Pumpkin Face Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to fan 160C/ conventional 180C/gas 4. Put the butter in a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the flour, icing sugar and orange zest and beat together to make a softish dough. Knead into a ball and wrap in cling film. Chill for 1 hour.
• Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 3mm. Cut 24 circles with a 7.5 cm round plain cutter. Put them on a couple of baking sheets.
• Using a small sharp knife, cut out Hallowe'en faces on 12 of the circles. Gather up the spare biscuit dough and press into pumpkin stem shapes, trimming with a sharp knife. Press to the top of each biscuit with a knife to join. Make lines on the face biscuits with the back of a roundbladed knife, to look like the markings on a pumpkin. Bake all the biscuits for about 15 minutes until pale golden. Leave to set for a while, then cool completely on a wire rack.
• Mix the glaze ingredients to make a smooth, runny icing, adding a bit more juice if needed, then set aside. For the filling, beat the mascarpone with the icing sugar, then stir in the cooled melted chocolate.
• Spread the filling over the cooled plain biscuits, then press the 'face' ones on top - do this just before you want to eat them, otherwise they go soft. Brush with the glaze, using a clean paint brush or pastry brush. Eat the same day.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and kosher salt.
• In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg, the pumpkin purée and vanilla extract until blended.
• Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and beat just until combined.
• Scoop the batter into 2-tablespoon scoops, at least 1 inch apart, onto the prepared sheets. Sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake one sheet at time until the cookies are puffed, set and spring back when gently pressed in the center, about 12 minutes. Repeat with the second sheet.
• Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely.