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. 

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Tonight is soup night. When the weather turns chilly and the leaves start drifting down quietly from the trees...when the wind blows a little colder, the sun sets a little earlier, the light is more golden, the acrid smell of burning wood melds with the sweet smell of damp leaves... it's fall. And fall means Thursday soup nights, my son's favorites.

This was actually, despite my deep love of mushrooms, my first attempt at cream of mushroom soup. No resource altered or guidance used. This is 100% me.

Ok, I know, the picture is terrible. My camera's battery decided to die right as I was being a genius, and ye old smart phone has only 8 megapixels. My bad. 

This is in no way, shape, or form fat free. It is lower in fat that the crap in the can and much yummier. 

Start with a bunch of different kinds of mushrooms. I used something like close to 2 pounds. 

See, mushroom-a-holic. 

I used Oyster, button, crimini and shittake. These were what was available at the local produce market. It's not mushroom season till March, so I make do.

You will also need:

1/2 and 1/2

Chicken stock or Better than Bouillon

Onion

Celery

Carrot

Garlic

Bay Leaf

Rosemary

Salt and Pepper

Butter

White wine

Milk 

Cut the onions into tiny bits, shred the carrots, chop the celery, rough chop the garlic, rough chop the mushrooms. 

Melt 2 Tbs of butter into the bottom of your stock pot (10 qt) on medium-high heat. Saute onion and garlic until onion is translucent. Add carrot and celery and cook for a few minutes. Add mushrooms mix gently so butter coats them. Add 1/2 c white wine, 4 cups of chicken stock, and 2 c milk. Add 1/2t rosemary and  2 bay leaves, Reduce heat to medium and watch carefully so the milk doesn't separate. Add 1 quart of 1/2 and 1/2. Heat through. Salt as needed (I used a lot). Soup should fill the stock pot about 3/4. 

Serve warm with bread and butter or a salad. 

And that's it. Super easy. Moderately healthy. Deliciously yummy. 

Signature Dish- Noodles in lemon garlic cream sauce, salad with raspberry vinaigrette, steak with blue cheese butter, foccacia

On occasion...I say that a lot it seems...On very RARE occasion I take the time to make my signature dish.

Why is it signature you ask? Well, this is 100% mine. No altered recipe, all mine. And it was my very very first recipe like that. There are a couple of others. When I make them, I'll post them.

So earlier I posted about Alfredo sauce and said in the once in a great while that I made it, when I did again, I would post pics.

Tonight is one of those nights.

On the menu tonight is Steak with blue-cheese, roasted garlic and herb butter, Homemade noodles with garlic lemon cream sauce, Salad with apples and blue cheese with raspberry vinaigrette and foccacia.

Ok so the foccacia I bought this time because I didn't get home early enough to make making bread feasible. I'll give you the recipe anyway. It's pretty easy.

Let's start with that because it takes the longest.

No. Wait. No. Nevermind.

Oh. Get out the butter so it can warm up. You need it kinda squishy.

The Bread. Although when you bake it, throw in the garlic head covered in olive oil wrapped in foil to bake with it. You'll want it to cool before you squish it.

Foccacia - This is mom's recipe. Again, I don't alter baked goods, usually.

If you have a bread machine, this makes this a million times easier. I don't bake in my bread machine, I just make the dough. I have this thing against bread that is rounded on the end and not length wise. It bothers me.

1c Lukewarm water

1 pkg yeast (2 1/4 teas if you do bulk like we do)

Mis these together. Let them get all happy in the warm bath.

In mixer dump...

1 1/2 c flour

1 Tbs Rosemary

2t salt

3T oil.

Pour in the water mix. Use your dough hook for this it work best. If using the bread maker, liquids first, then dry.

Mix until soft ball forms.

If needed, add more flour.

I always end up adding more flour.

Knead dough until its stiffish.

Get a pan that is a good size at. Err baking sheet. Technicalities sheesh!

Roll dough out into flattened circle of about 1 foot. (12") ONTO THE PAN. Seriously, you don't want to pick it up afterward. No more nice roundish bread...

Stick your fingers in it lightly. Ok act like you are a concert pianist and play the bread. You want little pockmarks, its ok. Really.

Brush top of dough with oil and sprinkle with pepper. Fresh cracked or course, silly. Geez!

