Homemade Pumpkin Spice

I've noticed something around this time of year: buying pumpkin spice in the spice aisle at the regular grocery store is annoyingly expensive. 

I believe this small container was $4.24. 

Contrast that to Trader Joe's, where you can get a bigger jar for $1.99. TJ's is the clear option for spices, seasonal goods, and hard-to-find products anyway, but I don't know where the nearest one is located and I'm not willing to go find it because I'm pretty lazy when it comes to shopping around. 

So, last year, I started making my own pumpkin spice and just refilling the container when needed. 

If you buy the four spices required, this method will easily last you two or three years worth of pumpkin baked goods, so it's really helpful not to have to add pumpkin spice to your shopping list or, worse, run out mid-baking session (which has happened to me). 

I use pumpkin spice for pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin baked oatmeal, etc. I'm not a pumpkin pie fan, but obviously you do you. 

This is for all your basic (literally) pumpkin needs. 

Homemade Pumpkin Spice

from allrecipes.com 

I multiplied the recipe x10 to fill up the small spice container.

1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg

1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

I also have been making my own taco seasoning for a couple of years. Totally worth the trouble. So easy and you never run out!

Last-Minute Thanksgiving Ideas!

Looking at this list, you'll notice that I really only care about dessert.  There's some breakfast options. There's a couple of side dishes at the bottom. This list includes everything pumpkin, except the pumpkin pie.  I don't like pumpkin pie.

Pecan Pie

Caramel Apple Galettes

Giant Apple Turnover

Lemon Chess Pie

Caramel Brownie Pie

Apple Crisp

Biscoff Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Caramel Apple Cake

Laura Ingalls Wilder's Gingerbread

Apple Butter Bread

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Walnut Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin Spice Brownies (with Cream Cheese Frosting)

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Pumpkin Apple Cake

Sweet Potato Casserole

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Cranberry and Feta

STUFF AND THINGS will be happening on Thursday so, if you're so inclined, link on up!

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal

Recipe challenge, week forty (though it's like week 45 and I'm failing at this, but I have noticed that the last three recipes including this one have been pumpkin-based, so that's something...hashtag fall).

Do you have any idea how many recipe posts I've started and never finished?  Many drafts. I feel like someone has inserted some sort of drain in my creativity outlet and taken it all away.  I have an idea or a thought and then it's gone. Or I have NO ideas and thoughts but lots of time to cook. Or I have no time to cook and then no ideas or thoughts to accompany that time so I end up reading or doing Pilates or watching reruns while folding laundry while eating pancakes from a box for dinner.

It's for this reason why I both want to and have to climb into the recipe archives.  I want to share past recipes because they are recipes I STILL make all the time.  Those are the kinds of recipes we need: the dependable ones.  And sometimes this is just a necessity because I can't for the life of me think of something else to do with all the pumpkin I have in my refrigerator.

I first made pumpkin baked oatmeal in 2011 and I continue to make it every year.  I recommend it with maple syrup.  The butter-flavored kind.

But really, it's perfect for me to take to work and heat up for a snack during my planning period. It serves as a ready-made breakfast all week long. And it has chocolate chips in it.  Win-win-win.

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal 
makes an 8x8 pan
(here's the original link)

2 1/2 cups oats
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg OR pumpkin pie spice (or, if you're feeling crazy, both)
1 T. melted butter
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin 
1 cup milk
3/4 t. baking powder
1/2 cup dried cranberries OR chocolate chips

*The original recipe included 3 T. brown sugar. I didn't include it this time and it was just as tasty.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, egg, vanilla, milk, and butter.  Add the oats, spices, and baking powder.  Stir in the cranberries or chocolate chips.
Pour into a greased 8x8 pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  It's okay to start checking at the 20 minute mark though.  It's done when the middle springs back when lightly pressed. Store in an airtight container (in the fridge if you'd like to) for up to a week.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe challenge, I don't know what week it is.

(I looked it up. This is week thirty-nine, but really it's like week forty-two, so we (me) are behind.)

