I own a small bakery in Charleston SC. I was looking for a pumpkin cookie and came across this recipe. Did a test bake and was absolutely floored. These cookies are amazing and now I can't keep them on the shelf. After they have cooled I dip the entire top into a milk and powdered sugar glaze. I allow that to dry overnight and this seals the moisture into the cookie. Thanks for sharing this formula.
Reading other postings I decided to try and make half with craisins and half with fresh cranberrys to see which I liked better. I'd definetely go with real cranberries - it's such an interesting, tangy taste that you don't get too often and the real cranberries look GORGEOUS in the cookies. I felt the craisins got lost in the cookies and you didn't taste them as much.
Also, I did half a teaspoon of cinammon, half pumpkin pie spice. And per someones recommendation I sprinkled cinammon on top of the cookies - nice touch. I didn't have walnuts - used hazelnuts which were fine, but I'm betting walnuts would go better. Sometimes you make pumpkin cookies and you don't taste the pumpkin - you do here. You could even serve these along with your Thanksgiving meal instead of as a dessert if you were so inclined.
I made a double batch for card club on Saturday, and they were such a hit! I can't eat sugar, so I used 1 cup of Splenda instead of sugar. They were so moist and delicious that everyone asked for the recipe and took baggies of them home with them! Great as a sugar free food.
These cookies are attractive, moist and delicious -- the perfect fall cookie. The fresh cranberries elevate the cookie to something truly different, perfectly tart. I'd avoid Craisins -- they are neither as pretty, moist nor tart. I sweetened the cookies and boosted the flavor with a 1/2 cup shredded coconut (if you don't like coconut, I'd add 1/4 cup of brown sugar) and added 1/8 tsp. of cloves and 1/4 tsp. nutmeg. I also substituted pecans because I prefer the taste to walnuts. I found there was no good substitute for the orange zest -- it adds a tremendous amount of flavor. Lastly, I drizzled the cooled cookies with powdered sugar mixed with milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Note that because much of the moistness of these cookies comes from pumpkin rather than butter or brown sugar, these cookies do not spread. As a result, round balls of dough will yield puffed golfball/haystacks as noted by another reviewer. To avoid this, when rotating my cookies at the halfway point of baking, I quickly flatten them down with a spatula (much easier than trying to flatten down sticky raw dough). By the time they finish baking, they are nicely puffed but in the traditional round, flat shape of a cookie.
I didn't have an orange, so I substituted in grated ginger. I wish I could bottle the smell of this batter! Great cookies - can't keep my roommate off them!
This cookie is absolutely delicious!!! It is everything it claims to be; light fluffy moist and yummy. I like that I can taste the flavors of both the pumpkin and cranberry in this recipe. The sweetness is not overpowering just enough. I'm a cookie maker and this will definitely be added to my list of "go to" cookies. I did substitute whole wheat flour for the white flour (for health) and concentrated frozen OJ for the orange zest because I was too lazy to zest the orange. Also I used my food chopper to chop the cranberries in batches. Not only was this easier but the cranberries were more even distributed throughout the cookie. Still YUMMY!!! In the last 12 of the batch I added white morsels to trick my youngest daughter into eating them -- these were great too; still not too sweet. I already told my mom she needs to make these too.
I made these cookies with a little bit of concentraited orange juice instead of zest and 1 cup extra cranberries and they turned out great!!! I absolutely recomend this recipe.
I love pumpkin. These were beautiful. Worth the work. I added a little bit more sugar the second time I made them. They are very moist cake like cookie. Just perfect for the Holidays.
These are awesome! I use half white flour and half whole wheat flour which I think makes them even better. I also use dried orange-flavored cranberries (Craisins). They're so moist and cakey - I don't like hard cookies. The guys in my office always ask when I'm going to bring in more.
They are Ok. I would not make them again. There are much better pumpkin recipes.
