In case you haven't noticed lately, the past few years have seen pumpkin flavored treats growing and growing in popularity each fall. This year it seems like EVERYTHING has to be pumpkin flavored, and you know what? I can't be more happy about it. BRING IT ON.
Pumpkin flavored coffees are the standard and not even worth commenting on anymore. Pumpkin bread? Pumpkin muffins? Please. Those are your grandmother's fad foods. Today we're doing something a little different. We're pumpkining snickerdoodles. Why? Because snickerdoodles already use a spice that pumpkin treats rarely exist without: cinnamon. And what's fall without the warm, nostalgic flavor of cinnamon?
Another necessary ingredient of snickerdoodles is cream of tartar. It's been used in cooking for centuries, one if its applications being the activation of baking soda. Personally, I've noticed that most modern recipes use either lemon juice or vinegar to activate baking soda while cream of tartar shows up more often in older recipes. In any case, snickerdoodles just don't taste right without this ingredient. It has a specific tang to it that makes your brain go "AHA! This is a snickerdoodle!" where without it, you'd just be eating a cinnamon cookie.
So be sure not to leave out the cream of tartar when preparing your dry ingredients, then take out the mixer for making your dough.
Cream together the margarine and sugar and add in your pumpkin and vanilla. Then, slowly mix in your dry ingredients until you have a rich, sticky batter.
Scoop up 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) of dough at a time and roll it around in a cinnamon sugar mixture. A small icecream scoop really helps with this.
Place the cookies on parchment lined baking sheets, giving them room to spread. After a short time in the oven, they will become puffy and lightly browned. Let them cool on the baking sheets so they harden up a bit before moving them to wire racks to cool completely. Finally, enjoy your pillowy pumpkin snickerdoodles with a cup of coffee while watching orange and yellow leaves descend over your back yard.
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Makes around 2 dozen cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegan margarine, cut into pieces
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin purée (canned or homemade)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Coating
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Method
- Prepare the cookies. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Combine flour, cornstarch, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and salt in a large bowl.
- Beat together the margarine and both sugars with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in the pumpkin purée and vanilla until well mixed. Using a low speed, add the flour mixture in batches and beat until just combined.
- Prepare the coating. Combine sugar and cinnamon on a plate and mix well.
- Scoop 1/8 cup of dough (or use a small ice cream scoop) on to the plate with the cinnamon sugar mixture, then roll it around until well coated. Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand. Repeat with remaining dough and place on baking sheet, spacing the cookies about 1-2” apart from each other.
- Bake each sheet of cookies separately for 12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are just browned. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack to continue cooling.