In the effort to use my stocked pantry o' pumpkin, I made some cookies.  I took my regular chocolate chip cookie recipe that I've been making since I could stand at the kitchen counter, and I added pumpkin and then pumpkin spice.  They came out kinda crispy, yet kinda fluffy.  These cookies will satisfy a craving for "fall" without tasting like Thanksgiving (if that makes any sense).

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes approximately 3 dozen

1/2 cup Crisco
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 cup brown sugar
1 T. vanilla
1 egg
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 t. baking soda
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (this can be upped to more than 1 cup and/or you can substitute milk chocolate)
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional

In a bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (flour and baking soda).  Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, cream together the Crisco, sugar, and pumpkin.  Add the egg and vanilla.  Mix very well.  Slowly add in the dry ingredients until combined.  Stir in the chips and nuts (if using).
Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.  Do not over bake.  Let them sit on the cookie sheet for a minute or two before removing.  Store in an air-tight container for up to a week. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Recipe challenge, week thirty-eight.

This is nothing new because I feel like I talk about these muffins every fall.

Do you, like me, fear running out of pumpkin?  Our first year in Alaska, there was a pumpkin shortage and that was slightly terrifying.  I don't remember it affecting me directly but I remember people talking about it.  To this day, I keep several cans in the pantry during the fall months.  Just in case.

Our first year in Alaska was also the year I started making these muffins at least twice a fall season.  It's Scott's mom's recipe and I don't actually know where she got it, but we love these muffins.  I've done them as mini-muffins too.

I'm cheating (again) this week and sharing a tried-and-true recipe simply because I made them for a cake walk at the school carnival this past week and I'm making them again, as I type, because I just seriously love them.  I would update with a picture but they're not done yet so maybe later.

Other things I could've put on Instagram this weekend but didn't: ice cream twice in one day, a hike up the Manitou Incline, and Jett goes to obedience school.  All will be discussed on the blog this week.  Eh, maybe not the ice cream thing. That's self-explanatory.

Cheers to Sunday night.  Kind of.  Go make these muffins. I like to eat them for breakfast with peanut butter.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Dry ingredients:
3 1/3 c. flour 
2 T. pumpkin pie spice
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
Mix together and set aside

Wet ingredients:
2 eggs
1 can pumpkin (15 oz)
1/2 c. oil
1 1/2 c. sugar

Blend the wet ingredients with a mixer and add the dry ingredients in 3 batches. You can use up to 1/2 c. of milk to thin the batter if necessary. It should be thick when it's all mixed together.

Add 1 c. of mini chocolate chips. Stir and spoon into a muffin pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Pumpkin Apple Cake (or bread…your choice!)

I was pretty happy to have Scott come home this weekend. He finally arrived home late Saturday night after a month in Texas.  While it might seem like he was gone forever..it hasn't been forever but he was gone for 2 weeks, he was back for 8 days, and then it was 4 weeks.  So definitely not the definition of a long time.  But still.  Kinda seemed that way.  I maintain that long trips (2 months or more) are easier than counting by days or weeks.

This meant I got access to my old computer.  I was able to retrieve my Columbus vs. Pilgrims powerpoint, complete with real Mayflower-replica pictures.  So, of course, I spent a lot of time browsing through my old Toshiba.  It's actually really nice and then I remembered the reason for my upgrade to a MacBook:  the Toshiba won't hold a charge and won't work unless it's actually plugged in.

I did find some interesting documents, lesson plans, and pictures and it was nice to take a walk down memory lane.  This is a screen shot of some menu-planning I found from 2011.

I was an efficient little menu planner.  There were 3 months of menus that look like this.  The strikethrough clearly means "ACCOMPLISHED!"  I mean, I was baking sugar cookies that looked like states and continents.  I don't even know who I am anymore…

As you can see, I used to be quite organized.  I gave myself deadlines.  And I don't know what the asterisks mean.  Some sort of secret organizational code, perhaps? There's a lot more of them as you go through the document. "Re-blog" meant re-do for the blog because the first showcased terrible pictures.  When I showed this to Scott, he just laughed and then we said, "What HAPPENED?" at the same time.

I digress.

