Last week I went to Miami on vacation/for my birthday (more on that soon!), and when I got back, it all of a sudden felt like Fall. The weather is always so warm now into September and even October, that all I long for is a crisp Fall day to go for a hike and do some baking. It seemed like it had finally cooled off, so I made a plan for my Perfect Fall Day:

  • Go for a nice long hike amidst some Fall foliage
  • Hit up the farmer’s market for a huge basket of honeycrisp apples
  • Bake a Fall recipe with the windows open and a fall candle burning
  • Make a dinner centred around butternut squash
  • Start a Gilmore Girls re-watch

Well, I accomplished everything on my list, except it was like 80 degrees in my condo in the afternoon because the sun was absolutely blazing, and I had to put on the AC! Still a pretty perfect day.

I also knew exactly which Fall recipe I wanted to make, as I saw these cookies on The Palatable Life’s Instagram last year. She was doing a series of cookies based on TV shows, and since Lorelai and Rory are coffee-obsessed, came up with these Gilmore Girls Coffee Cake Cookies. These also reminded me of a Crumbl Cookie; huge, soft and with a fun twist (i.e. the streusel topping).

These turned out perfectly and were SO delicious. My only grievance was the cracks around the perimeter of the cookies, but I filled in the huge ones with more dough before baking, and upon re-examination of the pic above, I actually like the way the medium and small cracks add some character. I can’t wait to make these again, and I think they’ll be part of my regular Fall cookie rotation, along with these Cheesecake Stuffed Pumpkin Snickerdoodles.

Gilmore Girls Coffee Cake Cookies

Source: The Palatable Life

Ingredients

Streusel

  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • pinch salt

Cookie

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Icing

  • 1/2 cup icing sugar
  • 1 tbsp milk or cream
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  2. For the streusel, combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix with a spatula until combined. Use your hands to break the mixture into crumbles. If it doesn’t crumble easily, add another tbsp of flour, mix in and try again. Repeat again if needed. Chill this mixture while you make the cookie dough.
  3. For the cookie dough, add the butter, oil and brown sugar to a large bowl and mix for about two minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until just combined. Set aside.
  4. To form the cookies, use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop out the dough and roll it into balls. Place on your cookie sheets and use the bottom of the measuring cup (or your fingers) to make an indent on the top of the dough. (I found when I did this I got some huge cracks in the perimeter of the cookies, which was not pleasing to my eye! I filled them in with a little bit of dough). Sprinkle a couple tablespoons of streusel on top of each cookie, filling the indent.
  5. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, and while they’re baking, make the icing.
  6. For the icing, whisk the icing sugar, milk/cream and vanilla together in a small bowl until smooth.
  7. Once the cookies have cooled slightly, drizzle on as much icing as you like.