Iced Pumpkin Cookies

November 14, 2014 by 4 Comments

Oh, hi! Nice to see you again! So, um, I guess I haven’t posted much recently. I blinked and 11 months just disappeared! Isn’t it funny how that happens?

You know what else is funny? All of the plans I had for life after baby. One of my plans was to continue blogging regularly, maybe even more! After all, now I had a new way to relate to readers. I was going to blog all about the meals I was making, the homemade baby food my baby was going to love to eat, the DIY projects I was going to start, maybe I would even write about the cloth diapers I obsessed over my entire pregnancy, and the way I reorganized my life to fit both new mommy me and old me. Some of my favorite blogs are written by moms! They seem to be able to do it all!

But the truth is… I haven’t quite found the way to reorganize my life to seamlessly fit new mommy me and old me. It’s a work in progress.

The truth is, I make dinner, but not every night. Sometimes the recipes are new but a lot of the time they’re old standbys. And my baby didn’t like homemade baby food (or really any baby food, she preferred baby led weaning). And DIY projects? Ain’t nobody got time for that. And I love cloth diapers. I really, really do. But I went back to work in January and now only use them part time. And blogging? Yikes!

The truth is, I WANT to blog. I do. I just haven’t found that magical place where motivation meets time and energy.

But recently I got a little nudge. The cooking board I am on decided to bring back recipe swaps and I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to see if I can manage to fit in a little old me. I’m happy to say that other than a minor hiccup (where I wrote an entire post and WordPress randomly decided to eat it), I managed!

My assigned blog was Dough See Dough, run by Jenni. To say that I spent a LOT of time scouring her pages for the perfect “back to blogging” recipe is an understatement. So many things caught my eye. These Chinese BBQ Pork Buns. This Turkey & Rice Taco Skillet. These Snickerdoodles… So what would I choose?

Clearly these delicious Iced Pumpkin Cookies won. After all, ’tis the season! And what better way to get back to blogging than with pumpkin?

I think these cookies were really a great choice. I made very few changes, only adding dairy (Jenni’s version was dairy free!) and substituting some white whole wheat flour for all purpose flour. Because doing that makes me feel like I’m making a healthy cookie (just humor me) that I can eat for breakfast (and I have). Hopefully you enjoy them just as much as I have!

 

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2-3 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare baking sheet by lining with parchment paper or a silpat baking sheet.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl then add the pumpkin puree, egg, and vanilla and mix until well combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Using a cookie scoop, place the dough 2 inches apart on a prepared baking sheet. Wet the palm of your hand and gently press down on the tops of the dough mounds to gently flatten and smooth. (Wetting your hand is to keep the super sticky dough from sticking to your hand) Bake for 13-15 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

While the cookies are cooling, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Add the additional tablespoon of milk as needed to reach a good drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the cookies and allow to harden a bit before storing.

Jenni notes that the cookies can become too soft if stored in a sealed container. I found that layering the cookies between sheets of parchment paper and placing in a tupperware but not completely sealing the lid was the perfect storage method (though the addition of whole wheat flour may have made them just a touch less “wet” and easier to store).

Adapted from Dough See Dough, originally from Allrecipes

Just because, here is my sweet, energetic, fun, wild, beautiful little TODDLER!! Rocking her pumpkin wear.

Filed Under: Cookies, Dessert, Pumpkin, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Giant Chewy Oatmeal M&M Cookies

December 19, 2013 by 1 Comment

Things have been so quiet around here and I would like to apologize, but since I’ve been spending my time cuddling the world’s cutest baby instead of posting I’m kind of sorry not sorry. One day I hope to be able to better balance baby cuddling time with food blogging time, but until then, can I make it up to you by sharing a picture of the world’s cutest baby?

Are still trying to decide what kind of cookies to leave out for Santa? Can I make a suggestion? How about these Giant Chewy Oatmeal M&M Cookies? They are soft, chewy, giant, with the perfect touch of crunchy M&M chocolate. The oatmeal isn’t overwhelming, but it adds a nice texture to the cookies.

 

Giant Chewy Oatmeal M&M Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp milk
1 cup M&M candies, plus a few extra for finishing

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare baking sheet by lining with parchment paper or a silpat baking sheet.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, oats, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl then add the egg, vanilla, and milk and mix until well combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Use a spatula to stir in the M&Ms.

