Last week, I stumbled upon a cookie mix while grocery shopping that both intrigued and excited me, because I’d never seen it before, Betty Crocker Pumpkin Spice Cookie Mixbut it is by far one of my favorite seasonal flavors. Apparently, Betty Crocker has come out with a pumpkin spice cookie mix.

Now that I have this blog, I’ve been trying to stay away from buying packaged desserts so I can try new things from scratch, but I couldn’t resist. And after baking them (with the addition of white chocolate chips… I had to add something to make them my own!) I learned my instinct was quite right. These cookies were outstanding. I brought them to work and they disappeared in less than 1/2 hour! I barely even got to enjoy them.

Of course, I got tons of compliments from my co-workers, who may have assumed I made these from scratch. I couldn’t lie and gave my credit to Betty Crocker, but it inspired me to attempt to make such a delicious cookie on my own.

I found a recipe to start with, and modified it slightly… the end result was as follows:

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flourPumpkin Spice Cookie Ingredients
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
  3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies on cooling rack.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

I will be the first to admit that my cookies were no Betty Crocker. But they were good. I was proud of my first attempt, even though they were far from perfect. One thing that I noticed about my cookies that was different from the originals was that mine seemed almost cake-like instead of cookie-like in texture. This intrigued me and led me to do some research.

Thanks to this article that I found on allrecipes.com, I learned a trick or two about how to make cookies “perfect.” I’m sure nothing I do will ever be perfect, but I’ll certainly take some of these tips into consideration the next time I make cookies from scratch. A few key things I learned were:

  • If a cookie doesn’t hold its shape, consider lowering the amount of butter, sugar or baking soda
  • Increase the flour-to-liquid ratio in your recipe if your goal is to make a cookie more crumbly in texture
  • Cookies made with brown sugar will absorb moisture after baking, helping to ensure that they stay chewy

And the one that I should have/will need to try with this specific recipe:

  • If egg is the liquid in a cookie, it will create a puffy, cake-like texture. Just a tablespoon or two of water or other liquid will help your cookies spread into flatter and crisper rounds