Oatmeal Pumpkin Creme Sandwiches

makes 30 mini sandwiches

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 and 2/3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/4 tsp nutmeg (or 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice)
• 2 – 2.5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/4 cup flour (to thicken, as needed)
• salt, to taste

In a large bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment or with a handheld mixer, cream the softened butter and sugars until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.
Slowly stir in the baking soda, cinnamon, oats, and flour. Mix together until just combined. Do not overmix.
Chill the dough for at least one hour in the fridge. Cookies will be very flat if the dough is not cold.
Preheat oven to 325F degrees.
Roll 2 teaspoons of dough into a ball and drop onto ungreased baking sheet or silicone baking mat. Bake for 9 minutes and let cool on baking sheet for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack.
While the cookies are cooling, prepare the pumpkin frosting. Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese, butter, pumpkin, and spices on medium speed until creamy.  Add 2-2.5 cups of sifted powdered sugar depending how sweet you’d like it.  If frosting is much too thin, add in the flour to thicken it.  Add salt to cut the sweetness, if you prefer.
Spread a generous amount of frosting on the underside of a cooled cookie and sandwich another cookie on top.

** The cookies will be very soft and may appear undone after only 9 minutes in the oven, but they will firm up as they cool.