Kensington Gold: Pumpkin Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

To say that I've been a little obsessed with pumpkin this fall might be an understatement. Since those first Dunkin Donuts pumpkin coffees arrived in early September, I've just wanted to eat and drink all things pumpkin-flavored in a culinary celebration of the season (I may or may not have cleaned out my local Trader Joe's pumpkiny selection). I love the fact that pumpkin seems to work equally well in both sweet and savory concoctions, but recently, I was on the hunt for a cookie option to take to a fall-themed party. Who doesn't love the smell of cookies baking? And when you throw in some pumpkin, you've got a recipe for a perfect, homey, fall treat. Last year, I made these and these, which were both awesome, but I wanted to try something new this time and stumbled upon this recipe for Oatmeal Pumpkin Creme Pies. I liked the idea of making sandwich cookies, and jaysus, were these little devils delicious. The oatmeal balances out the sweet decadence of the filling so nicely and gives the cookies a heartiness that pairs well with cool weather and hot coffee. They were a huge hit at the party and also at work, where I took some of the leftovers. Have I convinced you to make them yet? If yes, then here's what you have to do:

First up: making the oatmeal cookies (which would be scrumptious all by themselves. So if you get distracted by the newest episode of Modern Family before you make the filling, that's okay too). Take a stick of softened, unsalted butter and cream it with 1/2 cup sugar and 3/4 brown sugar (I like the dark stuff) with a mixer.

Next add an egg and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and blend well.

In a separate bowl, combine 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 cup all-purpose flour, and 1 and 2/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, and mix together.

Take this concoction and slowly mix it into the butter/sugar/egg mixture until just combined.

Now would be a good time to dunk your finger in and taste it. Just be sure to turn off the mixer first.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least an hour. This apparently prevents the cookies from getting too flat. If after an hour, you've managed to not eat all of the chilling dough, take it out of the fridge, preheat your oven to 325 degrees and line a cookie sheet or two with some parchment paper. Take about 2 teaspoons of dough, roll it into a ball, and then put it on the cookie sheet. Mine were probably slightly bigger than the original recipe's....I always seem to have a heavy hand when it comes to cookie size.

Bake the cookies for about 9 minutes, until the edges look a bit golden. Let them cool for a few on the tray and then transfer them to a wire rack.

As the cookies are cooling, you can make the pumpkin cream cheese filling. But, before you begin, you should probably try one of the oatmeal cookies while they are still warm. Actually, better make it two so you don't have an uneven number to turn into sandwiches. You'll need your strength to make this very difficult filling, after all. Go back to your mixer and blend together 4 oz. of softened cream cheese, 2 tablespoons of unsalted, softened butter, 1/4 cup pumpkin puree, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I'd recommend Trader Joe's version, which has a dash of cardamom and lemon peel, but if you don't have any, you can improvise by mixing together 1/4 teaspoon each of nutmeg, ground cloves, and ground ginger) at medium speed until smooth.

Mix in 2-2.5 cups of powdered sugar, depending on how sweet you like it. I put in the entire 2.5 cups because I am personally of the opinion that you can never add too much powdered sugar.

When you've got your icing nice and smooth, it's time to assemble the sandwiches. Plop a generous dollop of frosting on the flat side of a cookie, spread it around, and then top it with another cookie. Continue doing this until you run out of icing, cookies, or the willpower that's holding you back from eating one immediately.