Chewy Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing

For the Pumpkin Cookies:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or grease.
2. Sift together all the spices, baking soda, baking powder, and flour in a medium bowl.
3. Cream butter and both sugars with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer until well blended. Add egg and pumpkin and mix just until combined. You don’t want the butter to over soften.
4. Add the dry mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix until combined. If you would like to add chocolate chips, stir in the desired amount with a spoon. At this point you can either drop the cookies onto the sheet from a spoon or a scoop, or you can pipe them into circles. Perfectionists beware: they will not be pretty and picture perfect unless you pipe them with a round fitting. The taste difference is nonexistent.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 10-13 minutes. The piped 1” cookies take about 10 minutes, while the drop cookies take a little longer. The cookies are done when the center springs back from your touch. Not a moment longer! Completely cool on cookie racks prior to icing. [Try to resist eating the majority!]

For the Brown Butter Icing:

1. Brown your butter: Melt butter over medium-low heat in a small, thick-bottomed pot. Swirl the butter every minute or so to ensure even cooking. WATCH IT LIKE A HAWK. Patience is crucial to browning butter. First the butter will “un-cloud”, then little tiny bubbles will form on the bottom of your pan. These are good things. Keep swirlin’ intermittently. Every so often give the butter a good sniff and see if it smells like melted butter or if it has a nutty aroma. Once you smell that distinctly nutty aroma and your butter is a golden brown, pull it from the stove and pour it over your confectioners sugar. Make sure you get every last bit of it – including the little brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Yummmy.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and vigorously beat with a spatula to mix. The consistency should be smooth and creamy. Not runny. If your icing is a touch too thick drizzle a little more milk on at a time. You will probably have to loosen it up halfway through icing.
3. Ice those beautiful chewy chocolate chip pumpkin cookies with a small offset spatula and then sprinkle with just a touch of cinnamon for fun.