Let it rise for 30 mins in a warm but not HOT place.

Bake at 400 fo 20-25 mins. Brush top with oil again and some kosher salt when out of oven.

Don't forget to throw the garlic into the oven.

Next is making the noodles. No it is not hard, so shush. Its very, very easy. And doesn't take forever, just longer than what a quick evening meal requires.

It takes a million ingredients too.

Ready?

You sure?

Ok. Here goes. *Deep breath, cracks fingers

6 eggs

3 C Flour

Whew! *wipes brow* that was tough.

Now what do you do?

Put the flour in a bowl or on a flat surface. Yes, flat. Because a non-flat surface causes gravity issues, that's why.

Fine.

Make a hollow in middle of your pile of flour. Crack in the eggs.

Get a fork. Whisk egg and grab a little flour from the edges as you do, working it into the eggs. Keep grabbing flour until the fork is no good anymore. Then get your hands in there and fluff in flour and squish together.

Now you have enough in there its time to start kneading.

Knead the dough until everything is incorporated together and it makes a stiff ball.

Wrap in oiled plastic wrap and set aside away from heat to rest for 30 mins or so.

If its gonna be longer, throw it in the fridge. No don't literally throw it! Ok. Go clean up the milk you just spilled.

When you are ready to boil the noodles, get the dough out and warm it up to room temp. Roll out so its about 1/16 to 1/8" thick. If you have a fancy pasta attachment for your mixer, use it. If you have a manual machine (like I do) us that.

Cut noodles into desired width. Powder with flour to keep them from sticking together, because trust me, they will. Like glue on.. well whatever. Like glue.

To cook, boil water with a little oil and salt. Salt is important.

They take like 2 seconds to cook. Well maybe 60, but not very long.

DO NOT COOK UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO EAT! They will become glue if not served fresh.

Ok. Now that that is clear as mud.

Next course errr, part.

Get out the steaks. Throw on some seasoning. Salt, pepper, garlic.

No really. That's it.

I like using strip steaks but my fave is ribeye.

Get out the butter. Warm it up if you forgot to get it out earlier. 20 secs in micro-niker is fine.

You will also need...

2 Tbs blue cheese, crumbled. Or however much you want to put in. I use half of one of those little pre-crumbled cartons.

your head of now very happy roasted garlic.

Pinch of basil

Pinch of thyme

Throw butter in bowl.

No, don't actually throw it! Geez now look at that mess!

Poor counters. Never saw it coming.

Now that you have scraped it off the counter and wall, put it in the bowl. Better.

Add the blue cheese and herbage and then squish the cloves of garlic tip to base to squeeze out all that good squishy stuff inside. Squish. Squish.

Ok now, get a fork. Squish all of your ingredients together. Good job!

Now that your butter is all happy and content, dump it out onto a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper. (To keep mother nature happy, wax paper is better!)

Roll the paper around the butter and help it make a log by pushing it outward a little as you roll. Twist the ends tight until a solid log is formed.

Toss in freezer or fridge. If you like you steaks medium to rare then freezer is better, well done, fridge should be ok.

The steaks can now go into the oven on broil or on the grill. Also if you are going to fix a veggie, like asparagus, then get that to cooking too. (Water, plate, wax paper, microwave for 5 mins)

Get out your alfredo ingredients.

Cream, lemon, cheese, garlic, salt and pepper.

Remember to not add the cheese and lemon juice until the VERY end k?

See recipe for alfredo sauce

I made a salad with mine just 'cause.

If you like the looks of this I used

Lettuce, blue cheese, apples, onions, cucumbers and generally top with a raspberry vinaigrette or other vinegar based dressing.

Yes, apples. Cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, oranges, these are all very yummy in salads. So are nuts...I especially like almonds or pecans caramelized with it. MMMMMMMM.

So in about 5-10 minutes, 15 if you like your steak extra crunchy, dinner is done.

I told you this was a long haul. This is a special, once every now and then, takes a few hours to do kinda meal. Plan ahead. Anticipation is everything.

Now assemble and enjoy!

Oh, ya. I have a serious thing for mushrooms. So i added mushrooms. These are baby bella's 'cause in the PNW we have LOTS of mushrooms for cheap.

Ok. I'm done now :-)