bottom to flatten the dough balls slightly.  Recoat the bottom of the glass in the sugar-spice mixture as needed.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just set and baked through.  Let them cool completely- I grabbed one right off the hot sheet and ate it... but do as I say and not as I do.   If there are any left once people smell these, store them in an airtight container.

Adapted from Annie's Eats, originally from Recipe Girl .