Pumpkin spice peanut butter cookies

It's fall and pumpkin spice has returned. Use it to add a taste of autumn to crisp peanut butter cookies.

With the cooling weather just now upon us, I am always compelled to bake with certain fall flavors. My baking switch also gets turned on, and remains stuck in that position until the end of December.

Just today I went to a harvest apple festival, visited an apple orchard, and shopped for antiques. You might think that antiques don’t fit in there very well, but for me autumn is a time of reminiscing of years past, remembering how the beginning of a new school year felt during both my own childhood and later as a parent of a young student.

I always like cooking with apples, nuts, cranberries, pumpkin, squash, wild rice … the list goes on! Peanut butter may not always be welcome at school anymore because of allergy concerns, but we can still enjoy it at home.

These cookies make a small batch and will disappear quickly so you can be on to the next pumpkin spice item on your list.  Perhaps a homemade PSL (Pumpkin Spice Latte)? How do you take yours? I like mine grande, triple shot, half syrup, full milk. It’s my definition of pumpkin spice deliciousness. Paired with a few of these nutty cookies and I am all set.

Pumpkin spice peanut butter cookies
Makes 26 cookies

4 tablespoons soft unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice  (click for recipe)
1 large egg
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix butter with granulated sugar until smooth.

3. Stir in the pumpkin puree, peanut butter, and pumpkin spice until well mixed.

4. Stir in egg until incorporated.

5. Add flour, stirring in, until mixture forms a thick smooth dough.

6. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls or by cookie scoop onto a cookie sheet.

7. Dip a fork into sugar then press cookies flat in a criss-cross fashion.

8. Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned around edges.

9. Cool on pan 1 minute, then finish cooling on a wire rack.

Related post on A Palatable Pastime: Pumpkin pie spice