Happy Halloween!!

*please vote for me here, I would really appreciate it, every vote helps!
Do you like these pumpkin sugar cookies? Good, then read below for the ingredients and recipe.

Today is Halloween and let me be honest about my decorations around my house. There is a fake medium sized pumpkin that I threw some glitter onto, a mini pumpkin completely covered in glitter that has bite marks in it because Kip thought it was a toy. He ended up with glitter all around his nose. It was pretty hilarious and I have a jar of peanuts and Indian candy corn, you know the brown, orange and white ones to snack on. That is the extent of my Halloween decorations. Tonight, the front porch light will be turned off and I will be munching on all the Halloween candy I said I was buying for the kiddos but in reality, it is all for me. Frankly, my dogs go bonkers when the door bell rings so it is just easier and more quiet to not give out candy tonight. Although I will be playing Monster Mash in the background, for some reason it doesn't feel like Halloween day until I hear Monster Mash. 

In honor of Halloween, I have a pumpkin cut-out cookie for you today. 

That is my treat for you all, no tricks involved!
First, gather together your ingredients:
*I cut this recipe in half, but the ingredients listed below are for a full patch of cookies.
1 1/2 cup (3 sticks) butter, room temperature, 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 4 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, 1 tablespoon lemon zest (from 1 lemon), 5 cups AP flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder.

For the frosting, you need:
8 oz cream cheese, softened, 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream.

To make the cookies, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In your mixing bowl, cream the butter.

 Then add in the sugar and powdered sugar and cream together until light and fluffy.

Next, add in the eggs, one at a time and beat between each egg addition.

Then add the vanilla extract, almond extract and lemon zest.

Once all the wet ingredients are added, now it is time to add in the dry ingredients. Pour in two cups of flour and the baking powder and then mix.
Lastly, add in the remaining flour and mix the dough thoroughly.

You can make the cut-outs either now or up to a week. I prefer now of course, who wants to wait?
I sprinkled powdered sugar in my counter and rolling pin but you can use flour as well.
I like thicker cookies so I made my dough somewhat thick. I used the pumpkin cookie cutter and spaced the cookies evenly on a baking sheet. Be careful, these cookies will spread out a bit.

Put the cookies in the oven for 7-8 minutes BUT no longer. You don't want hard and somewhat burnt cookies.
Let the cookies cool completely before you frost them.

To make the frosting, this is a two step process. It is unlike any frosting I have made before and in my case, I should have read the instructions before I made the frosting. Good thing I have an extra half of a block of cream cheese.
In your mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, the powdered sugar and the vanilla extract.

 Mix these three ingredients well, then scoop the entire contents of the mixing bowl into another bowl. Clean out the bowl and the attachment, and then whip up the heavy whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks. Then scoop the cream into the other bowl that has the cream cheese.
Mix these two together and there you have your frosting.

I added some food dye to make my frosting orange for pumpkins, although the frosting doesn't appear orange in my photos.

Spread the frosting onto the cookies.
I added chocolate chips for the eyes, and the stem is half of a gummy Lifesaver. You can decorate your cookies however you like.

Then serve, eat and enjoy these cookies! Happy Halloween everyone!