Cookie + Muffin = ....Mookie? ...Cuffin?

Do you ever have that moment, standing in your pantry thinking: Thanskgiving is over, Christmas is done with, and yet there you are, you lonely can of pumpkin sitting on the shelf. Just WHAT am I going to do with you?!

I have those moments. Pumpkin after Thanksgiving, minty things after Christmas, and pastel colored things after Easter. So here I was thinking to myself...I don't really want to make a pumpkin pie, that'll take too long to bake. Pumpkin bread? Been there, done that. Pumpkin muffins? Meh.

So then I decided to Google pumpkin cookies just to see what was out there. I came upon this recipe, and after some modifications here and there, I pulled out of the oven something that resembled a cookie but with the texture of a muffin. Thus was born the Mookie. Or is it Cuffin?

Another thing to note is that the batter is AWESOME. So watch out for vultures in your kitchen:

Here's what you'll need:

5 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger (you can safely go up to 1 tsp if you like ginger!)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
4 large eggs (room temperature**)
2 1/4 cup light brown sugar (dark brown sugar is also acceptable, or if you are ill-equipped like me, a combination of the two is great)
1 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 small can of pumpkin

For the glaze:

3 Tbsp water
1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar (aka icing sugar) 

**Eggs can in fact be stored outside of the fridge, especially if you have a high turnover like there is in my house. Should you keep them in the fridge and don't plan ahead (like me), pull them out and put them in some warm-bordering-on-hot water like this:

By the time you have all your other ingredients ready to go and do the first few steps, your eggs will be at the right temperature and happy.


Putting it together:

First, it's always important to have an enthusiastic helper:

Preheat oven to 325F (165C) and line some cookie sheets with parchment paper. Believe me, you'll be much happier later on if you do.

In a large bowl (not your mixer bowl), sift/whisk together your flour, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.

In your electric mixer bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light and smooth...it'll be about 2 min and you should see the color change fairly easily. Add in the oil, vanilla, and pumpkin and beat it at a medium speed until it's blended well together.

Add in your flour mixture a cup or two at a time, while beating on a low speed, just until it is incorporated. Your batter will be gooey, half way between a cookie dough and muffin batter.

Using a spoon or ice cream scoop, make blobs about the size of doughnut holes on your cookie sheets. They won't spread out too much, so feel free to space them about an inch apart.

Bake for about 15-18 min until one or all of the following: 1. You tap the top of the cookie and it springs back 2. You stick a toothpick in and it comes out clean or 3. The bottom of the cookie is a beautiful golden brown (only slightly darker than the top of the cookie).

You'll want to let them cool for about 30 min or so. While you're waiting you can make the glaze. Depending on how much you want, it takes approximately 1/2 cup of powdered sugar for every Tbsp of water. Put both the sugar and water into a small bowl and mix with a spoon. It shouldn't be too thin, just thin enough to drizzle.

When the cookies are cool, drip the icing glaze onto the cookies using a spoon. It'll take about 10 min or so for the glaze to harden. Once it does, you can store the cookies stacked on top of each other without fear of ruining them!

Whether you call them Mookies or Cuffins or Muffkies, they are quite delicious, almost like eating the top of the muffin. And they are easy enough to whip up last minute for that meeting you forgot you were supposed to be bringing snacks too...