Pumpkin Pie Cookies

Oh, the Thanksgiving season is upon us. Last year at this time, I was somewhat obsessed with tarts. This year, I am just obsessed with pumpkin.

So here are my awesome pumpkin pie cookies. They taste like amazing little pieces of pumpkin cake, they're so moist they stick to your fingers, and they have a whopping dose of vitamin A from the pumpkin. For a dessert, they're actually pretty good for you.

And I will add a soft-cookie secret: instant pudding mix. I don't know how it happens (because as far as I can tell, instant pudding is just sugar and cornstarch), but adding a few tablespoons of pudding mix makes the softest, greatest cookies. I usually like flatter, less cake-like cookies personally, but when I'm doing big, soft cookies, this is the way to go.

So if you don't feel like making a full pumpkin pie, these are a unique, easy alternative to satisfy your pumpkin cravings till next year.

Pumpkin Cookies

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup butter, softened (1/2 stick)

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 egg

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 box french vanilla instant pudding mix

2 tbsp milk

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix butter, sugar, pumpkin, egg, spices, salt, vanilla and milk. In a second bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and pudding mix until evenly distributed. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture, stirring until smoothly incorporated. Spoon batter onto a greased baking sheet, using heaping tablespoons for portions.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until a knife inserted into a cookie comes out clean.

Makes about 20 cookies.