RECIPE! Pumpkin Cookies

THESE LITTLE BUGGERS show up every year around the Holidays. At least, at my grandparents' place they do. Their origins are slightly uncertain, but I suspect my grandmother had something to do with it since the recipe, as it was given to me, came with a warning: measurements are tripled. Ah, nothing like cooking with math.

The astute among you will be quick to point out that presently we are in the month of June, following up with a question about why I would be presently making a Holiday recipe. Well, the recipe is being made now because it was passed along to me yesterday, because it was one my grandmother made frequently, and because it was two years ago today that my grandmother passed along. All things considered, it seemed appropriate that I celebrate her memory in food, and when celebrating someone's memory in food it is always advisable to do so with dessert. I'm pretty sure that's how everyone would have wanted it.

I decided to buy the more specific ingredients at Whole Foods in Union Square, not because I necessarily think that the vegetable shortening and canned pumpkin are better at Whole Foods, but because I was already in the city and attempting to buy specific things like shortening and pumpkin at Polish stores in Greenpoint is mind-numbingly difficult. So, however you like, gather the following, and don't worry this recipe is -not- tripled:

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 cup nuts

3 tbsp butter
4 tsp milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

To make cookies: combine in large bowl shortening, sugar, pumpkin, egg, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Blend ingredients well, gradually adding flour. Spoon batter onto lightly greased cookie tray and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes, or until brown at edges. Remove from oven, remove from tray, allow to cool. To make frosting: in bowl, combine butter, milk, brown sugar, and vanilla. Blend ingredients well. Fold in powdered sugar; blend well. Spread frosting on cooled cookies. Eat many.

These cookies keep really well. They taste like little bites of pumpkin pie. Which is probably how they've come to be known in our family as pumpkin cookies. Go figure. This recipe makes about two dozen cookies. Or if you really want to make them like my grandmother--triple the recipe.