Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Sugar Frosting

I'm getting a late start on my pumpkin baking this year. Joe's been dropping not-so-subtle hints for about a month now, but we've been so busy on the weekends that I haven't had much time to bake. I have to say that I picked a real winner for my inaugural fall 2012 pumpkin recipe. These little cookies have just the right amount of pumpkin and spice flavor, and the frosting is simply divine. Oh, that frosting...it's so delicious, there really are no words. It tastes like a praline, minus the pecans; and in fact, next time I make these, I'm going to stir pecans into half of the frosting, because I think they'd add a delicious crunchy element to these cookies.

I used a half-tablespoon measuring spoon for the cookies to keep them pretty small, because I suspected that the frosting would be very sweet -- and I was right. I thought the cookies were the perfect size to be paired with such a sweet frosting, and I got about 5 dozen cookies out of one batch of dough. That was on Sunday, and I think there are probably only 2 dozen cookies left. Whoops!

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Sugar Frosting
adapted from Your Homebased Mom

For the cookies:

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the frosting:

3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream together sugars and butter until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix until well-blended. Drop by half-tablespoons onto nonstick cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Cool completely before frosting.

3. To make the frosting, melt the butter in a small skillet. Add brown sugar and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is mostly smooth (this will take 2 or 3 minutes). Add milk and vanilla and whisk to combine, then remove from heat and add powdered sugar. Spread frosting over cooled cookies.