Cinnamon, Cloves, Molasses - Oh my!!!

O.K. I've posted this recipe before, but it's that time again. Kids playing in the leaves. Crisp, sunny days and pumpkins all around. I love this recipe and it is a perfect fall treat. It had been a little while since I had made any treats around here (maybe because of all the Halloween candy we had goin' on and still do) so I was in the mood today to put my cooking skills to good use. Last time I posted this, I had no pictures so here you are ~

Gingersnap Cookies with Pumpkin Butter Sauce

(Thanks Misty and Keri for sharing this recipe with me - it's a favorite!)

Cream together:

1/2 cup shortening

1 egg

1/4 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup dark molasses

Add:

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 & 1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. ground cloves

Mix together.

*** Feel free to lick the spoon here ***

Make yourself a pretty little package and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Roll into walnut size balls and roll in sugar to coat.

*** Suddenly the kids wanted to start helping. Even though I couldn't pay them enough to make cookies with me earlier ;) Geez. ***

*** I wonder why they wanted to help?***

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes. Do not over cook.

And you're definitely gonna want some of this to go with it:

Pumpkin Butter Sauce

(1) 15 oz. can pumpkin pie filling

2 cups powdered sugar

(1) 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. sugar

Blend all ingredients together. Serve sauce in a bowl, next to the plate of cookies. To eat, spread on one side of cookie and enjoy.

Now, all that talk got me hungry. I think I need to go get another one...

(I wrote that last night. I'm not getting "another one" at 8 o'clock in the morning.)

** Yields approximately 2 dozen cookies and enough pumpkin butter to last a lifetime. You could definitely quadruple the recipe for the cookies and still have pumpkin butter left over.