‘I’d rather get these than candy’

“You’ve got cats? Shouldn’t they be black?” Times Leader columnist Bill O’Boyle asked as I passed a plate of cookies, cut into Halloween shapes, around the newsroom.

“I thought about making them black, but I like orange. Maybe because we have a real live orange cat at home,” I said, explaining why I’d used orange icing on the cat-shaped cookies as well as the pumpkin-shaped cookies that I baked in the Times Leader test kitchen this week. (And, yes, I was conventional enough to use white icing on the ghost cookies.)

So, how did the newsroom taste testers enjoy what I hoped was a boo-tiful batch?

“Oh, they’re delicious,” reporter Kevin Carroll said. “I’d rather get these than candy in my trick-or-treat bag.”

“It’s a perfect dessert, as demonstrated by the way I ate one in a few seconds,” said reporter Jen Learn-Andes.

“They’re very good,” said editor Roger DuPuis. “They aren’t overly sweet, as some sugar cookies, or holiday cookies can be.”

“They’re very scary,” Bill joked. “Once I got over the initial fright, they were good.”

Analyzing the ingredients, which included pureed pumpkin and pumpkin-appropriate spices, Kevin said, “It’s the cinnamon that really stands out. I love cinnamon.”

“It’s a very mild pumpkin flavor,” page designer Lyndsay Bartos said. “Oh, you do get the pumpkin at the end of your bite.”

Newly hired page designer Justin LaCadre also tried one — and gave it a thumbs up — about a minute after I’d met him.

“I predict you’ll always remember you had a Halloween cookie your first day on the job,” I told him.

Sportwriter John Erzar tried a cookie as well — and regular readers know he takes pride in avoiding effusive praise, sort of like the strict figure skating judge from the other side of a Cold War.

“It’s all right,” he said.

The recipe for these Pumpkin Cut-Out Sugar Cookies came from the website seededatthetable.com/.

The cookie cutters came from Schiel’s Family market; I’ve also spotted some at Wegmans.

And I followed the recipe closely, with the exception of using cinnamon and nutmeg instead of “pumpkin pie spice.” Also, I didn’t use an electric mixer for the cookie dough. Call me old-fashioned, but I think a wooden spoon works just fine.

I decorated the cookies with a very simple icing made of confectioners sugar, milk, a dash of vanilla and some food coloring. As for the eyes on the cats and ghosts and the faces on the pumpkins, they are tiny bits of dried cherries.

Pumpkin Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the pumpkin puree, then beat in the egg and vanilla.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin spice. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir until fully incorporated. Cover and chill the dough for at least an hour.

Divide dough in half and shape each into a disc. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line large baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

Remove one chilled dough disc from fridge. On a large clean surface, roll dough to about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out shapes with cookie cutter and transfer to prepared baking sheet.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges are just starting to brown. Remove from oven, let cool 8 minutes on cookie sheet then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough. Decorate as desired with preferred icing and sprinkles.

Dough can be chilled up to 3 days.