From: The Scene Blog
A fall cookie recipe you need in your life
Photo by Mckim Jean-Pierre.
Ah, fall. It’s the best time of the year (and I’m not just saying that because I’m a Sagittarius). It’s not so cold that you have to invest in a wool coat to keep warm, and it’s not so hot that you’re sweating bullets the second you step outside. Nope, fall is a time when the year finally starts winding down and we can admire the beautiful death that is the colorful leaves littering every last inch of the quad. And even though I love pumpkin patches and corn mazes as much as the next girl, well…We’re in D.C.
So what’s the next best thing to do this fall without having to spend an hour on the Metro?
Baking, of course!
With Halloween right around the corner, I decided to look up some fun Halloween recipes to fit the spooky mood we all love. Where better to look than Buzzfeed, which is always coming up with ideas on how to stuff your face during the holidays (and every other time of the year for that matter)? When I first decided to write this article, the only new Halloween recipe list they had up consisted of healthy snacks that could be made with four items or less. But you know what? I like a challenge. And since they took a whole other week to upload the list of “15 Scarily Delicious Treats Sure to Slay Any Party,” I moved on to something less festive, but equally, if not more delicious, in the “15 Delicious Baked Treats That Taste Just Like Fall” list instead.
Four words: White Chocolate Pumpkin Snickerdoodles.
It takes a good bit of ingredients to make this recipe, although most of them include staples you might already have around the house: flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, to name a few. The only thing is, I forgot I wasn’t at home and didn’t have any of these ingredients. Gotta love college, am I right? Hence, my roommates and I were able to take a trip to the nearest Safeway and grab all the goods. The only thing that sets this apart from your everyday baking needs is probably the pumpkin puree, which was used as an alternative to eggs, believe it or not. Personally, I’m not the best person to talk to when it comes to cracking eggs, so you wouldn’t believe how fascinated I was to find out this recipe didn’t contain A SINGLE EGG and still managed to make the dough turn out absolutely amazing. Perfect for you vegans out there!
The recipe makes a point to say that chilling is mandatory, and says to seal the dough in a container and leave it in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes. Honestly, chilling it for 30 minutes was hardly enough time for it to solidify enough to roll it in your hands before placing it on the cookie sheet. However, since my friends and I were making these at two in the morning, the sooner we could get them in the oven, the better. Fortunately, it hardly made much of a difference since they still spread out evenly in their circular cookie form.
While the recipe hinted at waiting an hour before enjoying, I waited for probably a good nine and a half minutes before cramming that white chocolate pumpkin goodness into my mouth. As someone who worked in a cookie shop for a year back home, believe me when I say these are fall-tastic.
For those of you who want a little treat this fall, here’s the recipe below:
White Chocolate Pumpkin Snickerdoodles Recipe (courtesy of Sally’s Baking Addiction)
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons pumpkin puree
- 1 and ½ cups of all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ cup white chocolate chips
Directions
- Melt the butter in the microwave. Whisk melted butter, brown sugar, and ½ granulated sugar together in a medium bowl until no brown sugar lumps remain. Whisk in vanilla and pumpkin until smooth.
- Toss together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, 1 and ½ teaspoons of cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until the dough is very soft. Fold in white chocolate chips evenly in the dough. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes, or up to 30 days.
- Remove dough from refrigerator and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or grease with butter or cooking spray.
- Scoop 1.5 tablespoons of dough and roll into balls if possible. Mix remaining ½ cup of granulated sugar with ½ teaspoon of cinnamon. Roll the dough balls into the mixture and arrange on baking sheets. Slightly flatten the dough balls.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and press in more chocolate chips if needed.
- Allow cookies to cool for at least 10 minutes on the cookie sheets before enjoying.
If you haven’t gone into the lounge kitchen to treat yourself to fall goodies just yet, I say definitely go for it! Why limit yourself to PSLs every other night when you could have fun with friends making something new? With midterms winding to a close, I know I definitely needed this. It’s the perfect way to finally get a taste of fall, even if the weather doesn’t know it yet.