This is a recipe for a healthy-ish fall bread that can serve as breakfast, a snack, or dessert.  I actually left the recipe completely sugar-free and just put a homemade cream cheese icing on top, but you can make the call on that.  I'd say a half cup of brown sugar would work just fine in there.  Of course, I highly recommend frosting, or at least peanut butter or something, on the top.  I made it over the weekend as a way to use up some gala apples, canned pumpkin, and extra frosting I had leftover from cookies the week before.

I followed all the food-blogging steps:  created the recipe, constructed the recipe, photographed the recipe, blogged about the recipe.  I'm definitely trying to get back in the groove here.

Pumpkin Apple Cake
makes one 8x8 pan

1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup apple butter
1/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 T. vanilla

Combine all the wet ingredients with a mixer.

Then, in a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients:

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 T. pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 cups flour

Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl.

Pour into a greased 8x8 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  I used a convection oven and it took longer than I thought it would.  However, that also could've been the 6,000 foot elevation here.  I recommend starting to check it around 25 minutes.  You could also use a loaf pan and baking time would increase to about 45 minutes.  Just check the middle with a butter knife or skewer before taking it out.  

Pumpkin Spice Brownies

Yesterday, I whined about how I never bake anymore and then I blamed Pinterest and the general food-blogging population.

However, over the the weekend, I started baking.  First, pumpkin cookies.  Then, I came up with a brand new recipe.  I used a basic brownie recipe that I've adapted from Rachael Ray magazine and I changed it up for this pumpkin-loving season.  

I have 3 giant cans of pumpkin to use.  I always buy a lot when given the opportunity because you never know when the mood for pumpkin desserts will strike.  I was thinking about what I could make and I thought of brownies.  I didn't want to rip off a recipe that had already been done over and over again, so I searched Pinterest and Google to see if there was already a recipe out there.  There were a couple and they fit directly into the two categories I mentioned yesterday.  There was something vegan, with xylitol and almond meal or something and then there was 1 can of pumpkin + one box of brownie mix.
Mmmmm, right?

Here's a real pumpkin brownie recipe that is quick to whip up and is fudgy and decadent enough to impress.

Pumpkin Spice Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting

makes an 8x8 pan

2 T. butter, softened
4 T. cocoa powder
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 T. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup chocolate chips

With a mixer, combine the butter, cocoa powder, pumpkin, vanilla, eggs, and sugar.  Mix on low until combined.  Hand mixer or stand mixer will work best, but you can use a big wooden spoon too, if the butter is soft enough. Stir in the flour and pumpkin pie spice until everything is well-combined.  Fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour into a greased 8x8 pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  Check the center with a toothpick after 25 minutes.

Allow to cool and then frost with Cream Cheese Frosting, or a frosting of your choice.  If you use cream cheese in the frosting, be sure to store the brownies in the fridge.

1 tub of whipped cream cheese (8 oz.)
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
1 t. vanilla
about 3 cups powdered sugar (I don't like giving exact numbers on the sugar.  You know the consistency you want.)
1 T. meringue powder (Optional, but will help the frosting harden.  Found in the wedding aisle at Wal-Mart)

Cream the butter and cream cheese together, using a hand mixer or the whisk on a stand mixer.  Add the vanilla.  Then, add the sugar until you reach the consistency you want.  Add the meringue powder last.

Cookie Butter Pumpkin Bread

I thought about putting chocolate chips, caramel bits (that I've quickly been eating, handful by handful, out of the bag), white chocolate chips, nuts, etc. into this quick bread.  

Then I could call it "Double Chocolate Caramel Butterscotch Walnut Cookie Butter/Biscoff Pumpkin Bread".  Because that is the kind of captioning I'm seeing on Pinterest these days.  Am I guilty of it?  Maybe.  But really now, the more ingredients a recipe has, the less likely I am to make it.  

This bread is a variation of one I made last year.  I subbed cookie butter for applesauce/apple butter.  I like it.  It's especially tasty with cream cheese icing spread on it (homemade or canned).  It's got a bit of a crumbly, cookie-ish texture to it and isn't super moist like banana bread, but that's okay with me.  Scott called it "dry".  Hmm..

I liked it.  Which means you will too.

