Recipe Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp freshly grated orange zest
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Green food coloring gel
• Orange food coloring gel
• 3/4 cup vanilla icing
• 1 cup M&M’S chocolate candies

Directions:

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes (+ 1 hour standing time)

1. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
2. In large bowl, using handheld electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until blended. Beat in orange zest and vanilla.
3. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture and stir until fully incorporated. Divide dough in half.
4. Knead green food coloring into 1 dough half to reach desired green hue. Knead orange food coloring into remaining dough half to reach desired orange hue. Roll each into a ball and flatten into a disk, then wrap each in plastic wrap. Chill in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 350°F.
6. Dust work surface with flour. Roll out green dough ball to 1/4-inch thickness. Using 1-inch scalloped round cookie cutter, cut out 24 cookies, rerolling scraps as needed. Using the end of a straw, cut a hole in center of each. Arrange on large parchment paper–lined baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart.
7. Roll remaining green dough into a long 1/4-inch-thick log, then cut into 3/4-inch pieces to form pumpkin “stems.” Transfer to another parchment paper–lined baking sheet.
8. Dust work surface with more flour. Roll out orange cookie dough ball to 1/4-inch thickness. Using 2-inch scalloped round cookie cutter, cut out 24 cookies. Arrange on parchment paper–lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.
9. Transfer all cut-outs to freezer for 10 to 15 minutes or until chilled.
10. Bake green pumpkin stems for 4 to 6 minutes or until set and very lightly golden. Let cool on wire rack.
11. Bake green cookies for 8 to 10 minutes or until tops are set and bottoms are lightly golden. Let cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
12. Bake orange cookies, rotating pans halfway through, for 10 to 12 minutes or until tops are set and bottoms are lightly golden. Let cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

13. Place one orange cookie on work surface. Pipe 1 tbsp vanilla icing onto each and top with 3 or 4 M&M’S chocolate candies. On the bottoms of green cookies, pipe a small dot of icing, then stack over M&M’S-topped orange cookies. Using icing, adhere green stems into centers of green cookies.
    
    
    

    Tip:

    • Substitute scalloped cookie cutters with straight-edge cookie cutters if preferred.