Baked Pumpkin Cookie Cake

Pumpkin+cookie+cake+creamy spiced frosting= the best fall dessert combination known to (wo)man, according to yours truly anyway. Perhaps a bit premature but I think I’ve got my Thanksgiving dessert covered already

Why is pumpkin so popular around the Thanksgiving holiday anyway? Yes, these are the questions I ask.

After doing a little digging, it turns out that pumpkin recipes gained more mainstream exposure during the late 1600s. It wasn’t until the 1800s when sweeter versions of pumpkin dishes, such as pumpkin pie (or “pompion pye” as it was called) increased in popularity.

Take a pound of Pompion, and slice it; an handful of Time, a little Rosemary, sweet Marjoram stripped off the stalks, chop them small; then take Cinamon, Nutmeg, Pepper, and a few Cloves, all beaten; also ten Eggs, and beat them all together, with as much Sugar as you shall think sufficient; then fry them like a Froise; and being fried, let them stand till they are cold; Then fill your Pye after this manner: Take Apples sliced thin round-wise, and lay a layer of the Froise, and another of the Apples, with Currans betwixt the layers; be sure you put in good store of sweet Butter before you close it. When the Pye is baked, take six yolks of Eggs, some White-wine or Verjuice, and make a Caudle thereof, but not too thick; cut up the lid and put it in, and stire them well together whilst the Eggs and Pompions are not perceived, and so serve it up.

Now, I’ve read this recipe at least a dozen times and I still wouldn’t know what to do if I were to attempt following it (what would you bake the pie in?). It’s a reminder of how grateful I am for modern instruction and kitchen equipment, which you will need for this soft baked pumpkin cookie cake recipe (go ahead and say that three times fast!)

Oh, and we’re using a pie dish for baking. So it’s kinda like cookie+cake+pie, right?

Making the batter is pretty straight forward, and it’ll be quite thick.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ingredients

For the Soft Baked Pumpkin Cookie Cake:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup pure pumpkin
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Spiced Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 2 tablespoons whipping cream
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• Spinkles (optional)

Instructions

For the Soft Baked Pumpkin Cookie Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9.5 inch glass pie dish and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg together until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
3. Using a standing mixer or a medium bowl that can accommodate a hand-held mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium speed until creamy, about two minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat until just combined. Add pumpkin and beat until just combined. Scrape sides of bowl between each addition.
4. Add half of flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined. Scrape sides of the bowl, then add second half of mixture and beat at low speed until just combined.
5. Add dough to greased pie dish and using a rubber spatula, press the dough out to the sides so that it is easily distributed. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow cookie cake to cool completely before frosting.