Pumpkin Spice Candy Corn Cookies

by Sarah

in Dairy-Free, Desserts, Egg-Free, Snacks, vegan

These pumpkin spice candy corn cookies taste like Fall on a cloud. Soft, sweet, with a hint of spicy.

pumpkin spice candy corn cookies Fall is my favorite cooking season. It’s the time when I eat all the cinnamon in my kitchen, bring out my pumpkin spice, and make the pumpkin flavored version of everything. I recently found some pumpkin spiced candy corn at the grocery store (that’s right pumpkin spiced!) and knew I had to make this cookie.

pumpkin spice candy corn cookiesThe key to getting the perfect fluffy texture for both the cookie and the candy corn is to bury the candy corn in the cookie so it does not melt onto the pan. I did a little experiment below where I placed the candy corns in different locations on the cookie to see how they turn out. Numbers 1, 4, 5 turned out best because the candy corn isn’t showing through the dough, which prevents melting from the heat. The dough acts as an insulator.

pumpkin spice candy corn cookiesNow you may be wondering why some of the covered cookies still bled candy corn. It’s because I baked for 15 min in the picture above, and in the final recipe I baked for 10 minutes. I baked these a couple times to get the temperature / time / candy placement correct. Good news for you is, you can follow the recipe and be golden!

pumpkin spice candy corn cookiesThese cookies are dedicated to OXO’s Cookies For Kid’s Cancer and the Good Cookie Campaign. Pediatric cancers take a hard toll on families, and take away so much from kids’ ability to do all the fun things that healthier kids do. In college, I volunteered at the oncology ward of my university hospital. There, kids lay the intensive care unit beds with IV’s pumping drugs through their veins. Just outside in the lobby of the children’s hospital, healthier kids played at the electric train set and visited the gift shop to look at toys. I wished that someday medicine could prevent kids from being at the intensive care unit, and give them the same childhood as healthy kids.

This year OXO has pledged to donate up to $100,000 to support cancer research for pediatric cancers. For every blogger who dedicates a blog post to OXO’s program, OXO will donate $100 toward cancer research. Throughout September, OXO will also donate 25 cents to pediatric cancer research each time someone buys an OXO product that has a “Cookies for Kids Cancer” sticker on it. The eligible products are here.

These cookies were shaped using the OXO medium cookie scoop. You can buy it this week AND help pediatric cancer research at the same time = double win! This scoop is how I make sure my cookies are the same size so they bake evenly.

A big Thank You to Joanne of Eats Well with Others for telling me about the OXO Cookies for Kid’s Cancer campaign. Her OXO-dedicated cookie recipe for Dulce de Leche Snickerdoodle Bars is amazing (and it uses cinnamon sugar, YUM).

Pumpkin Spice Candy Corn Cookies

Ingredients
  

Dry

  • 2 1/2 cup flour
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice
  • 3/4 cup pumpkin spice candy corn regular is okay too

Wet

  • 1 cup vegan margarine Earth Balance
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup water

Instructions
 

  • In the largest bowl, cream vegan margarine with sugars using an electric mixer. Add vanilla and water, mix to combine.
  • In a medium size bowl, mix dry ingredients except candy corns. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, and mix till just combined using a mixer.
  • Add in candy corns. Work candy corns into the cookie dough with your hands (the dough will be kind of stiff)
  • Form 1 - 1.5 tablespoon sized cookie balls (with a cookie scoop) and put the candy corns deep in the cookie ball. If the candy corn touches the cookie sheet during heating, they will melt and seep all over the cookie sheet. Protect the candy corn from melting by insulating them within the cookie dough.
  • Put cookie balls in an airtight container, and keep in the fridge for a few hours till the balls set shape. This prevents the cookie from spreading too much while baking. The more the cookie spreads, the thinner it gets, and the more candy corn will be exposed to potentially touch the baking sheet and melt.
  • Preheat oven to 350F. Bake for 10 minutes. The cookies will still feel soft when you take them out, but will harden as they cool to room temperature. Enjoy these fluffy pumpkin spice candy corn cookies!

Want more Fall in your life? Check out these Fall recipes:

Pumpkin Spice Honey Cookies

Pumpkin Spice Honey Cookies - Savoring Spoon

Cranberry Pear Pie (Vegan)

Cranberry Pear Pie

The Best Pecan Pie

Sarah's Pecan Pie - best pecan pie recipe

Cranberry Cornmeal Cake

cranberry cornmeal cake, slice

Leave a Comment

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Nina Dauzet November 26, 2017 at 4:01 pm

You are amazing. How you are a medical student and invest in creating foods and recipes, I will never know. I know you will put the same dedication to your patients someday. Meanwhile my cookie balls I rolled in cinnamon sugar, and they are chilling in the fridge. Hopefully they will be fantastic. I want to take them into my first day in training tommorow for work!

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2 Sarah November 28, 2017 at 6:30 am

Blogging in medical school was not so bad, it’s residency that’s become the real time sinker 🙂 Food & Recipes are always a welcome break from work though! Hope you enjoy the cookies!

Reply

3 Connie @ Sprig and Flours September 27, 2014 at 5:35 pm

I love this post! What a beautiful dedication. These cookies look amazing (: Candy corns are my weakness.

Reply

4 Sarah September 28, 2014 at 12:01 am

Thanks Connie! I was eating candy corns on the side while I was making this!

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