I love the flavors of autumn! Allspice, clove, and nutmeg are a few of those spices that embody the flavors of the fall season. These are also three of five spices that blend together to make the ever popular pumpkin spice. My daughter and I jumped into the kitchen this past weekend and used this quintessential autumn spice blend to do some baking. We took the sugar and cinnamon centric snickerdoodle cookie and gave it a pumpkin spice twist. I have to be honest, these cookies were fantastic. They were fantastic enough that we had to share this recipe. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups plus 4 tbsp sugar, divided
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
4 tsp pumpkin spice mix (recipe below)
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups plus 4 tbsp sugar, divided
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
4 tsp pumpkin spice mix (recipe below)
Pumpkin Spice Mix
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 ½ teaspoons ground allspice
1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 ½ teaspoons ground allspice
1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves
Preheat your oven to 350 °F.
In the bowl of a standing mixer, add the butter, 1 ½ cups of sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Turn the mixer on to a low setting and allow the ingredients to mix together until well blended and soft. Allow to mix for about 5-7 minutes on the low setting.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Use a spatula to blend the dry ingredients together well. Add the fry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the mixer. Turn the mixer to a low setting and allow the dry and wet to fully blend together, leaving no dry ingredients left in the bowl unblended. At this point, change the paddle out for a dough hook and allow the dough to mix for about 5 minutes on low. The hook will cut through the dough easier than the paddle without batter getting stuck in the crevices.
Remove the bowl from the mixer, cover it with plastic wrap, and allow the dough to chill for 10-15 minutes in the refrigerator.
Meanwhile, make the pumpkin spice blend. Mix the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and clove together in a small bowl, ensuring the ground spices are well blended.
In another small bowl, mix 4 tbsp of sugar with 4 tsp of the pumpkin spice mix. Mix them until they are well blended.
Once the dough has chilled, scoop one tablespoon sizes globs of dough and roll them into balls between your palms. Roll the dough balls in sugar and pumpkin spice mixture until each dough ball is completely covered in the sugar and spice mixture. Place the dough balls on an ungreased baking tray. Place them about 3 inches apart on the baking tray. You will be able to fit roughly 12 dough balls on a standard baking tray.
This recipe will make about three dozen cookies so bake them in batches. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes at 350 °F. Allow the cookies to cool on cooking racks once they are out of the oven. Enjoy!