Lightened Pumpkin Cookies with Vanilla Butter Frosting
Soft and chewy Pumpkin Cookies with Vanilla Butter Frosting made lower in calories and fat for a healthy dessert or snack.
It only took me 12 years to make these cookies. What took me so long? I discovered this little gem of a recipe in a recipe box that I got during my Wedding Shower, over 12 years ago. My Mom had everyone bring a recipe they loved and filled the box for me. I’ve made a few recipes in the box, but mostly I just like to look through it. I have a couple of recipes from my Great Grandmother in her hand writing. I love to look through and remember her. I also have a couple from one of my Grandmothers. Luckily she is still with us, but it is a keepsake I will always love to have. This particular recipe comes from my Godmother’s sister. She use to babysit me when I was a baby. I know she is a fantastic baker, but I had never tried her cookies. I wish I hadn’t waited so long. They are so delicious. They are every thing I love in a cookie, soft and chewy. Plus they have a vanilla butter frosting. Oh yes, a cookie with a butter frosting, and it won’t eat up all of my calories for the day.
The pumpkin cookies were incredibly easy to lighten. I was really surprised. Cookies can be really tricky, and what works for one doesn’t always work for another recipe. This cookie recipe made a big bunch so we froze them. Sadly, there are no longer any pumpkin cookies in the freezer. My little one loved them and ate as many as I would let her. I am going to make them again so we have some for Christmas. With the success of this pumpkin cookie recipe, I have got to try some more of the recipes in my recipe box.
I am a little leery of a few. While my Great Grandmother made exceptional macaroni and cheese, towards the end of her life she was known to make some really strange things. You never knew when you would cut into something and find a hard boiled egg. Every New Years Day the whole family would gather at her little mobile home for dinner. She would always make clam dip. No one, I mean no one, liked it. Did we tell her? No way. We would each strongly suggest the other take the dip home. To Nannie it looked like we all loved it, but whoever took it home would throw it out. Now her mac and cheese, oh, we would fight about who got to take that home. That would gladly be eaten. Anyway, one of the recipes she wrote for my recipe box is Clam Balls. I just can’t make myself make them. I just keep thinking about the clam dip. They might be really good but I can’t do it. At least I get to smile and think about her and those fun family times. So if you someday see a recipe for Clam Balls, you’ll know I finally tried them. In the meantime, I can make these incredible cookies.
Subscribe to Blog via Email
Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Email Address
Save your favorite recipes to your personal recipe box with the
Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 12 mins Total time: 27 mins
Serves: About 48
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups (150 grams) all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup (90 grams) whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. ground ginger
- ⅛ tsp. ground nutmeg
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
- 4 tbsp. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 ½ tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
- ¾ tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 tsp. milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Mix in the egg, pumpkin puree, and vanilla.
- Stir in the flour until just combined.
- Drop 1 tbsp. of batter onto the baking sheet leaving about 1 inch in between each cookie.
- Bake for 12 minutes.
- Place baking sheet onto a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes.
- Take cookies off baking sheet and place directly on wire rack to cool completely.
- In a medium bowl, mix together all ingredients until smooth.
- Using a spatula, frost cookies.
Nutrition Information Serving size: 1 cookie Calories: 46 Fat: 1g/Carbs 9g/Fiber 1g/Protein 1g
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe 3.2.2807
Enjoy Pumpkin Day with these other delicious Bloggers sharing pumpkin recipes:
Pumpkin cheesecake bars from Roxana’s Home Baking
Whole Wheat Cinnamon Chip Pumpkin Biscotti from Happy Food Healthy Life
Pumpkin Cheesecake Filled Sugar Cookies from Food Faith Fitness
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Brownies from It’s Yummy
Caramel Pumpkin Torte from Lady Behind The Curtain
Pumpkin Spice Granola Bars from The Redhead Baker
Light Pumpkin Cookies w/Cream Cheese Frosting from Food Done Light
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies w/ Spicy Spiked Chocolate Filling from A Cookie Named Desire
But wait, there’s more. Check out these deliciously, light cookie recipes:
