em + the kitchen - pumpkin spice snickerdoodles.

While in Europe, I promised one of the Aussies on our TopDeck tour that I would send him snickerdoodles when we both got back to our respective continents. Apparently, they don't have snickerdoodles in Australia and that is just the saddest thing I've ever heard. I needed to rectify this situation so he could finally taste what is one of my favorite cookies of all time.

As I was prepping to make a batch, I was struck with a Fall-fueled epiphany: why not pumpkin spice snickerdoodles?? I would, of course, send him a normal batch -- it's the beginning of Spring for Australia, after all.

But we alllll know how crazy Americans go for pumpkin spice flavored anything, including but not limited to: M&Ms, Oreos, and Pringles. Yes, really.
How is this something I've never seen before? I'm positive it's out there somewhere. It's so simple - cinnamon is part of pumpkin pie spice; now just add some nutmeg, , and and suddenly you have a subtly seasonal cookie.

The taste of these is not overwhelmingly pumpkin pie, but is definitely there. Feel free to use your favorite snickerdoodle recipe and just replace pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon, or follow along with the recipe I used.
I would make these again and again. Soft, chewy, and practically perfect. Nothing beats a good snickerdoodle. Mmm.

Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodles
(yields almost 4 dozen cookies)

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

8 tbsp sugar
4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Combine dry ingredients - flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar - in a bowl and set aside.
Beat butter and sugars together for several minutes until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Add vanilla.
Slowly add dry mixture to wet, being careful not to overmix.
Once fully mixed, chill dough for about an hour in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 300*.
Combine additional sugar and pumpkin pie spice in small bowl.
Scoop out 1 tbsp of dough at a time and roll in sugar and spice mixture.
Place on prepared cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes.
Let cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

The flavor is a subtle one, but it's there. So this is maybe for those friends who claim they're "over" the whole pumpkin spice thing, but that is just crazy talk and we all know it.
What's your favorite pumpkin spice flavored item??
-e.