Pumpkin Pie Cookies

Yay fall! The colors and the cool(er) weather and pumpkins and apples and soups and, and, and... Sigh.

Can you tell I like fall?

So on this crisp fallish afternoon, with a blue sky and sunshine...I am inside working on the website (grrrr). To make it a somewhat enjoyable day, I decided we needed something from pumpkin. This way I could have the house smelling like thanksgiving while slaving away over the keyboard and mouse.

PUMPKIN COOKIES! YES!

Easy, have all the ingredients (yes we keep canned pumpkin in the pantry, you know, just in case), and I get to experiment. *evil laugh*

Here is what you need...

• 2 sticks butter
• sugar
• pumpkin
• flour
• baking soda
• baking powder
• package of pudding mix (pumpkin pie works best, but butterscotch or vanilla are good too)
• pumpkin pie spice
• orange
• vanilla
• eggs
• salt

If you want to glaze the cookies then you need some powdered sugar too.

Soften the butter by either planning ahead (like that ever happens when you make cookies!) or nuke in microwave for 10-20 seconds.

Dump butter and sugar into bowl or mixer. Mix until creamy. While mixing, put 4 c flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 t pumpkin pie spice, and 1 tsp salt into another bowl and mix with fork.Add 2 c pumpkin and pudding mix. When blended add eggs one at a time, mixing after each.

Zest 1 large orange. I use the cheese graters small grate part to do this. If you have a zester, more power to you. Keep orange as we will use juice for the glaze later.

Mix zest and vanilla into the batter. Add flour mix slowly, mixing well after each cup.

Take your butter wrappers and grease the baking sheet or line with waxed paper. Drop by spoonfuls onto baking sheet.

Throw pans into the oven for 10 minutes. Exactly 10 minutes. Less and they are gooey, more and they are brown on the bottom and dry. DO not worry. They are supposed to be fluffish. I tried using 2 teaspoons each of powder and soda and got more of a bread-like cookie. They were yummy, just not what I was expecting.

 So, hint, hint.., to make bread or muffins, just increase the baking soda and powder to 2 teaspoons each and reduce by 1/2c of flour.

Let the cookies set on their pan for a few minutes before moving to cooling rack and wait until they are cool before adding glaze.

Oh yeah! The glaze! Mix 1 part squeezed OJ to 4 parts powdered sugar. You should get a thick liquid...drizzle over tops of cookies when cool. If you are feeling decorative, you could even zest part of another orange and put orange zesty sprinkles OR if you have a citrus peeler make little curls to put on top!

This recipe should make about 3 dozen cookies. I didn't end up with that many by the time they were done.

Damn gnomes.

________________________________________________________________________

Pumpkin Cookies________________________________________________

Cookies

2 sticks of butter, softened

1c sugar

2c pumpkin

4 c flour

1 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp baking soda

2 t pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp salt

1 pkg butterscotch, vanilla or pumpkin pie pudding

2 eggs

1 lg orange, zested

1 tsp vanilla

Glaze

1/2c powdered sugar

1-2Tbs orange juice

Pumpkin Pie Spice 

4 Tbs cinnamon

4 t nutmeg

4 t ginger

3 t allspice

Mix together and store for pumpkin time.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream butter and sugar together. Mix dry ingredients into separate bowl. Add pumpkin, vanilla and zest to butter mix. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add dry mix slowly allowing to mix well between each add. 

Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8-10 mins.

Mix glaze ingredients and when cookies are cool, glaze tops. 

Banana Butterscotch Streusel Muffins

You know those bananas you bought last week, 'cause you were craving bananas? You bought a bunch because it feels weird to buy just one or two, right? And then you ate only one or two and the rest just sat... and sat...and sat...

and now....

They are perfect for banana bread!

But wait! Banana bread so Boooooorrrriiinnnngggg. Snore.

What's that? You have other random baking stuffs in your pantry?

OOOOHHHHHH!

Well then, let's snazz up banana bread, shall we?

Stop licking the screen. You don't know where it's been.

No seriously. Stop.

So, how abouts we do butterscotch banana bread, maybe even with some coconut thrown in?

Yeah, see that's what I thought!

Let's start with those poor pathetic bananas.

