2 cups butter, room temperature2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
(1) 15 ounce can of pumpkin
4 cups flour
In a large bowl, beat 2 cups of butter with electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Beat until well combined, scraping the bowl occasionally. Add the eggs and vanilla, beat well, then beat in the pumpkin. Add as much flour as you can with the mixer, and if necessary, use a wooden spoon to add the rest of the flour (my stand mixer mixed it all just fine...but it IS a lot of dough).
Drop by heaping teaspoons on un-greased cookie sheet (2" apart). They don't spread much at all. Bake in preheated 350 oven for 10-12 minutes (I baked mine 11 minutes they don't change color much - just bake them until the tops are set). Cool on wire racks and frost. Brown Sugar Frosting: ½ cup of butter + ½ cup of brown sugar + ¼ cup of milk + 1 teaspoon vanilla. Heat those ingredients in a saucepan until the sugar is melted and smooth. Transfer to a bowl and add 2¾ cups of powdered sugar. Whisk smooth and frost cookies.
After the frosting has "set", you can store the cookies in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature for three days or freeze the unfrosted cookies for up to 3 months.
NOTE: These cookies are VERY soft, almost like a little mini-cake.MY BABY MOOSE STORY
The leaves have been off of our trees for quite a while now and this morning we woke up to an inch of snow which melted quickly. However, in this color-less time of year, there is a hardy little plant that can withstand hard frosts and just keeps blooming and blooming for me. I have several of them right outside my front door just so I can enjoy them this time of year, they are called Cinquefoils.
Last night, about midnight, our dog, Chloe, started growling under her breath. The kind of growl that tells us she's too afraid to really bark. We went to the front window and low and behold there were THREE very small/young moose (probably triplets) standing on our sidewalk and munching away on my beloved cinquefoils!! Even here in Alaska, being less than a foot away from any moose is not an every day occurance...but triplet "moose-lets"? It was a real treat and I happily donated my Cinquefoils to these little babies. I got my camera and walked up to the window as quietly as possible, knowing that ANY noise would spook them away. It was very dark out and for some reason my porch light didn't come on when the moose walked up, so I knew I would have to use a flash. I placed the camera lense right on the glass hoping to reduce the flash reflection. I had only one chance for a photo (because they would be gone instantly when they saw the flash) but it was worth a shot. The photo is a terrible one, but I still wanted to share it with you. The little triplet moose were so cute. I'm sure their mother was near by, but I wasn't going to check. Getting between a mother moose and her babies is something that is extremely dangerous. As soon as the camera flashed, all three little guys were g-o-n-e! They acutally missed one Cinquefoil plant (the above photo), so I am hoping they will come back again tonight. They are also welcome to our pumpkin (moose love pumpkins).
Sorry for the poor photo
You can see this brave little moose, and the leg of her sibling on the left. The third moose is to her right; when we first saw them, all three were shoulder to shoulder on our front steps, if only it were daylight, I could have gotten a good shot. They were about the size of a Great Dane (as adults they will be over a thousand pounds).
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