Roll a quarter cup of dough into a ball  and place 3 inches apart on a prepared baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges.

Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Adapted from recipe as seen here, originally found on Apple a Day

 

 

Filed Under: Christmas, Cookies, Dessert, Holiday Treats, Week of Christmas Cookies Tagged With: , , ,

Confetti Cake Batter Cookies

December 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Do you know what is no fun at.all. Sick babies. They’re a real bummer. I would know because our sweet 3 month old had her very first cold over Thanksgiving. Poor baby. Then Jesse and I both got colds! It was not the best week at the Sunny Side house. Thankfully we are all feeling much better!

Usually around this time of year I’m posting a week of Christmas cookies. This year it’s been a little harder for me to organize my holiday baking, so I decided not to commit to a full week, instead I’ll just post things as I have time to make them!

These delicious little cookies from Sally’s Baking Addiction popped up on my Facebook feed last week and the timing was perfect. I don’t usually have boxed cake mix but I was going to make something for Thanksgiving that called for it so I bought some. I never got around to making what I had originally planned so there it was, just sitting in the pantry waiting to be made into these cookies.

What’s cool about these cookies is that they taste like a cupcake but have the chewy texture of a cookie. It’s the best of both worlds! Plus, you can use festive sprinkles. Who doesn’t like sprinkles? And this would be a great recipe to make with kids. You don’t even need a standing mixer (though you can totally use one if you want!).

The only change I made from the original recipe is to use less sprinkles. The recipe called for 1 cup of sprinkles and that seemed like a lot. In the end I used closer to 1/3 of a cup and I felt like they were plenty sprinkle-y. Below I’ll use my measurement and you can just add more if you’d like. Also, I used my medium cookie scoop and didn’t smooth it out at all before baking so my cookies look a little rougher than Sally’s, next time I’ll roll them into balls instead of using the scoop.

Confetti Cake Batter Cookies

Ingredients
1 18.25 oz box vanilla/white cake mix
1 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup sprinkles*

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cake mix and baking powder. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, oil, and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and stir well to combine. Add the sprinkles and carefully stir in to the dough.

Place 1-inch rolled balls of dough about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 9 minutes, making sure they do not start to brown! Allow to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve with a cold glass of milk.
Source: Sally’s Baking Addiction

 

Filed Under: Christmas, Cookies, Dessert, Holiday Treats, Week of Christmas Cookies Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Cranberry Relish

November 26, 2013 by 3 Comments

The big week is here! My menu is finalized, most of the groceries have been bought, and I’ve even started my food prep! One thing I have discovered since hosting my first Thanksgiving 2 years ago is that things can quickly go from calm to chaotic. I don’t know if it’s just me, but by the time I’m ready to get dinner on the table, all kitchen organization has gone out the window. I’m trying to find the last remaining inches of counter space to carve the turkey, gravy is usually bubbling over on the stove, and all of my potholders have magically disappeared. So each year it becomes that much more important for me to have a) a time line and b) as much prepared ahead of time as possible, even if it means putting out-of-town visitors to work!

This weekend my mom and sister came to visit (since they are sadly not able to come on Thanksgiving day). We had a lot of fun hanging out and playing with the baby, but I still had turkey day prep on my mind. At one point we got on the conversation of our favorite Thanksgiving dishes and my sister said that her favorite was Cranberry Relish. I have never made it before so I didn’t know how far in advance it could be made, she told me the she usually likes it best after it has sat for a few days. So I decided to put her right to work! She whipped up this relish in no time at all. That beautiful cranberry red is reason enough for this to make it’s way to your Thanksgiving table, but it also tastes amazing. It’s a perfect combination of sweet and tart. And it’s crazy easy!

 

Cranberry Relish

Ingredients
1 orange, quartered and seeds removed
1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries
1/2-3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
Orange Zest for serving, optional

Directions
Add the oranges (peel and everything!) to the bowl of the food processor one at a time, pulsing until each orange is broken down. Add the cranberries and pulse until it has reached your desired consistency. Transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in 1/2 cup of sugar and a pinch of salt. Taste and add more sugar as needed. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Original source unknown, as made from my sister’s memory

 

Filed Under: Fruit, Holiday Treats, Thanksgiving Tagged With: , , ,