They need a little squishing. But, I'm lazy, as we have found throughout our cooking journey together. I let my kitchen aid mixer do the work.

Generally, you should cream the butter and sugar together first, but, I got carried away. Toss the bananas in a bowl, peeled of course.

Now laugh. 'Cause they look like light yellow poop.

See?

Ok. now throw in 1/2 stick of butter and 3/4 c sugar.

Mix to get all mooshy. Don't worry, it'll be liquidy.

While it's doing its thing (if you are using a stand mixer), measure out 2 cups of flour, 3/4 teas baking powder and 1/2 teas salt. Mix together with a fork.

Add 2 eggs to butter-sugar-banana mix as well as 1/3c sour cream and a splash of vanilla, rum or almond extract. Any of the extracts are good, but each brings a different flavor. Coconut extract is yummy too.

Once it is all mixed well, add flour mixture and blend well.

Now add butterscotch chips and coconut if you so wish. I added coconut later, not to the mix, because I have non-coconut lovers in my house.

I know. Shameful.

Anyway. Grab out your muffin tins. These make roughly a dozen small or 6 texas muffin sized muffins. Spray them down with some sort of lubrication. Pam, butter, or whatever is in your misto bottle is fine.

Fill your cups almost to the top, a little more than 3/4 full to get that store-bought muffin top. If you want, sprinkle some coconut in the bottom of some of the cups before adding batter and a little to the top after, to mark which ones you did that to. This is how I got coconut into select muffins for my split house.

Pre-streusel topping.

Ok. Now. Before you put it in the oven, mix 2 Tbs butter, 1/4c oats, 1/4c brown sugar and if you have them, a few sliced almonds or pecan bits.

Note. Almonds are a superfood, so this addition makes the muffins healthy. :-P

Spoon topping over the top mounding it slightly.

Toss the pans in the oven for maybe like... mmmmm... 15-20 mins.

Go play on Pinterest or in my case, start dinner while they were cooking.


When the buzzer reminds you that there is something in the oven, remove them and let them sit until you can touch them and not receive 2nd degree burns.

Enjoy your caramelly, butterscotchy, banana-y goodness.

MMMMMMM.

Cherry-Peach Sticky Rolls

This is one of my grandmother's recipes. She makes it only for Easter and Christmas brunch, so it's a rare treat. The original, hand-written recipe is for orange-caramel sticky buns. I am fresh out of marmalade, but had some beautiful peaches and cherries from the produce market, so as I cannot leave anything alone, I altered her recipe just a tiny bit.

There are actually a lot of different things you can use instead of marmalade or peaches if those are not available to you when the urge to make something sweet and sticky for breakfast arises.

Options:
Any jelly or fresh fruit will work. Berries especially. Pineapple and cherries would be good, apples and walnuts, pumpkin and pecans, blueberries and a squeeze of lemon juice, shaved chocolate and hazelnuts. Note: if you use fresh fruit it will be not as sticky, but more like a traditional cinnamon roll that isn't rolled.

The other ingredients:

• 2 cans biscuits. I use Grands, but the smaller ones work too.
• Brown sugar
• Cinnamon
• nuts of choice; pecan bits, walnut bits or sliced almonds.
• butter, because you can't have good baked goods without it!

Equipment:

Bundt pan or if you don't have one, a loaf pan or other deep dish container will be fine. 

2 bowls: one for melted butter, one for cinnamon/sugar mix.

Cutting board and knife if you are using fresh fruit.

Ok got everything assembled? Fantastic. This will save you 42 trips to the pantry/cabinets getting stuff.

Assembly is easy. Cooking takes awhile, so plan at least an hour for these puppies to get all happy in the oven. 

First, slather some soft butter all over your baking container of choice.

Chop your fruit and sprinkle on bottom or drop tablespoons full of jelly/jam/preserves/marmalade along bottom so it covers in nice layer.

Sprinkle over nuts.

Melt butter in one bowl.

While it is melting, mix brown sugar and cinnamon in another bowl.

Get your biscuits unwrapped. I like the Grands style but you can use the smaller ones too.

Dip biscuits into butter then dredge in sugar mix. Place biscuit upright in pan.

