Filled jack o'lantern cookies

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
2 cups Unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon Ground ginger
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
½ teaspoon Salt
¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
¼ teaspoon Clove
¼ teaspoon Baking soda
1 Stick unsalted butter
⅓ cup Brown sugar; light or dark
1 large Egg
⅓ cup Molasses; unsulphured or robust
1 Stick butter
½ cup Confectioners' sugar
½ cup Cooked or canned pumpkin; mashed
½ teaspoon Cinnamon
1⅓ cup Confectioners' sugar
1 large Egg white*
1 drop Lemon juice or vinegar

Directions

FOR THE COOKIE DOUGH

FOR PUMPKIN FILLING

FOR DECORATIVE ICING

For the dough:

Combine flour, spices, salt and baking soda in a mixing bowl and stir well to mix.

Beat butter and sugar by machine and beat in egg and continue beating until the mixture is smooth. Beat in half the flour mixture, then stop and scrape bowl and beater(s). Beat in molasses, scrape again and beat in remaining flour mixture, just until combined.

Divide dough into several pieces and press each piece into a rectangle about ¼-inch thick between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Chill the dough at least one hour or until firm.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 3 or 4 cookie sheets with parchment or foil. Roll dough, one piece at a time, on floured surface, just to make flat and even, but not much thinner. Cut dough with floured cutters and arrange on pans an inch or two apart, to make room for expansion during baking. Repeat with remaining dough. Re-roll scraps immediately, or press together, chill and re-roll later.

Bake cookies about 10 minutes, until firm. Cool on pans.

For the filling:

Beat butter until light, then beat in sugar. Continue beating until soft and light. Beat in pumpkin and cinnamon and continue beating until smooth.

To fill cookies:

Line up half the cookies on a work surface and spread with filling. Top with remaining cookies.

For the icing:

Combine sugar and egg white in mixing bowl and beat by machine until combined. Add lemon juice and continue beating until fluffy. Keep plastic wrap pressed against surface of icing to prevent a crust from forming. Use a paper cone or the snipped end of a plastic bag to pipe icing on cookies, outlining eyes, nose and mouth of jack o'lantern.

Yield: 2 dozen

* RAW EGG WARNING

The American Egg Board states: "There have been warnings against consuming raw or lightly cooked eggs on the grounds that the egg may be contaminated with Salmonella, a bacteria responsible for a type of food poisoning....Healthy people need to remember that there is a very small risk and treat eggs and other raw animal foods accordingly. Use only properly refrigerated, clean, sound-shelled, fresh, grade AA or A eggs.

Avoid mixing yolks and whites with the shell." Recipe by: Cooking Live Show #CL8993 Posted to MC-Recipe Digest V1 #903 by "Angele and Jon Freeman" <jfreeman@...> on Nov 12, 1997

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