It's not fancy.  It's not over the top.  It's just a slight flavor twist on pumpkin bread.  The Cookie Butter from Trader Joe's has a very ginger-snappy taste to it.  If you use Biscoff, it will probably be sweeter.  Let me know what you think if you try it! 

Mix-ins optional :)

Cookie Butter Pumpkin Bread

makes one loaf pan

1/4 cup cookie butter

3/4 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)

2 eggs

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Mix together well with a wooden spoon in a big bowl.

1 3/4 cup flour (I used white.)

1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 T. pumpkin pie spice

Mix together in a smaller bowl.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients slowly, mixing well.

Grease a loaf pan (I used metal), pour in, and bake at 350* until a knife comes out of the center clean.  Mine baked for about 45 minutes.

And this is what was going on while I was trying to get a picture in the last traces of daylight...

Pumpkin Butterfinger Cookies and Great Pumpkin Swap Reveal

Today's the day to link on up, Great Pumpkin Swappers!

Scroll to the bottom to do so!

But first.  A cookie.

Jessica, my swap partner, inspired me to make these cookies because she told me her favorite Halloween candy was Butterfingers.

So I sent her some Butterfingers.  While I was at the store getting the Butterfingers, I knew I had to do something creative with them.

Maybe it was whatever-dormant-part-of-my-brain-that-used-to-think-as-a-food-blogger that was speaking to me.

So I took my Pumpkin Cookie recipe and threw in some chopped up Butterfingers.  Then, I sent Jessica some Butterfingers and a few cookies.  The rest?  I took to work.  They were gone before lunchtime.  It's at moments like those in which I am truly thankful for a job.

I cannot be trusted with 3-4 dozen cookies.  If you are someone who CAN be trusted with 3-4 dozen cookies, I probably wouldn't like you anyway.

The best kind of people are the ones can't be trusted with cookies.

Pumpkin Butterfinger Cookies
makes 3-4 dozen, depending on size

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 t. vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour
3 t. baking POWDER
1 t. salt
1 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice
1/4 t. ginger

8 fun size Butterfingers, chopped (or 2-3 regular bars)

Cream the butter and sugar together.  Add in the pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla.  Mix well.

Mix all of the dry ingredients, minus the Butterfingers, together in a bowl (sifting is suggested, but I usually don't).  Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture in three batches while mixing at a low speed and scraping down the sides of the bowl.

Fold in the Butterfinger pieces.

Dollop onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10-14 minutes.  They should be just starting to brown when you pull them out.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

So.

Here's a sneak peek at what I sent Jessica. 

Is that mug not the most adorable thing you've ever seen?

Here's the part where I would share what Jessica sent me.

But I haven't gotten it yet.

{{EDIT}}

I got my box from Jessica in the mail!

Here's the cute goodies she sent me:

Those gloves?  Just what I need.  I'm quite excited to not have my fingers freeze off when I try to use my phone out of doors.

Thanks Jessica! And thank you to everyone who took part in our swap!  

Pumpkin Bread

I've discovered that the only way I can (sometimes) make it through a day of work is to take a Starbucks break at noon.

Upon returning from the crack dealership Starbucks, I usually peruse slate.com or people.com until the children return from recess.

I found this recipe through slate.com for Pumpkin Beer Bread last week.  I love beer bread.  Scott and I, for Christmas a couple of years ago, ate a loaf of beer bread and some spinach dip.  It's like our own special little gluttonous tradition.

So when I saw this recipe, I wanted to try it.
I printed it.  I followed it.  I even made some notes because I wanted to share it.

It was not good, and I do not recommend it.

I mean, the flavor was okay, but the outside was super crusty and the inside was kind of gummy, even after almost an hour and a half in the oven.

So the next day, I went back to Espresso and Cream and tried Madison's recipe.  This was the recipe I had intended on doing in the first place.  I made a few changes to the original.
For example, I'm too unorganized to remember to buy applesauce.  So I substituted APPLE BUTTER.  This lady had inspired me to buy apple butter, so I figured, why not?

I did not measure my pumpkin pie spice.  The world didn't end, but...

