Every year when Fall rolls around, so does the season for everything pumpkin spice. Food brands have seemed to turn the popular pumpkin spice flavor into a main feature flavor.

Companies use the seasonal flavor in everything from pumpkin spice yogurt to pumpkin salsa.

After the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte came out in 2005, it seemed that the intriguing flavor became even more popular, making companies gain millions.

However, this year Starbucks changed their artificial pumpkin flavoring and replaced it by using actual pumpkin.

“The pumpkin spice latte is better this year,” Starbucks regular Savanna Jackson said. “It has a lot more of the pumpkin flavor.”

To see if the flavor still had everyone talking, a poll of 20 students was conducted at Naples High School asking students if they liked the overall pumpkin spice flavor. Overall, pumpkin spice won with 13 votes. Only 7 people said they didn’t enjoy the flavor, or simply have never had it.

If you’re a pumpkin spice lover, a delicious recipe this fall season would be Pumpkin Spice Mini Cookie Pies. You’ll need:

(Makes 6 cookies)

6 balls pre-made cookie dough, or 12 tablespoons of cookie dough

4 oz cream cheese
8 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Cooking spray
4 drops yellow food coloring, optional
3 drops red food coloring, optional
Whipped cream, for topping
Muffin tin


Preparation:

  1. Coat muffin tin in cooking spray. Place cookie dough in muffin tin. (2 Tbsp in each cup)
  2. Filling: beat cream cheese with sweetened condensed milk until there are no visible lumps. Add pumpkin spice and heavy cream, and mix thoroughly. Optional: add 4 drops of yellow and 3 drops of red food coloring to make it orange.
  3. Let cool completely, then make ‘cups’ by pressing down on each cookie with the bottom of a clean spice container.
  4. Fill cookie cups and top with whipped cream.
  5. Enjoy!