Repeat a million times, or for, you know, however many biscuits you have.

Throw it in the oven at 300F for 45 mins then raise temp to 400 for 8-10.

Every oven is different. Mine is retarded so it takes awhile. 

When they feel firm on top, pull out of oven and place pan upside down on plate.

Let it sit for a few minutes. This will make all that yummy sticky juicy stuff run into the rolls.

MMMMMMMMM.

Ok stop drooling now. It's ok. It's almost ready. You can handle it!

Remove pan.

I wallop mine a couple of times to make sure everything is loose. 

Now you are all done! Isn't that easy? And it's pretty too!

Quick, take a picture of your accomplishment and post to facebook! your 1428 friends will be drooling on their screens!

Download Recipes Here

Strawberries 'N Cream French Toast with Bacon

Looks good right?

I had an epiphany yesterday when bringing home fresh strawberries and french bread still warm from the oven. You can see me in an 1800's style dress with a basket of fresh goodies right?

Ha!

Anyway, I thought... You know, cream cheese with those strawberries would be yummy... Ooooh! I could make a cream cheese filling for French toast and top that with fresh strawberries.

With this plan in mind, 5 seconds later, my children pipe up from the back seat. "Tacos sound good for dinner! LET'S HAVE TACOS!"
"But I was thinking french toast."
"I don't like french toast!" "I want tacos"
"Are you sure...? I have strawberries..."
"Ooooh! STRAWBERRIES!"

*shakes head*

So we had tacos. I didn't want friggin' French Toast anyway.

Tonight, I made dinner before they had the opportunity to tell me what sounded good.

See look at me being all sneaky and stuff. (They were outside enjoying the 2 seconds of sunshine we had today)

See my beautiful strawberries?

Unfortunately, we are going to have to murder them slightly to make dinner. But it's ok. They'll be yummy. I might add I bought this 3 pound container last night... and it's half gone. 

Nope. No strawberry-a-holics in this house. Not a one.

Ok. So let's start this the way I didn't cause I was being stupid.

Cut your now day old, lovely, crusty French bread into 1/4" to 1/2" slices. 

(insert french accent here) Lika dis...

Next, for this lovely loaf, get 2 eggs, some milk and almond extract. Or if you have no almond, amaretto will do in a pinch or if you have to, vanilla.

Yes, amaretto. No, the alcohol. Yes, seriously.

I used both. It was delish.

Onward.

Break open said eggs. (Do I really have to tell you this?)

Scramble the eggs.

(Insert accent here) Lika dis...

That funny looking thing is called a whisk. Forks do in a pinch. Don't panic.

Add milk. Oh. About...2 cups.

Add about 1/4 c of sugar, dash of almond or vanilla or amaretto or a combination. Whatever you have on hand. I wouldn't necessarily do almond AND vanilla, but almond and amaretto are very nice.

Sorry, no picture for that one, but trust me they are in there.

Whisk all together really well.

Do not put the whisk in the...sink.

Take it back out and wash it 'cause you will need to agitate (ooh big fancy word) the liquid to keep sugar suspended.

It's heavy. It likes to sink.

That's your physics lesson for today.

Next drown your lovely bread in the mix until happy (about 10-15 secs per side) and place on baking sheet. You will use said sheet later, again.

We wouldn't want you to have the whisk mistake again, no would we? See I warned you well ahead of time. Oh. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Less dirty dishes = happy cook.

Ok set the bread aside. If there is any dip left over, pour over the slices. They'll soak it up.

Get the bacon going.

MMMMMM. Bacon.

Time to murder the strawberries,

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ok. I'm done now.

Let's start the filling.

These are the ingredients in the filling. Plus a little almond extract. It ran away before I could take the picture.

Don't you hate it when ingredients grow legs and run off.

Grab the cream cheese. It's best if slightly soft. Makes mushing easier. Dump it in a bowl.

Add about 1/2c of yogurt, 1/2c marshmallow fluff and 2 Tbs sugar.

Squish together until smooth. Check on the bacon.

I cheated. I do that. 

Add almond extract. Mix in.

When it's done, it should look (insert accent here) lika dis...

So the bowl is messy. Cooking is messy. I'm a real cook, not food set person. 

