When I was a single girl, I purchased my first home next to a very nice older couple. They were the nicest neighbors anyone could ever wish for. Every year Miss Marian would bake these wonderful pumpkin shaped cookies for Halloween and give them out as treats. Unfortunately today, you can't give such treats out because they will end up in the trash can. After I got married and moved away from the neighborhood, I would take my kids to their house every Halloween for those treats. THEY wanted those cookies and looked forward to them every year! Even though she shared that recipe, I never made those cookies.
One day I decided to make them. Well, well, well, I got bad reviews and scolded that they did not taste like hers! I put the recipe away and never made them again. Years went on, the kids got older and did not go out for Halloween any more, so no more cookies for them. We moved again and somehow that recipe got lost, the kids still always talking about her pumpkin cookies, and me telling them to be quiet about the pumpkin cookies.
So it's Fall again, Halloween is right around the corner. My husband, thinking like he always does, stops at their house as he is passing by one day, and asks her for the recipe. He brings it home to me and asks me to make the cookies, again. Here is the result, much better this time, as I am older and wiser about baking at least. The kids (they're adults now) are enjoying their pumpkin cookies with milk. Everybody is happy, it's Fall again!
Recipe below.
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A few ingredients to start with. Almost everything you would have I'm sure, except the molasses.
Get the ingedients going in the heavy duty mixer, and you get this nice ball of soft, gingery dough.
Line baking sheets with parchement, you don't want them to stick.
Cut them out with a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter. Ms. Marion used the old Tupperware pumpkin cookie cutter that had a face on it . I had the same cutter, but that too got lost when we moved. I wanted sprinkles on the cookies, my daughter said no, they have to look like Ms. Marion's. So she hand cut faces on the cookies and drew lines on some of them.
So here they are, THE COOKIES. No pumpkin in them, just shaped like pumpkins. These truly are the best Fall cookie, they're soft, not too sweet and full of the aroma's of Fall. You get lost with them, a glass of milk, a cup of tea or coffee. HAPPY FALL EVERYONE!
Ms. Marion's Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients
3 cups sifted flour1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Grandma's Molasses
1 egg, beaten
Directions
Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ground ginger and cinnamon, set aside. Cream together the butter, sugar, molasses and egg. When all is combined, gradually add the dry ingredients until a soft dough forms, scraping sides and bottom of the bowl to incorporate all of the flour mixture. Wrap dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Dust your work surface with a little flour, so the dough does not stick. Roll dough out to 1/8 inch thick and cut with cookie cutters into shape. Place 2 inches apart on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. As always, all ovens vary, the cookies are done when they are no longer shiny, they retain their same color, they do not brown like other cookies. Take out of the oven, let cool on sheet for 3 minutes, transfer to wire cooling rack. Amount of cookies will vary with the type of cutter you use. I used a big 4 x 3 1/2 inch pumpkin cutter, and the recipe made 2 1/2 dozen cookies.
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