Buttery Pecan Pumpkin Spice Cookies — The Kind of Thing Gah-Gah and a Four-Year-Old Make Together

Sixty-seven. My birthday. And baby, I want to tell you about Amara.

The family came. The yard. The cake (Kayla's — excellent this year, red velvet, which was my request because a woman turning sixty-seven deserves a cake the color of ambition). Twenty-two people including Thomas, who brought a cobbler — HIS cobbler, the nutmeg one — and Mrs. Crawford, who arrived in a taxi because she doesn't drive and refused to let Denise pick her up because "I am not an invalid, I am an independent woman with a taxi account."

But Amara. Amara is four next week. She came with Earl Jr. and Carolyn and she ran to me and she threw her arms around my legs and she said, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAH-GAH I MADE YOU SOMETHING." And she handed me a piece of paper. On it, drawn in crayon with the intensity of a child who means every stroke: a picture of two people at a stove. One tall. One small. The tall one has gray hair. The small one has brown hair. They're both holding spoons. At the bottom, in letters so big they fill the page: "ME AND GAH GAH COOK."

Me and Gah-gah cook. Four words. The most important four words ever written. More important than the book title. More important than any review. More important than the heritage award. A four-year-old drew a picture of us cooking together, which means she sees it. She sees the stove and the spoon and the grandmother and herself at the center of it, and she put it on paper, and that paper is going in the recipe box — right on top, right where you open it, right where the first thing you see when you reach for a recipe is a crayon drawing of the future.

I said, "I'm sixty-seven and I don't recommend it." Everyone laughed. Mrs. Crawford said, "Wait until you're eighty-seven." Thomas raised his cobbler fork and said, "To Miss Dot." Everyone repeated: "To Miss Dot."

Now go on and feed somebody.

Amara’s drawing is in the recipe box now — right on top, just like I said — and every time I reach in, I see those two figures at the stove, both holding spoons. Thomas’s cobbler had that warm nutmeg running all the way through it, the kind of spice that settles into a room and makes people stay a little longer, and that’s exactly what these cookies taste like to me: celebration that lingers. They’re soft and buttery with pumpkin keeping them tender and pecans giving them that something-extra, and they are absolutely the kind of thing a grandmother and a four-year-old can make together at a stove, both holding spoons, just like the picture.

Buttery Pecan Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 12 minutes | Total Time: 27 minutes | Servings: 24 cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup pure pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Instructions

1. Heat the oven. Preheat to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves until evenly combined.
3. Cream the butter and sugars. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides as needed.
4. Add the wet ingredients. Beat in the pumpkin puree, egg, and vanilla extract until fully incorporated. The batter will look slightly curdled — that’s fine.
5. Combine wet and dry. With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture, stirring just until no dry streaks remain. Do not overmix.
6. Fold in the pecans. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the toasted pecans until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
7. Portion and bake. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing cookies about 2 inches apart. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, until the edges are just set and the tops look barely done — they will firm as they cool.
8. Cool before serving. Let cookies rest on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 188 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 23g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 118mg