Caramel Filled Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Oh,  these Snickerdoodles look so normal don't they?  Stacked up in rows, showing off their cinnamony sugar goodness.  But are you looking close enough?  There's a little something that's..  off about them.

These kinda things to be exact.

Pinner of all things (that's me) found this recipe for pumpkin snickerdoodles and I kind of threw up my hands in defeat.  Yeah, Hi Fall.  Pumpkin, cinnamon, spices, gingerbread, eggnog... we'll play. And we're bringing some caramel into the picture too.

Caramel Filled Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Bake at 350* for 12 minutes. Makes around 40 using a medium sized cookie scoop.

For Cookies:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar1/2 cup light brown sugar3/4 cup pumpkin puree1 large egg2 teaspoons vanilla extract3 3/4 cups flour1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder1/2 teaspoon salt1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

For filling:
40 individually wrapped caramel candies

For Coating: 
1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Small dash of allspice

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and set aside.
2. In an electric mixer, beat sugars and butter together until fluffy.
3. Stir in pumpkin puree. 
4. Add in egg and vanilla.
5. On low, stir in the dry ingredients into the wet until fully incorporated.
6. Cover cookie dough and put in fridge to chill.

Here's where things get real boys and girls.  Once the dough has been chilled enough to be firm but still malleable, take it out of the fridge and form equal sized balls.  A medium cookie scoop worked well for me. Then gather your filling and topping.

Next you'll want to either tear apart with your hands, or a knife like I did, the top half of the cookie.  Then place an entire caramel in the center then fully recover with the dough, rolling into a ball again.

Roll the dough in the topping completely, flattening slightly before placing on cookie sheet.

Bake in oven, and if you've done a good job at covering up all the sides you shouldn't have any spillage.  In case you haven't, that't okay too.

It gives for a sneak peak of what's to come.

And what's to come is a delicious cinnamony carmael bite of goodness.

I try not to eat too much of my baking, but I always have at least one.  I might have had more that one of these.  Or more than two.  Who's counting anyways? If Summer's over that means I'm allowed to pack on an extra 5 lbs of insulation right?  Winter's coming!

They taste very lightly of pumpkin.  Next time I'll try to amp that up.  But the caramel, especially if warm tastes oh so good with the cinnamon.  I also made a batch without stuffing.  Truth be told, those did not disappear as fast as these did.  I also did some with cream cheese.  I think I like stuffing cookies with things.  Best thing about these is popping them in the microwave for 30 seconds a day or two later.  Instant caramel goodness in your mouth.  

I'll be back real soon.  I have so many baked yummy things lined up, it's ridiculous. You're probably going to want to move into the guest bedroom now in preparation.

xoxo,
Anna

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

These were on my to bake list, and I got to cross them off! And add them to list of ones i'd bake again. And i will... in four days. (Spoiled Pam, they're for her birthday weekend but i wanted to bake them beforehand to make sure that they were edible.)

I figured if I liked the cookies, then surely i'd like the cupcakes right? Turns out, I like the cupcakes more than the cookies! :) Also, i've done an informal survey that has found that boys like snicker doodles. So these cupcakes should surely catch me that husband right?

I got the basic recipe here. I halved it, and made a few changes. I was also baking another batch of experimental cupcakes as well, so i tried to reuse some ingredients. I don't think that i like baking half batches, especially frosting. It makes it somewhat harder to mix.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

(Baked for 15 minutes at 350*, made 16)

3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cups cake flour

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 tsp cream of tartar powder

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cups buttermilk

1. Sift together cake flours, all purpose flour, cream of tartar, baking powder, salt & cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.

2. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla.

3. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with additions of buttermilk, beating until combined after each addition.

I love,love, loved the look of the batter. Maybe that makes me a nerd, but i love the way the cinnamon flecks look. :) It's pretty.

It was a good consistency and scooped well into the liners.

Snickerdoodle Frosting

4 oz cream cheese (1/2 a standard package)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 table spoon brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tablespoon vanilla

1. With a hand mixer, blend together the butter and cream cheese.

2. Add brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla.

3. Add powdered sugar. (This should be to taste. I try to use as little as possible, since there's so much sugar already, but if you need to add more in order to stabilize it then so be it!)

This tasted so yummy. >.< I love cream cheese! Forever and ever, the end.

I frosted them with the standard 1M tip.

Topping

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Mix together the two ingredients.

2. Sprinkle on top of cupcakes.

Don't add too much though! Just enough to make them pretty like their cookie counterparts.

There are still two cupcakes left in the fridge. I can't decide whether to bring them into work tomorrow (which at that point they will be 3 day old cupcakes lol) or if to just eat them myself. But i guess since i will have more of these in a few days, i should be nice and feed others.

Oh and if you're wondering -- YES they totally do taste like the cookies.

xoxo,

Anna


Edit//  Here's a few extra pretty pictures of the second batch i made the following week.  Much better pictures when i'm not behind the camera! 

bottom photos by pandippo