...now that I think of it, perhaps my refusal to measure was why the Pumpkin Beer Bread didn't work out....

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread

adapted from this recipe

2 T. melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar (I cut the sugar down because my substitution of apple butter packs some sweetness.)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup apple butter
2 eggs
3/4 cup pumpkin puree

Mix in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well-combined.

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1-2 t. pumpkin pie spice (I used almost 2 t.)

Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and then add to the wet ingredients in small batches until all is incorporated.
Grease a 9x5 loaf pan, pour it in, and bake at 350* for 45-60 minutes.  Mine took 50 minutes in a gas oven with a stoneware loaf pan.  If I were to make it again, I'll probably use a metal pan.

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal

Last chance to enter the Modern Alternative Mama giveaway!

More oatmeal...

Um, yeah.  I know.  Thanksgiving is over.  Christmas is upon us.  People still eat pumpkin-like stuff around Christmas right?

People like to eat healthy stuff year-round anyway, right?

I mean, they like to say they eat healthy stuff and take pride in the fact.  They don't necessarily enjoy the eating of the healthy food all of the time.  Pumpkin is VERY healthy.  Especially when there's not a lot of added sugar, as we tend to do so often when we're baking with pumpkin.

This is a perfect Christmas vacation kind of breakfast.  Especially if you have a house full of people.  

I love baked oatmeal.  And I opened a large can of pumpkin to make this ice cream cake.  Therefore, the rest of the pumpkin had to be frozen in Tupperware containers.  And it was just begging to be used.

I thought of cookies first, of course.  Then I thought waffles.  And remembered I had no waffle maker.  Pancakes?  On this particular day I had a stove that was out of commission.  So?  Baked oatmeal.

And I made it in the toaster oven.  I can do anything.

(I just realized that I began an awful lot of sentences in this post with "And".  I just got done teaching my class that you DO NOT, under any circumstances begin sentences with "And".  Interesting blog-writing doesn't always contain complete sentences.  It's all about context.  Children have to start somewhere.)

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal
makes an 8x8 pan
Inspired by this recipe

2 1/2 cups oats
3 T. brown sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg OR pumpkin pie spice (or, if you're feeling crazy, both)
1 T. melted butter
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
1 cup milk
3/4 t. baking powder
1/2 cup dried cranberries

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, pumpkin, egg, vanilla, milk, and butter.  Add the oats, spices, and baking powder.  Stir in the cranberries.
Pour into a greased 8x8 pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  It's okay to start checking at the 20 minute mark though.  It's done when the middle springs back when lightly pressed.

I drizzled some butter-flavor maple syrup over the top.  Why have I not used butter-
flavored syrup before?!

Shared at:
Friday Food
Coffee and Conversation Thursday
Sweet Tooth Friday
Sweet Treats Thursday
Shine on Friday
Strut Your Stuff Saturday
Seasonal Inspiration

Pumpkin Gingersnap Ice Cream Cake

This is a pumpkin ice cream cake.

...

....

.....

I'll give you a moment to adjust to the idea.  It took me a bit too.

It's okay.  We all like our chocolate and our peanut butter and our caramel.  But it's Thanksgiving.

I got myself some gingersnaps and made a crust.  Gingersnaps are one of my very favorite cookies.  I have fond memories of eating them while reading The Long Winter.  Speaking of which...I started telling my students about Laura Ingalls Wilder the other day...they gave me the same dazed looks as I also get from adults when I start going on about her.

The topic came up honestly in the middle of reading class.  I swear.  I don't just burst into random history lessons all the time.

I did a pumpkin ice cream layer.  I mean, you could buy pumpkin ice cream.  I took some French vanilla ice cream, let it soften, and folded in a bit of canned pumpkin (I suppose you could use the pie filling stuff instead, if you wanted).

Then I made myself up a nice little whipped topping layer to spread across the top.  I flavored it with pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, and nutmeg.

This will keep for a very long time in the freezer if wrapped up properly. 

Oh and I crushed up some gingersnaps to put on top.  It needed to be pretty after all.

