Christmas Part III: Inside Out Pumpkin Bars

So Trader Joes is the best store on the face of the planet for buying non-baking related grocery items like produce and meat and meals and things like that.  (But who really does that anyway?  I'm pretty much a "pie for dinner" kind of gal.)

And Trader Joes has these amazing things called "Inside Out Carrot Cake Cookies" which are these two yummy little chewy carrot cookies filled with nuts and raisins with cream cheese frosting sandwiched between them.  My husband would kill for these cookies.  So when he asked for something "pumpkiny" for Christmas, I thought I would try to recreate these cookies but with pumpkin instead of carrot.  Hence the name "Inside Out Pumpkin Bars."  They are just delicious pumpkin cookie sandwiches with cream cheese filling.  Pretty simple- but a huge hit!

Inside Out Pumpkin Bars
Recipe Adapted from: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/10/chewier-pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies-2-ways/

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter, melted and cooled
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
1/4 cup pumpkin puree from a can
2 Cups White Chocolate Chips

1 batch of Cream Cheese Frosting

Directions

Mix the flour, salt, cornstarch, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the melted butter and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed. Stir in pumpkin puree until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. Fold white chocolate chips.

Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes, then roll into golfball-sized balls. Bake for 8-11 minutes, then let cool completely. (Mine took the entire 11 minutes) If you keep these in the fridge for even longer, you may get a more cakier cookie.

When the cookies are cooled, fill two cookies with cream cheese frosting and let the frosting set in the fridge.