21 Days of Cookies: Day 1
When, officially, does “pumpkin spice” season end? Is it after Thanksgiving or does it last through the new year? To be honest, it’s always pumpkin spice season in my heart, so the day on the calendar doesn’t matter to me. These soft drop cookies combine pumpkin, white chocolate, and toasted macadamia nuts, and they’re a cinch to whip up.
Just about any time I’m cooking with pumpkin, I use pumpkin pie spice, instead of measuring out the individual spices. I was excited to make a pumpkin recipe using my new Pumpkin Pie Spice that I brought home from King Arthur Flour in Vermont! I wanted to buy everything, but limited myself to things I could fit in my carry-on.
I’ve always used McCormick’s, so I was curious to see if there was any difference between the two, and to my surprise, there was!
Both have a blend of cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg (although assuming the ingredients are by weight, then King Arthur has more ginger than McCormick’s). But for the last ingredient, King Arthur has cloves, and McCormick has Allspice. And “sulfiting agents” which sounds awful. It will take an extremely sensitive pumpkin spice palate to differentiate between these spices. Challenge accepted.
This cookie’s a pretty standard drop cookie. It’s a thick dough that does spread a bit, so keep your cookies small and you can fit 12 to a sheet. Oh and of course, toast those macadamia nuts to get the full flavor and texture out of them. They’re expensive, so maximize their punch! Of course, pecans or walnuts would work just as well, but the cookie wouldn’t be quite as unique.
Pumpkin White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- ½ cup granulated white sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice or 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ground gloves
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Cream butter and sugars.
- Add egg, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract. Combine thoroughly.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and spices.
- Add dry ingredients to wet and stir to combine.
- Add macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips.
- Drop by tablespoons onto greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Smaller cookies (12 to a sheet) work better because this cookie is so soft and spready.
- Bake 12-14 minutes or until centers are set.
These cookies earned rave reviews from my guinea pig taste testers. The combination of the earthy pumpkin, warm spices, creamy white chocolate bits and buttery-crunchy macadamia nuts is unusual but very tasty. But if I’m being honest, and as much as it pains me to say, I prefer my good old standby McCormick’s pumpkin spice over the King Arthur. Possibly it’s just what I’m accustomed to, but I also prefer ginger in very small doses rather than it being the star of the cookie.
Whichever pumpkin spice blend you use, these cookies will be a hit.
