Pumpkin sandwich cookies with Maple buttercream filling

Welcome to our first cookie of the month!  On the first Thursday of the month, every month, I'm going to post a new cookie blog!  As I have stated many times over, I love baking, and who doesn't love cookies?  So why not marry the two, and do a cookie of the month?
The cookie I have chosen to post about today is a pumpkin sandwich cookie, with a really lovely, smooth buttercream filling!  These cookies are more cake-like than cookie, but I still think they fit the bill for a "cookie of the month" post!  

These are heavily spiced, and literally taste like autumn in your mouth; the maple buttercream frosting would be amazing between layers of a chocolate cake, or a pumpkin cake!  Yum!  I love that you get two recipes here, all within one blog post!
This cookie recipe is pretty versatile, too!  It is a very runny dough, almost batter-like, which results in fairly flat cookies.  But, if you want them domed, just add another cup and a half or so of flour, and these bake off beautifully!
I know it sounds a little different, but roll with me here, and lets get started!

Here is your grocery list for this one:

2 C brown sugar (light or dark)

1 C vegetable oil

1 1/2 C pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling), homemade or store bought

3 C All Purpose flour

2 eggs (at room temperature)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

For the filling:

4 oz cream cheese (room temperature)

1 1/2 sticks butter (also room temperature) 

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp maple syrup extract

2 C powdered sugar

I know it seems like a lot of ingredients, but this comes together very easily and very quickly.  To start off with preheat the oven to 350*, mix up the brown sugar and oil, until well blended.  Add in the pumpkin and eggs, and again, mix well.  I used homemade pumpkin puree, but feel free to use store bought.

 

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and spices.  How pretty!  I love how sifted flour looks!

 




This mixes up into a very loose dough (batter?), so it almost pours out.  If you want flatter cookies, use this as is; I used about 1 Tbs at a time, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  If you want a poofier (is that a word?) cookie, add in another cup and a half of flour.  This will make a stiffer dough, that is scoop-able.  Again, scoop out about 1 Tbs of dough at a time.  Bake these for 10-15 minutes; they don't get too golden in the oven, but they will brown around the edges a little.

 

Here is what the dough looks like with the extra flour added in: 

 

Once the cookies have cooled, mix up the butter and cream cheese, until it is well blended.   

 
Add in the vanilla and maple extract, until they are well mixed together. 

 
Slowly add in the 2 cups of flour, 1/3rd of a cup at a time, until the mixture is well incorporated.  This really is a lovely butter cream, the maple flavor really makes this entire recipe come together, and makes this just scream, "Autumn!" to me!  These will be made very year in my house!