Pumpkin Gingersnap Ice Cream Cake
for a 9x13 pan (I halved it)

1.5 quarts (1 large container) of vanilla ice cream
1 cup canned pumpkin

3 cups crushed gingersnaps, plus a few extra for garnish
3 T. butter, melted
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts, if desired

1 container whipped topping, softened
1 T. vanilla
1 T. rum (I forgot to do this, but imagine it would give it a nice comforting kick.)
1 t. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 t. freshly grated nutmeg

In a bowl, stir together the  gingersnaps, butter, and walnuts, if using.  Press into a greased 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes until just brown(er) and firm.  Let cool.

In another bowl, fold together the ice cream and pumpkin until smooth and combined.  Spread over the gingersnap crust.  Cover and freeze for at least 1 hour, preferably more.

Stir together the softened whipped topping, vanilla, rum (if using), pumpkin pie spice, and nutmeg.  Spread over the ice cream layer.  Sprinkle the reserved crushed gingersnaps for a garnish, cover, and freeze again for at least an hour.

When you want to serve this, take it out of the freezer at least 15 minutes prior so it will soften enough to cut.

Shared at:
Melt in Your Mouth Monday
Tuesday Talent Show
Mingle Monday Blog Hop @LifeofMeg
Crazy Sweet Tuesday
Tasty Tuesday
The Stuff of Success

Pumpkin Walnut Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing + Improv Challenge

These cookies are a must for me each fall, including Thanksgiving.  They are good enough to make twice a season, if you ask me.  I made them a few weeks ago to have them prepared for the Improv Cooking Challenge and I'll be making them again for Thanksgiving. 

A big thank-you shout-out needs to go to Kristen at Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker.  She picked up the Improv Challenge, graciously offering to put the time and effort into hosting, and now I can continue joining in on the link-up!

November's ingredients?  Pumpkin and Cream Cheese

There's a super simple recipe for pumpkin cookies out there.  Something about a cake mix and a can of pumpkin and everyone bragging about how easy it is to make.  

That's great.  Really, it is.  For a bake sale, if you're short on time, etc.  I'm certainly not against cake mixes.

But that cake mix pumpkin cookie cannot hold a pumpkin candle to the real thing.  THIS is the real thing. 

If you want to impress people and make them hate you at the same time (those are the emotions most people convey as they're over-eating, right?), make these cookies.  I've taken them places, I've eaten them by the handful, and they've impressed people from PA to Alaska.

Can your cake mix cookie do that??

Oh, and I've discovered the secret to PERFECT cream cheese frosting.

Buy the 8 oz. whipped cream cheese in the tub instead of the block.  They cost the same at my store.  The whipped version blends up in seconds with the butter and powdered sugar.  No lumps!

Pumpkin Walnut Cookies
makes 3 dozen

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 t. vanilla
1 t. lemon juice
1 t. freshly grated lemon peel

2 1/2 cups flour
3 t. baking POWDER
1 t. salt
1 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice
1/4 t. ginger

1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream the butter and sugar together.  Add in the pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon peel.  Mix well.

Mix all of the dry ingredients, minus the walnuts, together in a bowl (sifting is suggested, but I usually don't).  Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture in three batches while mixing at a low speed and scraping down the sides of the bowl.

Stir in the walnuts.

Dollop onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10-14 minutes.  They should be just starting to brown when you pull them out.

Cool before frosting.

Perfect Cream Cheese Frosting
This will make more than enough for this amount of cookies.  Consider doubling the cookie recipe or halving the frosting recipe.  I halved the frosting recipe.

1 tub of whipped cream cheese (8 oz.)
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
1 t. vanilla
about 3 cups powdered sugar (I don't like giving exact numbers on the sugar.  You know the consistency you want.)
1 T. meringue powder (Optional, but will help the frosting harden.  Found in the wedding aisle at Wal-Mart)

Cream the butter and cream cheese together, using a hand mixer or the whisk on a stand mixer.  Add the vanilla.  Then, add the sugar until you reach the consistency you want.  Add the meringue powder last.

Frost the cookies as soon as they're cool and refrigerate any leftover frosting.

