Pumpkin Cookies with Orange Ginger Filling

There is something about this time of year - we all get completely possessed. I'm not talking about ghost and devils and Halloween, but rather pumpkins. Those tasty, crazy, fat, heavy, orange pumpkins - their vines wind right through our ears and overtake our brains resulting in pumpkin cravings for everything. Cookies, bread, martinis, facials and even pumpkin foot massages!

I'm not one to fight the cravings but rather feed into them; so here is one more fat and happy pumpkin cookie recipe for you.



Fat and Happy Food Blog Tips and Techniques:

This cookie spreads out super thin and is crunchy on the ends with just hint of chewiness. Super on its own, adding the ricotta orange filling takes them to the next level. The ricotta adds just a little texture to a usual cream cheese frosting. Fill these right before serving for the best flavor, or the cookie will become soft. These cookies are great without the filling too! For a stiffer frosting filling, leave out the ricotta cheese.

Pumpkin Cookies with Orange Ginger Filling

1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (homemade or canned)

3/4 cups vegetable oil

2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

2 1/3 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix together the pumpkin puree, oil, sugar and eggs. Sift together the flour with all the remaining spices, stir into the pumpkin mixture until well combined.

Using a cookie scoop to help keep all the cookies the same size, scoop out the dough onto a greased cookie sheet. Keep in mind these cookies spread out thin, so leave plenty of room between each. The scoop I used is the size of about 1/2 tablespoon, fitting 3 cookies across the sheet and 4 down (5 down if you are careful about placement.)

Orange Ginger Ricotta Filling

1/2 cup ricotta

2 oz cream cheese

1 tsp vanilla

1 orange, juiced and zested

2 cups powder sugar

Mix all the ingredients together using a hand-held blender. Add more powder sugar as necessary. Fill the cookies right before serving them. The cookies will soften if the filling sits in them too long. You could also serve the filling as a dip for the cookies.