Pumpkin Biscoff Bar Cookies

Pumpkin Biscoff Cookies - made October 13, 2012 from Cooking to Perfection

If you notice I've been blogging more than usual lately, you'd be correct.  That's partly because I had some occasions where I needed/wanted to bring baked goods so I took advantage of having a captive audience (psst, guinea pigs) consume the treats to try out some different recipes.  And partly because we're entering the holiday season where I normally don't try out a lot of new recipes and instead stick to the tried-and-true ones so I need to do my experiments now rather than later.

This is another recipe I found on pinterest and I took some liberties with it.  Instead of making drop cookies out of it, the batter seemed a bit too soft for cookies and I was pressed for time so I made most of it into bar cookies.  I couldn't taste the biscoff flavor that much as the pumpkin tended to overwhelm it and I'm not sure baking this as bar cookies was the best choice.  The texture wasn't dry but it wasn't quite cakey and it wasn't quite cookie.  I'm not sure what to make of it.  So I did what any decent baker would do and I frosted it with cream cheese frosting.  While I'm not normally a frosting person, it did make these a bit better to me.  I kept the original directions for cookies below but if you want to make as a bar cookie, pour into a foil-lined 9 x 9 or 10 x 10 pan (depending on how thick you want the bars to be - I made mine in a 9 x 9 pan) and bake until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs and inserted at the corner comes out clean.  Mine took about 30-35 minutes but every oven is different so I prefer the toothpick test.

P.S. I did reserve the last of the batter and baked them as drop cookies.  Texture-wise, I think these are better as drop cookies than as bar cookies.

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup cookie butter spread (Biscoff or Speculoos Cookie Butter)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Add butter, biscoff spread, and sugars to a bowl. Using a stand mixer or hand held mixer, cream ingredients for 1-2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla. Beat until ingredients are well incorporated. Add pumpkin and blend. Scrape down sides of bowl and make sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and mix until just combined, careful not to over mix.
4.  Drop large tablespoon size dough onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 10-11 minutes, or until cookies are set (they should not brown). Cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack and cooling completely.