Since I’ve posted pumpkin recipes each Monday of September thus far (one, two, and three), I figured I shouldn’t break the streak now! It seems I always have half of a can of pumpkin open in the fridge, which I then have to use! Don’t hold your breath for next Monday though — I’m not sure I’ll be delivering on the pumpkin front.
If you follow my instagram (or Dereks!) you probably noticed we took a little vacation this weekend — by little, I mean very little. We headed over to Red Lodge, MT in order to knock something off Dereks bucket list: ride the Beartooth Pass! We headed over Saturday morning (it’s about 2.5 hours to Red Lodge), parked in Red Lodge, got our bikes ready, and headed up the pass! Let me tell you: it is a LONG climb. I was going especially slow, having done my final “long” run the day before, so it took us much longer than it probably would have (I think it took us 3.5 hours to get to the top).
The views were worth it! We saw tons of beautiful alpine lakes, the typical top-of-a-mountain moonscape, snow on the side of the road, mountain goats, and many tourists giving us thumbs up. Woohoo! The descent was COLD but much easier (and WAAAAY faster!) than the way up! We made it back to Red Lodge before five, headed out to a huge, early, calorie-laden dinner, then went to set up camp just before dark.
Sunday morning we relaxed, did some yoga, made breakfast, then headed out to East Rosebud Lake (a bit West of Red Lodge, still in the Beartooth Mountains and Custer National Forest). From there we hiked/ran up to Elk Lake, past a seriously rushing river (more of a stream, it was thin, but SO FULL OF WATER), huge rocks, tons of changing leaves — it was a gorgeous hike. The lake at the top would be a perfect place to spend the night (as we assume many of the outbound hikers did!).
Now we’re back to real life, making cookies and preparing for two more weekends away. Whew. Busy busy!
These cookies were based off of my brown butter snickerdoodles (which are TO DIE FOR if you haven’t already tried them!). Add in some pumpkin and spices, and you cannot go wrong! I threw in a bit of extra cinnamon to make mine really snickerdoodley, and was glad I did! This dough will seem a bit sticky when you mix it up, but let it rest for 20 minutes (in the fridge is fine, but it doesn’t actually need to be chilled) and it will firm right up.
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 3 cups flour
- 1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp of salt
- ¾ cup brown suger
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup sugar mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon
- In a saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Continue cooking the butter, swirling the pan occasionally. It should crackle, then stop crackling, the solids will brown, and it will smell nutty. Remove from heat immediately and pour into a separate bowl. Let cool for 5-10 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir to combine.
- When the butter has cooled slightly, mix in the sugars, then the pumpkin puree, then the egg and vanilla extract. Beat until the egg is completely incorporated.
- Combine the wet and the dry ingredients, and let rest for 20 minutes before continuing.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Using a ⅛ cup measure, scoop the batter, form into small rounds, and roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Set on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cookies will not look completely done, but that is ok!
- Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet 2 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
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Thanks, Mary. I will be making these for my grandchildren soon!
they look yummy!
I’m baking up a batch of these today! And I must say your weekend is a dream weekend for me. Now I just need to get my husband on board with going OUTSIDE to do things.