Spiced Pumpkin and Oatmeal Cookies

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...The near saucer-size of these soft and chewy cookies makes them a perfect contender for a fall church or school bake sale. While the recipe, which comes from the CHOW test kitchen, is simple, these warmly spiced cookies are delicious and they're a perfect accompaniment for warm cider on a brisk fall day. The maple-flavored drizzle that's used to finish the cookies provides a nice counterpoint to the warm spice flavoring and the oatmeal adds some texture to an otherwise cake-like treat. Once the drizzled icing has set, the cookies can be wrapped and stored at room temperature for up to 5 days. These cookies are a nice change of pace from standard fall fare and I hope you'll give this recipe a try. Here is how the cookies are made.

Spiced Pumpkin and Oatmeal Cookies Pumpkin...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of CHOW Test Kitchen

Ingredients:
Cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/3 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin purée (not pie filling; about 1 3/4 cups)
Glaze
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon milk (not nonfat), plus more as needed
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Directions:
1) To make cookies:
    Heat oven to 350 degrees F and arrange racks to divide oven into thirds. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Whisk flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl to aerate and break up any lumps. Set aside.
    Place butter and both sugars in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until lightened in color and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Stop mixer and scrape down paddle and sides of bowl with a rubber spatula. Add egg and vanilla and return mixer to medium speed, and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Stop mixer and scrape down paddle and sides of the bowl.
    With mixer on low speed, add half of reserved flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add half of pumpkin and mix until just incorporated. Repeat with remaining flour mixture and pumpkin.
    Drop 8 dough rounds per baking sheet by scant 1/4 cup, staggering them 2 inches apart on prepared sheets. Place remaining dough in refrigerator. Place both sheets in oven and bake for 12 minutes. Rotate pans from top to bottom and front to back and continue baking until cookies are golden brown on bottom and around the edges, about 12 minutes more.
   Place baking sheets on wire racks and let cookies cool on sheets for 3 minutes. Using a flat spatula, transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Let baking sheets cool to room temperature and then repeat with remaining dough (you can use the same parchment paper). When all cookies are baked, set pieces of parchment paper aside.
2) To make glaze:
    Place powdered sugar, milk and maple syrup in a medium bowl and whisk until evenly combined. (You may need to add more milk by the 1/2 teaspoon if glaze is too thick to drizzle.)
    Place cooled cookies on reserved parchment sheets. Dip a fork into glaze and drizzle it over the cookies in a zigzag pattern. Let the cookies sit at room temperature until the glaze has set, about 20 minutes. Yield: 24 cookies.

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