About 2 hours before making the recipe, place the pumpkin puree on a fine mesh strainer. If your strainer has large holes, use a cheesecloth.

Place the strainer on top of a bowl and let the pumpkin puree drain. You can place a piece of paper towel on top of the puree. Then place a small plate with something heavy like a can of pumpkin puree on top, to help drain the excess liquid. This step will make your cookie’s texture much better.

Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF.

To a small bowl add the flour, the baking soda, baking powder, salt, pumpkin spice, and cinnamon. Whisk to combine.

Add the butter to the bowl of a mixer, or bowl of a stand mixer. Beat the butter with the electric mixer on medium speed for 1 minute.

Add the brown sugar, and the granulated sugar, and beat on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes, until the mixture is fluffy. Now, add the strained pumpkin puree to the bowl, mix to combine.

Add the egg yolks to the bowl and mix until incorporated.

Then add the vanilla and mix.

Add the dry flour mixture to the bowl and stir on low to combine, until a smooth dough forms.

In a shallow bowl or plate, add granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and pumpkin spice. Mix to combine.

Scoop about 2 tablespoons of dough into balls, roll between your hands. Roll the cookie in the Pumpkin Spice Sugar mixture. If the cookie dough is too wet to roll between your hands, place the bowl with the cookie dough covered with plastic in the fridge, and set a 5 minute timer. Try to roll then. If it is still too wet to roll, give it another 5 to 10 minutes.

Once you roll the cookies, and coat them in Pumpkin Spice Sugar, place each on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, or silicone mat, 2 inches apart from each other.

Flatten the cookies a bit, by pressing down on them gently. You want them to be about 3/4” thick.

Bake them in the oven for about 10 to 12 minutes. The cookies should look set on the edges, and still a bit undone in the center. The cookies will continue to bake as they cool down.

To make the Maple Glaze, place the powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Add the maple syrup, the milk, the maple extract if using, the vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt.

Use a whisk to incorporate the mixture together.

If the glaze is too thick to drip, add a bit more milk, a teaspoon or so at a time.

And if the glaze is too thin, add more sifted powdered sugar to the bowl and whisk to combine, until the perfect consistency is achieved.

Once the cookies cool down, drizzle them with the Maple Glaze.

If they aren’t drizzled with the glaze, you can store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

If the cookies are drizzled with the glaze, store them in the fridge in a container for up to 5 days. To keep the cookies from having to be refrigerated, add water to the glaze instead of milk.

Let them come to room temperature before serving.