Add a few chopped strawberries to the mix. I used maybe 4 little ones.

K. Throw it in the freezer to stiffen up a bit. 

Time to murder the strawberries a little. 

Chop them into bits. Check on the bacon.

Add sugar to make them happy. Add amaretto if you have no children to worry about. No intoxicating children, no matter how tempting to get them to sleep earlier.

Time to cook the toast. 

Heat up a skillet, griddle, or cast iron.

Slather it down with butter. 

Check on the bacon. Drain slices on paper towels. Throw on baking pan and into oven if they are done before everything else.

Cook on each side only until golden brown and return to baking pan. 

Once all of them are done, slide into the oven for about 7-8 minutes. 

Whew. Take a swig of that amaretto. Go pee. Dance a jig. Whatever.

Time to assemble.

Take one slice of toast and cut in half. Top one half with the filling from the freezer. Place other half on top. Cover in strawberries.

Grab some bacon and your good to go!

Peaches and Cream Pancakes

I know its been awhile. I deeply apologize. Life takes its twists and turns and well, I have had little time or gumption to write anything.

To kick off the weekend, I ended up in the E.R. for back issues. My daughter of course, was up by the time I returned home and as such announced she wanted pancakes. Here's the sucky part...I can't stand up straight and I am in the mood to cook. These 2 things do not go together well.

I did it anyway. I'm a stubborn bitch. End of story.

So this mornings breakfast, since I had 2 lovely white peaches with absolutely no flavor, is Peaches and Cream Pancakes.

The pancake recipe is mom's. I alter it with add-ins to make it fun. The basic recipe makes fat, fluffy, dense pancakes.

Now I am not a huge fan of pancakes.

I know. Blasphemy.

But my kiddos are, so I indulge them.

So first off, warm up you griddle or skillet. I use my cast iron. Ok, I use my cast iron for darn near everything.

Looks yummy right?

From scratch pancakes are super easy, I promise. Even you bachelors can get this.

You need:

2c Flour

1Tbs Baking POWDER

1tsp salt

1Tbs Sugar

and these...

...plus a little milk. I usually end up using about a cup, but it depends. 

So first off dump the dry ingredients into a bowl.

Add Egg.

My daughter loves to help me with this part. She is an egg-o-holic like me and her specialty now is breaking and adding eggs.

Add milk. Start with a little and keep adding until blended and a thick batter forms. You wan it to be gloppy, not runny.

Like this. 

I would like to apologize for the not well lit pics. I hurt. I am not feeling camera mode today :-(

Add into your batter a splash of vanilla and if you have it a tiny amount of maple extract. Almond works well too if you have it.

Next, chop a peach into bits.

No! Don't put them in yet! I didn't tell you to do that and I am the boss right now! Got it? 

Ok good. Geez. Thinking your a pro and all. ;-)

Dust the peaches with a little flour. A tablespoon works pretty well.

What? Why?

Because the flour helps fruit or any watery, chunky additions to suspend in the batter instead of floating to the bottom. 

Wait. Can you float to the bottom? Uh...fall, coagulate, have a meeting in the depths of the batter. 

This way you have even peachiness in every cake. 

Now that your batter is all happy and peachy, coat your skillet with an oily substance (I use butter)

and pour batter in small circles. about 1/4 c per cake.

Whilst they are cooking slice up another peach.

Why? Again you ask why? 

'Cause you can't have enough tasteless white winter peaches, that's why.

And your gonna coat them in sugar too. 

Turn the cakes over when they get bubbly on top and start to look dryish on the edges. Depending on your skillet, heat level and stove, 1-2 minutes per side. I cook on medium when using cast iron.

See pretty peach slices.

Coated in sugar.

Flip over your cakes.

Put them on a plate.

Top them with your peach slices and a dollop of your favorite yogurt flavor (I used banana 'cause that's what I had). I also added this peach-mango compote stuff I get at Costco. It's yummy on vanilla ice cream too.

Voila! Peaches and Cream Pancakes.

See that was easy!

Fry an egg, cook up some sausage and bacon, pour a cup of the nectar of the gods and enjoy on the front porch. Make sure you wave at the neighbors!