It seems like we’ve hit upon pumpkin-spice-everything season again. Although, technically Autumn has yet to arrive, there are those that await the season with twitching bodies full of anticipation for their latest pumpkin spice fix, and those that dread the dastardly orange grocery aisle takeover. Americans have STRONG opinions about pumpkin spice. I have to say that my feelings, more often then not, fall on the side of dread. It’s my personal quagmire. All my greater instincts say that I should love pumpkin spice. I love pumpkin, I love the spices blends associated with pumpkin, and I love all things autumn. The sad truth is that I have yet to try a pumpkin-spice flavored product that hasn’t made me gag. I don’t get it. I should love this stuff. I’ve tried the coffees, the teas, the pancake mixes… the list goes on, and not one of these items has turned out to be remotely appetizing. Maybe it’s the bizarre inclusion of artificial “pumpkin” flavors or the odd things they do to pumpkin in order to squeeze it into a product. I’ve decided that this year I should create my own pumpkin spice products, and the recipe below is my first successful undertaking of this latest personal challenge.

Maybe I’m just naive, but does “pumpkin spice” actually have to include pumpkin? Because the jars labeled pumpkin spice in the spice aisle are just blends of spices used to season pumpkin pies. I’m sure people have strong opinions on that too. But for the sake of this recipe I’m only including the spices, I feel that if I used actual pumpkin I would be making pumpkin snickerdoodles not pumpkin spice snickerdoodles. Where does one draw the line?

Recipe makes ~40 cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks or 8oz) Butter (room temp.)
• 1 1/2 cups Sugar + 1/4 cup Sugar for dusting
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 1/2 cups Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• ~1 tbsp favorite Pumpkin Spice blend (mine’s listed below)
  • 2 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp Ginger
  • 1/2 tsp Cardamon
  • 1/2 tsp Coriander

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 350 F (~177 C).
2. Cream together the butter and the sugar.
3. Beat in the egg, vanilla, and salt.
4. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
5. Combine the wet with the dry until fully integrated.
6. Grease or line baking sheets.
7. Combine the dusting sugar with the pumpkin spice.
8. Roll the dough into inch sized balls.
9. Dredge the dough balls in the sugar mixture.
10. Arrange the balls on the cookie sheet leaving plenty of space for growth.
    1. Snickerdoodles are best when served fresh, so I froze half of my dough balls to bake up at a later date. When you’re ready for your next batch, just arranged the frozen balls on a prepared cookie sheet, and let them thaw for about twenty minutes before baking – just enough time to preheat the oven.
11. Bake for ~ 8 minutes.