Warm and lightly spiced, these cookies are perfect with coffee, milk, or by themselves. My family thinks they are great as they are but feel free to add more sugar if you prefer a sweeter cookie. A simple cream cheese glaze takes these over the top but no matter how you make them, they will bring you lots of fall flavor!

Ingredients

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ cup butter room temperature
• ¼ cup applesauce room temperature
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup white sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin purée
• 1 egg room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ cup almonds, walnuts, or pecans, optional

For Cream cheese frosting (optional)

• 85g (3 ounces) cream cheese softened to room temperature
• 30g (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
• 30ml (6 tablespoons) pure maple syrup
• pinch (? teaspoon) ground cinnamon

Instructions

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, ginger, and salt; set aside.

Step 2

In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/4 cup of butter and sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, applesauce and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients and nuts. Drop around 2 tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop or spoon and flatten slightly. The dough should seem pretty wet.

Step 3

Bake for 14 to 18 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies on a rack. Once cooled, add frosting. *note: this frosting does not set completely

Step 4

How to make the frosting: beat the cream cheese until light then beat in butter. Beat in cinnamon and maple syrup. That’s it!

Notes

This recipe is adapted from https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/10033/iced-pumpkin-cookies/ and https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/pumpkin-cookies/#tasty-recipes-84912-jump-target