Also being shared at:
Sweet Treats Thursday
Friday Food
Sweets for Saturday
Sweet Tooth Friday
Coffee and Conversation Thursday
Seasonal Inspiration 
Strut Your Stuff Saturday 
Sweet Indulgences Sunday
A Themed Baker's Sunday

Recipe Re-do: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins + 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies

I'm linking this recipe to 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies.  Check out the linked-up blogs and start thinking about what delicious treats you'll be making this year!

My first posted recipe.  Actually this is probably the first thing I baked when we moved to Alaska two years ago.  Second was pumpkin cookies (coming soon!).  Third was Hershey's Kiss cookies (also coming soon!). 

Scott's mom makes these.  They are healthy(ish) and yummy at the same time.  Everything you want in a breakfast treat.

Speaking of convenient breakfast foods...

Do you ever look inside that sterile-and-looks-kinda-vacuum-sealed glass case of pastries at Starbucks??

I do.

And I think, "I could make you and you and you and you and, oh, you too banana bread, for less calories and fat and mine will taste better too, so I'll just take my nonfat white chocolate mocha and be on my way thankyouverymuch."

In addition to Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (which would probably go just a little too perfectly with a Pumpkin Spice Latte), try any number of my desserts/cakes/pastries.  While I may prefer to buy my coffee from a coffee shop (a habit I am determined to soon break), I like to make my own baked goods.  They're preservative free and I know what went into them.

Or just go eat a Clif bar.  At least you'd get some nutrients that way.

Please, just don't order out of the sterile glass case.  Take your $12 latte and run.


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. 

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Crumbs and Chaos: Seasonal Inspiration

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

My new favorite thing is food blogs. If someone makes a recipe and cares enough to share it, it must be good. Most of blogs I've been perusing are by busy moms, so I know the food has to be easy, somewhat healthy, and taste good. I've discovered that trolling the internet mindlessly is the perfect way to unwind from a long weekday, so that's how I spent my Thursday night. I was so enthralled with one blog that I read almost the entire thing (over a year worth of posts) in one night. It's really made me realize that I need to start cooking more. I haven't even baked anything from scratch in months..until today.

This is how our week goes. Saturday is recuperation day. Sunday is church, shopping, and depression because Monday is right around the corner. Monday is the longest day ever and sometimes I don't make it to Friday before it's time to go out for dinner. This past week, we went out for sushi on Wednesday (Wednesday was field trip day and those are the longest days of all). Last week, we made it to Friday before it was time to call The Great Alaska Pizza Company for dinner.

But I'm determined to start cooking more. And I do cook. We really don't eat out that much. Maybe once every 10 days? And it's usually because we're invited out or are with other people. (However, we do take advantage of Papa John's being 1/2 a mile away.)

Today, after making lunch from scratch (Guiltless Alfredo Sauce), I decided it was time to use up the can of pumpkin in the cupboard. I made Linda's (Scott's mom) Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. Her recipe uses whole-wheat flour, but I use regular because I always forget to buy whole-wheat. I also created my own Cream Cheese Rum Icing to go along with the muffins. It started as a cream cheese icing, but as I was looking for a tupperware container for the icing, I came across the rum. It must have been fate. (Note: The muffins, of course, are fine the way they are. However, I like putting butter or something on muffins, and butter doesn't seem to go well with these. That's why I came up with the icing.)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Dry ingredients: 3 1/3 c. flour 2 T. pumpkin pie spice 2 t. baking soda 1/2 t. baking powder 1/2 t. salt
Mix together and set aside

Wet ingredients: 2 eggs 1 can pumpkin 1/2 c. oil 1 1/2 c. sugar
Blend the wet ingredients with a mixer and add the dry ingredients in 3 batches. You can use up to 1/2 c. of milk to thin the batter if necessary. It should be thick when it's all mixed together.

Add 1 c. of mini chocolate chips. Stir and spoon into a muffin pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Cream Cheese Rum Icing

4 oz. cheese cheese (I used light) 2 cups powdered sugar 1 t. vanilla 1 t. rum
As much milk as needed to get the consistency you'd like

Blend all together with mixer. You definitely won't need more than this amount of icing for one recipe of the muffins.