12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies - Pumpkin Bucket List

As I mentioned in my other post, I have a sort of "Pumpkin Bucket List" going on with all the pumpkin recipes I want to make. So, today I decided to make the Pumpkin Gingerbread and the Pumpkin Molasses Cookies.

The pumpkin gingerbread recipe makes a lot. I halved the recipe and still got three rather large-sized mini loaves. The bread has a nice tight crumb to it and a delightfully crunchy crust on the top.


Unfortunately, the taste was not what I was hoping for. I was really wanting that ginger flavor to shine through, but instead what I got was your every day pumpkin bread. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that. I still went ahead and devoured a couple of pieces. I'm thinking that I might have to just use all ginger in this recipe and maybe add some crystallized ginger to it as well. It's worth playing around with.

As for the pumpkin molasses cookies, I was also thinking that they might have that gingerbready flavor to them as well, but I just couldn't detect it. In an effort to spice up the flavor of the cookies, I drizzled some of the with melted pumpkin spice kisses and others of them with some melted white chocolate to which I had added ginger and cinnamon. That helped to improve the flavor a bit.


I still have some of the batter left too and am considering rolling them in a mixture of ginger and sugar before baking them. Of course, as with all spice cookies, the flavor tends to deepen over time, so I'll have to taste them again in a day or two. But, the search for a great pumpkin gingerbread cookie is still on.

As for Pupkin, well, he just cares about one thing.
"When do we eat?"

Pumpkin Gingerbread (Allrecipes)

3 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
4 eggs
2/3 c. water
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
3 1/2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, oil, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Add water and beat until well blended. Stir in pumpkin, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves. In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour.

Note: I didn't realize that the recipe said to add water, so I inadvertently left this out. However, I don't see why you would need the extra moisture since the bread's texture is perfectly fine without it.


Pumpkin Molasses Cookies (My Baking Addiction)

2 1/3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice (I used 2 tsp. ginger powder, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. cloves, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp. allspice)
1/4 tsp. black pepper (I omitted this)
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1/4 c. molasses
2/3 c. pumpkin puree
1 egg
1/2 c. sugar, for rolling

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and pepper.

Beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the brown sugar, molasses, and pumpkin puree and beat for 2 min. Add the egg and beat for 1 min. more. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing until the flour and spices disappear. You will have a very soft dough.

Divide the dough in half and wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Freeze for at least 30 min. or refrigerate for at least 1 hour. The dough is sticky, so the longer time it can chill, the easier it is to work with.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Put the sugar into a small bowl. Divide each half of dough into 12 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Roll the balls in the sugar and use the bottom of a glass to press down on the cookies until they are between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick. Transfer to cookie sheets. (I simply used two spoons to form the dough into balls, rolled them in sugar, and pressed down with a spoon that had been dipped in sugar.)

Bake the cookies for 12-14 min. or until the top feels set to the touch. Let cookies cool 5 min. on the sheets before transferring to cooling rack.

This recipe is linked to:
A Prairie Story's Recipe Swap
Friday's Potluck
Friday Favorites
Vegetarian Foodie Fridays
Holly Jolly Recipe Swap
Holiday Treats Hook-up

Week 8 Twelve Weeks of Christmas: