Spice Up Your Snickerdoodles - Try Pumpkindoodles!

Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodles
It's officially fall now, and we all know what that means. Cozy socks, long sleeves, rainy days and of course, pumpkin-flavored everything. From pancakes to lattes, M&Ms to marshmallows, 'tis the season for pumpkin spice. 

 With that in mind, I decided it was time to spice up one of my favorites, too. If snickerdoodles are already so yummy, why not try... pumpkindoodles?! But, before getting crazy with the pumpkin, let's start with the basic Snickerdoodle recipe. 
Melt-in-your-mouth snickerdoodles... teehee!

The recipe I use already has a slight twist on run-of-the-mill snickerdoodle since most recipes call for shortening, but I steadfastly choose butter. As I mentioned in the π r Delicious: Pi Pies blog, I'm not a fan of hydrogenation and instead find ways to substitute more natural ingredients. If I'm going to eat junk food, it's going to be natural junk food! 

                                                           SNICKERDOODLES
                                                        1 C. butter, softened
                                                        1 1/2 C. sugar
                                                        2 eggs
                                                        2 3/4 C. flour
                                                        2 tsp cream of tartar
                                                        1 tsp baking soda
                                                        1/4 tsp salt
                                                        2 Tbsp sugar
                                                        2 tsp cinnamon

 Note: The final two ingredients (sugar and cinnamon) are used for the snickerdoodle coating, so keep them separate!

Short the shortening; butter is better!

In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter, sugar and eggs together until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Then combine both the wet and the dry mixtures and refrigerate the resulting dough for 30 minutes.
Taking a dip in the cinnamon sugar
Next up, combine the sugar and cinnamon for the tasty cookie coating. Form the chilled dough into little spheres (about a tablespoon each) and roll each one in the cinnamon sugar until fully coated. 
Snickerdoodles need their space.

Place coated dough balls on a greased cookie sheet about 2" apart and bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes (or in the case of my crazy oven, 7-8 minutes at 355°). Once the cookies are golden brown, remove from the oven and cool on a rack. 
Golden brown and delicious!

A good tip for streamlining the cookie process: try rolling all the dough balls first and then dousing them in the sweet stuff assembly line style. It makes for cleaner hands and much less of a mess!
Oodles of doodles!

And now, what you've all been waiting for: PUMPKINDOODLES! The recipe for pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies is essentially the same as the above recipe with a few minor tweaks:
  • Instead of 1 cup of butter, use 1 cup of pumpkin puree. 

Orange you glad we're not done yet?

  • Since the pumpkin dough is much gooier than the normal snickerdoodle dough, nix the fridge and instead try chilling it in the freezer for easier handling.

Not as spherical, but just as good!

  • To complete the Pumpkin Spice transformation, add a dash of nutmeg to the cinnamon sugar dip. Yum!

Pumpkin puffs!

 And there you have it: Pumpkindoodle cookies just in time for autumn. While they still have some snickerdoodle bite, pumpkindoodles come out a little cakier, puffier and fuller of the pumpkin deliciousness you crave. Plus, since there's no butter OR shortening, they're a guilt-free, low-fat snack!
Just add latte

 If you like the pumpkin substitution trick, try swapping in applesauce for oil in your next baking adventures! To see an example, visit the Firefly Shindig: Jayne Hat Bundt Cake blog. And as always, happy baking!

 For more festive autumnal time blogs, check out the Foxy Jack-o-Lantern & Sweet Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, the Peanuts themed Harvest Festival Cut-Out Board, more than a decade's worth of Halloween Costume Art and the latest installment, Halloween 2016: Costume pARTy!

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