If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, then you know I’m having a fantastic time exploring Scotland this week. You guys, seriously, Scotland is take-your-breath-away gorgeous. It’s been so fun saying, “Oh this reminds me of Vermont!” Or “This is a lot like Wyoming!” Or “I feel like I’m in Oregon!” All those gorgeous landscapes within a few hours’ drive…it’s incredible!
We’ve been doing a lot of walking, lots of exploring, and a lot of hiking, particularly on the Isle of Skye, where we climbed up to the Old Man of Storr – a monolith of stone that towers over the landscape. Although, I kind of wussed out once we got really high. It wasn’t the hike that made me chicken out, but the heights and vertigo. Admittedly, we got very high…we were only a few yards away.
We’ve also been eating lots of great food! We had fabulous curry in Edinburgh, and the Hubster tried – and loved – haggis in Portree on Skye.
One of the best things we’ve had this week has been all of the amazing, homemade Scottish shortbread. Seeing as how shortbread is more or less the Hubster’s favorite sweet of all time, he’s been a very, very happy camper.
Knowing that we were headed to Scotland this week, and with Thanksgiving in America next week, I decided to combine a classic Thanksgiving dessert – pumpkin pie – with the quintessential Scottish cookie.
All I did to create these fantastic cookies was to add pumpkin pie spices and pumpkin puree to my favorite shortbread recipe. I ended up tweaking it slightly, adding a little extra flour and sugar, but otherwise, the recipe is pretty much classic shortbread with a great Autumn twist.
They came out tasting just like pumpkin pie…except cookier. 😉
For a little added festiveness for the upcoming holiday, I pressed my shortbread dough into a 9-inch tart pan, then turned it out onto parchment paper and cut it into eight pie slices. I also sprinkled each slice with a cinnamon-sugar mixture (1 tablespoon ground cinnamon combined with 1 cup granulated sugar) for a little extra flavor and texture.
Last, but not least, I whipped up a small batch of vanilla buttercream and decorated each cookie to look as though it’s adorned with fluffy whipped cream – just like a slice of pumpkin pie.
Cute cookies that are fun, easy, and festive for any Autumn holiday…not to mention perfectly pumpkin pie delicious. 🙂
Enjoy!
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup (2 sticks or 226g) unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup confectioners' sugar
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 2 to 3 tablespoons cinnamon-sugar (for dusting)
- ½ recipe Vanilla Buttercream (optional)
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and clove; set aside.
- In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the butter and confectioners' sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the pumpkin puree and mix until combined. Add the flour mixture and continue beating until everything is fully incorporated and the mixture resembles wet sand with large clumps.
- Using your hands, press all of the crumbs together in the bowl until it all forms a cohesive dough.
- Shape as desired and sprinkle with the 2 tablespoons of cinnamon-sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Allow to cool completely before frosting or serving.
Aggggggg how cute are these?!?!
Looks amazing!
Just made three batches, two with confectioners sugar and one with Brown sugar. Can’t wait to sample!