Halloween Treat for Big Kids

This morning I was thinking about how busy this holiday can be when you have children at home and how completely boring and uneventful it is when they've all grown up and moved away.  After the drama of finding the perfect costume was over (which I did not enjoy), we used to have lots of fun as a family decorating the house, trick or treating to a few, select homes, attending fall festivals and for years, we invited friends over to our house to party.  It was never a scary time, just a time for lots of fun. 

As I get older, I realize that boring isn't necessarily a bad thing, in fact, I kind of like it.  However, for some reason today,  I was still feeling the need to celebrate this holiday in some way.  Since I already bought, and ate, the candy corn, I had to think of something else to do.  I decided to whip up a little something sweet and do some reverse trick or treating, sharing my goodies with friends.  Flipping through the recipe box, I found a frosted pumpkin cookie that sounded perfectly Halloween-y (I may have just made that word up), in a grown up kind of way.  Pumpkin puree, orange zest, raisins and nuts sounded like a delicious combination. 

Here's where the good part comes in.  These cookies don't have just any old frosting on them, oh no.  I slathered them with an "over the top" orange frosting made with fresh orange juice.  The only thing better than orange frosting on pumpkin cookies might be orange frosting on cinnamon rolls.  Hmm.  Maybe for Christmas?

These cookies are like eating little bites of chewy cake with yummy frosting.  I made them small, so they could be enjoyed three or four at a time.  No guilt friends.  It's Halloween.

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Cookies with Orange Frosting

1 cup sugar

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup shortening ( I use non-hydrogenated)

1 T. grated orange zest

2 cups unbleached plain flour

1 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped nuts ( I like walnuts in these)

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix sugar, pumpkin, shortening and orange zest.  Stir in flour,

baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Stir in raisins and nuts.

Drop onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Immediately remove from cookie sheet.  Let cool, then spread with frosting.

Frosting

1/4 cup melted butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 t. orange extract

2 T. oranges juice - you may need to add more or less to get it to 

the right spreading consistency.

Stir sugar into melted butter.  Add extract and orange juice.