Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugar together on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla, and mix until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
4. With the mixer on low, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients, followed by 1/3 of the buttermilk. Alternate adding dry ingredients and buttermilk until well incorporated, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
5. Color the batter orange using orange food coloring. You may need to add more or less depending on the type of food coloring you’re using. Mix the batter on low until the color is even, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
6. Transfer the cookie batter to a piping bag or a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off.
7. Pipe the batter in pumpkin shapes (kind of a fat heart shape) on the prepared baking sheet. Leave about 2 inches of space between each cookie.
8. Bake at 375ºF for about 6 minutes, or until the cookies are set.
9. Let the cookies cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Filling

1. In the clean bowl of your stand mixer (or hand held mixer) beat together the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
2. On low speed, add in vanilla and powdered sugar.
3. Turn the mixer speed up to medium and beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
4. Use a piping bag or spatula to spread one half of each cookie with cream cheese filling. Place the second half of each cookie over the filling to create a sandwich.
5. Decorate as desired.