Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cookies...who doesn't love them?

I mean, there are so many different flavors and textures, what's not to love? From plain, unfrosted sugar cookies to double chocolate chip to oatmeal raisin, and especially all those wonderful creations that only make their way out of the kitchen at Christmastime, cookies are as American to us as baseball and apple pie!! It's easy to get stuck in a rut of making the same cookies every time, and we're no different...but we're trying to break out of our norm and give all those new potentially awesome recipes out there a try. We love our Sweet Pumpkin Chippers first and foremost - because we make them with Ghiradelli chips, of course - but this recipe was sent to me by my friend Anita last fall, and we decided we had to try it. If one pumpkin cookie recipe is good, two can only be better, right?

Give these a try, folks!! You won't be disappointed. When I first made them, my dog stole seven of them off the counter and left two with the frosting licked off...no joke. Of course, I blamed my 3 year old son, who vehemently proclaimed his innocence...until I saw the cream cheese frosting on Scout's whiskers. So from ALL of us (even Scout), these are definitely worth the trouble!!

Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt

Frosting:

1 tbsp. vanilla
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 stick butter
8 oz. cream cheese

Heat oven to 375. Cream butter, sugar, and pumpkin. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Sift dry ingredients together and mix in with the creamed ingredients. Drop from spoon onto cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Beat frosting ingredients until smooth, and frost cookies after they have cooled.

**Note: This is the original recipe, but I like to use 1/2 oat flour and 1/2 white flour, and I also add 1-2 tsp. of flax meal. You know what we always say..."just wing it!!"