pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting

with fall and thanksgiving solidly here (and winter banging down their door), my brain naturally turns to the one thing that's arguably the best part of the season: pumpkin baked goods.

we have a tradition of getting together with friends on halloween for trick-or-treating with the kids and a big pot luck meal (which always involves lots of yummy soup). this year, my friend stephanie brought uh-mazing pumpkin cookies and i pretty much ate half the batch. i immediately told her i needed the recipe for the blog, and she sent me home with a few to stage and style. well, friends, i ate those before they could see the light of day or the camera's lens. aaaand so, i had to make them for myself. this is good news, however, because i can now attest that they are reproducible in a novice's kitchen.

steph got the recipe from allrecipes.com, and then gave me her tips and additions. first, head to this link to grab it:

pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting (the world's best)!

BUT then be sure to include stephanie's tips when you write it down. she is a master of baking. i followed her instructions exactly and they were per-fect. here is what she said (and i quote):

~ use an extra cup of flour for the dough

~ use an extra ounce of cream cheese AND at least a half cup extra powdered sugar for the frosting

~ use a piping bag and a star tip to pipe the frosting onto the cookies in a rosette pattern. the dough is soooo goey that it is hard to make them pretty. piping the frosting helps that i think. i never have patience for frosting with a knife!

if you've never used a piping tip to do this trick, check out this awesome video (with the cutest british lady ever) on how to pipe a rosette. i do them all the time so i can vouch they are ridiculously easy and the prettiness factor is huge for so little effort! 

enjoy!