Gear up for holiday baking with Cooking Channel. Your favorite chefs & Food People have opened their kitchens to share their best cookie recipes. From mini Red Velvet Whoopie Pies to Chuck's Maple-Pecan Shortbread, we'll keep you baking all season. Visit our All-Star Cookie Swap, then head over to FoodNetwork.com for great takes on holiday baking from Food Network chefs.

When trying to decide what cookie we'd contribute to Cooking Channel's cookie swap, we were inspired by all of those (somewhat scary) scented candles and potpourri that seem to pop up around the holidays. Lets be serious — they are way too strong and basically give everyone migraines. What those products are trying to emulate is the subtly spicy scent that wafts through the air while holiday baking is underway. And so we created these pumpkin cookies, to capture all that seasonal goodness (nary a wax candle in sight).

To replicate those sweet, spicy and tart smells in the form of a cookie, we started with a pumpkin base and studded the dough with bits of white chocolate and dried cranberries. (Pumpkin is one of our favorite wintry flavors and we bake with it as much as possible during its short season.) The result?  These super soft, fluffy cookies with alternating bits of creamy and chewy textures. We promise: Baking these cookies will remind you what the holidays really should smell like.

Bite-Sized White Chocolate, Cranberry and Pumpkin Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt in a mixing bowl.

Whisk together the butter, pumpkin puree, sugars, vanilla and egg in another mixing bowl until completely combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir together until fully incorporated. Fold in the white chocolate chips and cranberries until just combined.

Spoon and drop tablespoon-size balls of cookie dough onto the parchment-lined baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.

Bake the cookies until puffed, set and lightly browned, about 15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking time.

Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes on the baking sheets before serving.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. (You can either enjoy the cookies cold or place them in a 200 degree F oven to refresh and warm them.)

Jenny Park is a food stylist and recipe writer born and raised in Chicago. She has worked for companies such as Food and & Wine Magazine, Chronicle Books and HGTV. Teri Lyn Fisher is a food and interior photographer born and raised in Boise, Idaho. She has produced images for companies such as Rue magazine, Anthology and Sterling Publications. Jenny and Teri both currently live in Los Angeles and collaborate on Spoon Fork Bacon together and are co-authors to the cookbook Tiny Food Party!