Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies for #Halloween #recipe @Lucyburdette

LUCY BURDETTE: I love Halloween, especially in Key West, which is rife with costumes and parades during this season. (KILLER TAKEOUT was set during the Halloween week--so much fun!) And I love snickerdoodles...hmmm. Could I combine the two? I set myself a challenge--revising my snickerdoodle recipe so it suited Halloween. I think I nailed it--but make a batch and see what you think...

Ingredients

Two sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
2 and 1/2 tsp low-sodium baking powder
2 and 3/4 cups flour
2 eggs, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

For the topping:

2-3 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 375. Sift the dry ingredients (salt, sugar, flour, and low-sodium baking powder) together and set aside. Using either a beater or a Kitchenaid mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, about 1 to 2 minutes after each addition. Add the pumpkin and the vanilla and beat lightly until combined.

Slowly mix in the dry ingredients--don't beat too long or the cookies will be tough. Divide the dough into two parts and roll them into logs, wrapped with parchment paper. Refrigerate for two hours or freeze for one. (As you can see from my photo, this isn't a beauty contest, as you'll be rolling the cookies too.)

Mix the spices and sugar on a plate. Cut the logs into one-inch pieces and form them into balls. Roll the balls in the cinnamon mixture and place them on 2 parchment-covered baking sheets. You should end up with about 2 dozen. Big ones!

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes, removing them as soon as the first cracks appear.

Lucy and her husband, ready for the zombie bike ride

King and Queen of Key West fantasy fest

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mysteries--find them wherever books are sold! Find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest--Instagram too...