Orange and White Pumpkin Cookies

Orange and White Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ½ teaspoon ground allspice
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • 2 ½ sticks (1 ¼ cups) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 3 tablespoons molasses
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 ¼ cups canned pure pumpkin
  • ½ cup buttermilk, well shaken
  • 2 recipes Chef Gail’s Easiest Vanilla Buttercream Ever, one dyed orange and the other left white

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  • In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together molasses, vanilla, pumpkin, and buttermilk. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
  • On low speed, add one egg at a time to the butter mixture, incorporating each egg before adding another.
  • On low speed, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter and egg mixture, and blend well. Add ½ of the liquid ingredients, and blend well.
  • Add another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, followed by the remaining liquid ingredients, and blend well.
  • Add the remaining dry ingredients, and blend until combined.
  • Line 2 large sheet pans with parchment paper and using a small ice cream scoop (approximately ½ ounce), drop scoopfuls of dough onto the lined sheet pans, spacing 2 inches apart.
  • Bake cookies for approximately 13-15 minutes or until a small sharp knife inserted into the middle of a cookie comes out clean. Repeat scooping dough and baking off cookies.
  • Place cooled cookies on a sheet pan lined with wax paper and set aside.
  • Cut a ½ inch opening in two pastry bags: fill one of the pastry bags with the orange buttercream and fill the other pastry bag with white buttercream. Secure the top of each pastry bag with a twist tie.
  • Place both pastry bags, side by side, into a third pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Decorate each cookie with swirls of frosting. If one color comes out alone first, don’t worry – they will both come out together eventually as swirls, as you keep frosting.

Notes

Makes approximately 4 dozen