Pumpkin Puffs
2001-10-31 @ 5:45 p.m.
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Cin asked me if I had a recipe for pumpkin cookies. I've never even thought about making pumpkin cookies, but the fact that she asked made me start thinking about it. So I brought home a can of pumpkin and went to work. I got down my ancient "Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook," the one with the duct tape holding the binding together (definitely not new for a long time) to look up cookie recipes. Actually it was my mother's cookbook, and somehow I wound up with it. It is from the days when my mother used to actually cook, or at least try to. My mother was never much of a cook. But we made the hell out of some sugar cookies from a recipe out of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.
Here is what I came up with.
1/2 of a 15 oz can of pumpkin
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup shortening (I used canola oil)
a couple of shakes of nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground clove
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Mix together the first eight ingredients (through clove) and set aside. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Blend the two into a batter. It should be hard to stir by the time you are done. Spoon these onto a greased cookie sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 to 12 minutes.
This batter doesn't melt down and spread out the way cookie dough usually does, hence the name Pumpkin Puffs. They look like little puffs of cookies. The advantage to that is you can put them closer together on the cookie sheet. One batch makes about 4 dozen little puff balls (about a heaping teaspoon of dough per ball). I didn't even try to form them into balls, so they have little horns which make nice little crispy spots.
These are very fluffy cookies, but they are not very sweet (I would call them moderately sweet). If you think you might want them sweeter try adding about 1/2 cup more sugar. Those of you who like nuts in your cookies might try adding almonds or pecans. Since neither Badsnake nor Jake likes nuts in stuff like that, I didn't.
What do you do with a leftover half can of pumpkin? Make more cookies? I don't know if pumpkin freezes, but we may find out. If you make a second batch of cookie dough, that should freeze just fine. Save it for Thanksgiving.
By the way, that reminds me that I told you about an experiment I tried a few months ago. I made a cilantro pesto and put it in the freezer. It didn't work. Failed experiment. That's why they are called experiments. So far cilantro seems to be one of those things that is very difficult, if not impossible to preserve. I found dried cilantro at the Farmer's Market, but it just isn't the same.
Tea kettle is screaming. Now I'm going to go have tea and pumpkin cookies and read a wine book.
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