Tasty Tuesday: Maple-Filled Pumpkin Spice Spritz Cookies

I am so excited that it's fall! This is my favorite season for so many reasons, but especially for the flavors: apples, pumpkins, cinnamon, nutmeg. Within the past few weeks we've already made pumpkin bread a few times and zucchini muffins. And cinnamon swirl bread, but we make that year-round. With all the bread baking, we were needing a change. These cookies were the perfect solution.

Not only do they taste yummy with just a hint of pumpkin spice, but look how adorable they are! The kids love whenever we pull out the cookie press. Treats are even more fun when they're in cute little shapes.

I love how the end of one color bled into the beginning of the new one in some of the cookies. I think it would be really pretty to fill the cookie press alternating the different colors. It would make wonderful multicolored leaves--perfect for fall!

While the cookies themselves are not quite as buttery as our typical spritz recipe, they make up for it with the maple filling. To me, they taste just like the maple cookies my grandparents used to buy in the bulk section of the grocery store. Leighton said they taste like a cross between pancakes and waffles. Haha, I guess the maple filling just means that we can eat these for breakfast!

Because you don't need a lot of filling for the cookies, I used the leftover goodness to frost a loaf of that cinnamon swirl bread I was talking about. And, yes, I most definitely ate a piece of that with my coffee for breakfast!


Whether you prefer these cookies by themselves or filled with maple goodness, why not make a batch to celebrate fall.

 

Pumpkin Spice Spritz Cookies
 Ingredients:
1 cup (16 tablespoons) butter softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
 food coloring (optional)

Directions:
1. With an electric mixer, beat butter and powdered sugar until fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.
2. Mix in the egg and vanilla extract until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice. Slowly mix dry ingredients in with the butter mixture until combined.
4. If using food coloring, separate the dough, and add coloring accordingly.
5. Fill the cookie press with dough and press cookies onto ungreased baking sheets.
6. Bake at 350* for 7-8 minutes, until firm and edges are just beginning to brown. Remove from oven and let stand for 2 minutes before transferring to cooling racks to cool completely.


Maple Filling
Ingredients:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon maple extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Blend in maple and vanilla extracts. Slowly beat in powdered sugar until combined.

Sandwich maple filling between 2 cookies.

Recipes adapted from diethood.