We have been in our house for twenty years. It’s time for a change, but until then we’re here and making the most of it. Things have been replaced, painted, and repaired. The furnace and air conditioner were two of the appliances that had hung on through this entire phase.
Until the furnace decided not to. Actually, it was the thermostat that broke. It’s not fair to blame the furnace when it’s the innocent victim here. Fixing a thermostat doesn’t seem complicated and it’s probably not. However, when the repairman arrived (of course after hours for an additional charge), he found a crack in the heat exchanger.
I am no expert on furnaces, but a crack in the heat exchanger is bad. Very bad, in fact. So bad, he could do nothing else for fear repairing the thermostat would cause carbon monoxide to leach into the house.
I’m not a religious person, but the thermostat goes out and it’s found out the heat exchanger is cracked? That’s a sign. That’s Granny looking out for us.
Luckily this was all a few weeks ago, so it was only bad that we didn’t have heat for three days instead of the terrible horrible awful it would be now that wind chills are in the single digits (go away Manitoba Mauler).
The first of the three days was spent getting estimates. That was about as fun as it sounds. The second was spent huddling and waiting and wishing it wasn’t Sunday when nothing could be done. The third was when the furnace was installed and we had warmth by late afternoon.
It wasn’t that bad looking back on it, just one of those things you don’t expect or want to deal with as often happens with houses and in life in general. Luckily we have things like Chewy Pumpkin Sugar Cookies to make the not so great moments at least a little sweeter.
These cookies have a soft, almost melt in your mouth texture like Lofthouse cookies with just a hint of pumpkin and spice. They are rather easy to make and the recipe makes a lot of cookies. Perfect for gifting this holiday season!
Pumpkin Sugar Cookies #SundaySupper
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 30 cookies 1x
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup olive oil
- ½ cup pure pumpkin puree
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Glaze
- 2 cups confectioners sugar
- 2–4 tablespoons milk (I used almond, use what you love)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pecan halves for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
- In a large bowl, whisk together butter, oil, pumpkin, sugars, and vanilla until well combined. A hand or stand mixer will do the job as well. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and slowly add the flour. Stir until all the dry ingredients are well combined.
- Scoop approximately 2 tablespoon sized amounts of dough onto the prepared pans. Bake about 15 minutes until puffy and just barely set on top. Cool completely on trays.
- Once the cookies are cool, make the glaze. In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, milk, and cinnamon. Spread glaze onto each cookie and while it is still wet, press a pecan into the glaze. Allow to firm up before serving.
- Cookies may be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen, wrapped in parchment and foil and placed in a zipper bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature about 1 hour.
Notes
Additional chilling time is necessary
Recipe adapted from Together As Family
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
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Glad to hear your heat is back. Love the cookies- the cinnamon icing attracts me.
You totally hit the nail on the head, Sue, the cinnamon icing makes these cookies shine.
Yeah, we went through that a couple years ago. But thank goodness we have a furnace on both levels of the house, so we had a warm place to go. Baking is the perfect way to warm up the house and your cookies look so soft and yummy!
Very interesting and lucky you have two furnaces. I definitely did my fair share of baking when the heat was out.
I wish I had one of these chewy pumpkin cookies right now, Laura. I really love all the ingredients in these cookies…and that glaze! Yum 🙂
This cookies rock! And I love the glaze and pecan on top. It makes them so festive!
The cookies look delicious!! A great Christmas cookie! Glad you are warm again!
Yum! I love pumpkin and cinnamon.
I love soft melt in your mouth kind of cookies. These look delicious!