Pumpkin Treasure Cookies

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, use a handheld electric mixer to beat the sugar and softened butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg until combined, then beat in the orange zest and vanilla.
3. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and stir until fully incorporated. Divide the dough in half.
4. Knead green food coloring into one dough half until you reach the desired green hue. Knead orange food coloring into the other half until you reach the desired orange hue. Roll each into a ball, flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
6. Dust a work surface with flour. Roll out the green dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Use a 1-inch scalloped round cookie cutter to cut out 24 cookies, rerolling scraps as needed. Use the end of a straw to cut a hole in the center of each. Arrange on a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart.
7. Roll the remaining green dough into a long 1/4-inch-thick log, then cut into 3/4-inch pieces to form pumpkin stems. Transfer to another parchment-lined baking sheet.
8. Dust the work surface with more flour. Roll out the orange dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Use a 2-inch scalloped round cookie cutter to cut out 24 cookies. Arrange on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.
9. Transfer all cut-outs to the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes, until chilled.
10. Bake the green pumpkin stems for 4 to 6 minutes, until set and very lightly golden. Let cool on a wire rack.
11. Bake the green cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, until tops are set and bottoms are lightly golden. Let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
12. Bake the orange cookies, rotating pans halfway through, for 10 to 12 minutes, until tops are set and bottoms are lightly golden. Let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
13. Place one orange cookie on a work surface. Pipe 1 tablespoon of vanilla icing onto each and top with 3 or 4 M&M’S chocolate candies. On the bottoms of the green cookies, pipe a small dot of icing, then stack them over the M&M’S-topped orange cookies. Use icing to adhere the green stems into the centers of the green cookies.