Pumpkin Spice Cookies with RumChata Cream Cheese Frosting

It doesn’t have to be October for you to enjoy pumpkin spice cookies — but doesn’t it kind of feel like fall in Milwaukee this week? 

I’m doing some recipe testing for a fellow blogger, and was left with some pumpkin puree to use up. These pumpkin spice cookies will leave nothing to waste. And as for the RumChata frosting? You don’t want to waste any of that bottle either, so feel free to add a little RumChata to your cup of hot chocolate, waffle batter, or mix up your next White Russian by adding some RumChata with the cream.

Trust me — a RumChata White Russian. Yes.

So, go forth and use up. Nothing to be wasted here.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies with RumChata Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes approx. 36 cookies

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Unless you bake using a Silpat, (or other baking mat) you will need to grease your baking sheets or use parchment paper.

12 oz gluten-free flour blend: 4oz each of sorghum flour, sweet rice flour & tapioca starch

*you can use a mixture of any gluten-free flours/starches: white/brown rice flour, millet flour, potato starch, cornstarch, etc.

*for my non-GF friends, you can substitute 2.5 cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon guar gum

1teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼  teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼  teaspoon ground ginger

*you can play with the spices, use nutmeg, allspice, etc. instead of the pumpkin pie spice, or use a mixture of both, as I did here)

½  cup sugar

½  cup brown sugar

1 egg (see egg substitutes here)

½  cup butter softened

1 ½  cup pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine flour mix and guar gum with baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Set aside. Cream sugars and butter. Add in pumpkin, egg,  and vanilla. Beat until nice and smooth. Slowly add in flour mix, until well blended. Drop by tablespoons onto baking sheets.

Bake 15-18 minutes, or until bottoms are lightly browned and cookies are firm enough to hold their shape. (I used a 1 ½ tablespoon scoop for mine, so they took around 18 minutes) You might like yours baked a tad longer. Go for it. Let them rest a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to cooling racks. When cooled completely, frost.

RumChata Cream Cheese Frosting

The thing about frosting is that you can make it any way you’d like. So take these measurements as a guide. Throw it all in a bowl and beat ingredients to your desired texture. (note: the RumChata is not required for this frosting to be amazing on its own, just leave it out and carry on with the frosting party.)

2 cups powdered sugar

1 package cream cheese
1/4 cup butter

2 tablespoons real maple syrup

1 oz (or a few, if you’d like) RumChata

1 teaspoon cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice, or skip it if you’d like)

Maybe frosting isn’t your thing (it shocks me when people say this). That’s okay too, you can serve them up with just a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

Do you have other ideas for using up pumpkin puree? Or what about RumChata — are you a fan of the “tastes like Cinnamon Toast Crunch milk” craze? I’m very open to new uses for that as well.