Debating on the fall cookie of the week at work, a co-worker asked me to make pumpkin cookies. However, I wanted more than just pumpkin in my cookies. Looking around my kitchen, I spotted an orange and thought orange zest would give my cookies a fresh taste. So to put nuts in or not was the question. Of course, nuts would be fantastic, but did I want walnuts or something different?
I have bags of all kinds of nuts in my one cabinet and pulled out a bag of hazelnuts. They came chopped, so this would be perfect. I always like to throw in a handful of raisins just for the heck of it.
I decided to do a little research on hazelnuts and pumpkins. Hazelnuts have some fantastic health benefits. I had no idea they were this good for me, or I would have been backing with them all the time. Pumpkins are even better in health benefits. So this should make you feel better about cookies with pumpkin and hazelnuts.
Hazelnut Pumpkin Orange Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 oz Cream Cheese room temperature
- ½ cup Butter unsalted 1 stick room temperature
- ½ cup Light brown sugar 106 g
- ½ cup Sugar white 99 g
- 1 cup Pumpkin puree
- 1 Egg
- 1 TBSP Orange zest
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 ¾ cups All purpose flour 330 g
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Ground cinnamon
- 1 cup Raisins
- 1 cup Hazelnuts chopped
- Powdered sugar Sprinkle on top
Instructions
- Zest one orange and set aside. Weigh or measure the white and light brown sugars into a bowl and set that aside. In another bowl, weigh or measure the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and run a whisk through to blend.
- In a stand or handheld mixer, blend the cream cheese and butter for about 2 minutes on medium speed. Add both sugars and mix for another couple of minutes. Next, add the egg and mix it through the sugar-butter mixture. Add the orange zest, vanilla extract, pumpkin puree, and blend until incorporated.
- Gradually add the flour mixture and blend till the flour is incorporated. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl and across the bottom. Add the chopped hazelnuts plus the raisins and blend through for about 30 seconds or till it looks mixed into the dough. Cover loosely and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Hazelnut Pumpkin Orange cookies cooling on a rack.
- Preheat the over to 350° while the dough is in the refrigerator. Line cookie pans with parchment paper. Taking a small cookie scoop, place twelve scoops on the pan and bake for 11-13 minutes. After removing the cookies out of the oven, move to a cookie rack to cool. I have a powdered sugar shaker and dust the sugar on top of the cookies after they have compleply cooled.
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