hand painted cookies

Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies

INGREDIENTS

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 scant cup canned puréed pumpkin

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, spices, baking powder and salt. Mix with a whisk.

2. In the bowl of stand mixer (or using a hand-held one), cream the butter on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes. Add the brown sugar and combine well, then add the granulated sugar and mix until fluffy, approximately 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and then add the vanilla and the pumpkin and combine well.

3. Swap out the wire whisk attach and put in the flat beater. In three batches, add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed. If using a hand-held, you might want to mix in the dry ingredients by hand with a wooden spoon. You don’t want to overmix during this stage. A dough will form. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into two disks. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

(FYI: THIS DOUGH IS VERY STICKY. It sort of reminds me of bread dough)

4. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Spray a large cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray. On a floured surface, roll the dough out flat until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick. Using the cookie cutters of your choice, cut out and carefully transfer dough shapes to prepared cookie sheet. Roll up remaining dough into a ball, wrap it back up and put it back in the refrigerator. If using sprinkles, or crystallized sugar, sprinkle onto the raw cookies and press it in lightly with your finger. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

5. After removing from the oven, let them cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes and then transfer them to a rack or a plate to cool completely. Add icing if you so desire!

This is the icing recipe I used. I found it on allrecipes.com, I did not have a good icing recipe of my own for sugar cookies since I do not make them very often.  The original ingredients did not seem to work. The icing did not come out smooth like it said it would. After some modifications, I was able to dip the cookies in the mixture. I added a little extra milk and corn syrup and it worked great! I painted the icing on with a paint brush with a main color. I added a dab of another icing color in the middle and used a toothpick to make the swirly design. 

Sugar Cookie Icing

Mini Pumpkin Pies

I just love fall recipes! So be prepared for lots of them in the next upcoming few months! Be sure to make plently of these little guys, because they will go fast!

Ingredients

• 2 prepared pie crusts
• 3 eggs, divided
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Roll each pie crust out onto a floured surface to a rough rectangle about 11 inches square. Cut each pie crust into 12 3-inch rounds. Fit the little pie crust circles into 24 mini pie dishes.
3. Separate one egg, and place the egg white into a small bowl. Beat the egg white until slightly frothy, and brush the edges of each mini pie crust with egg white. Place the remaining yolk into a bowl, and beat with remaining 2 eggs. Mix the softened cream cheese, sugar, pumpkin, vanilla extract, and pumpkin pie spice into the eggs until the filling is smooth. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the filling into each crust.
4. Bake the pies in the preheated oven until the crust edges are golden brown and the filling is set, about 15 minutes. Allow to cool before eating.

 

Pumpkin Apple Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup canned or cooked pumpkin
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups finely chopped peeled apples
• 
  
• STREUSEL:
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 teaspoons cold butter or margarine

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. In another bowl, combine the eggs, pumpkin and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in apples. Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. In a small bowl, combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter.
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Autumn baking season has arrived!

I realized how much I have neglected this blog! A whole month gone by and not one post from me! To my defense I was traveling much of August! In honor of September, fall baking has commenced! Once August is over and September arrives, I mark that as the autumn baking season!

On my menu today:

Pumpkin Apple Butter (click to see recipe!)
Pumpkin Apple Butter post #2

Hopefully I will be able to bake more than that!

Pumpkin Cupcake

I made some cupcakes for my bro-in-law for his birthday. He absolutely loves pumpkin rolls. I only really make pumpkin rolls around the fall season. So why not make it in a cupcake? I hate to toot my own horn, but I make some AWESOME cream cheese icing. I have been told so. Topping the cream cheese icing on top of the pumpkin cupcake, was the icing on the cake. Absolutely fabulous. 

Ok. Enough bragging about myself. Well, these came out surprisingly awesome. I brought some into work this weekend. I made a bunch of mini ones. They were ranked the favorites out of all the other cupcakes I made. I even ate some for breakfast! You need to try this recipe. It will be an instant hit!!!

Yummy Filling in the center! These cupcakes are SO moist and good!!

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• a few pinch fulls of pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 
  
• extra cinnamon for garnish
• 
  
• Directions

• Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 24 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners. (I used Jumbo Muffin Pan, and it made about 8-10 giant cupcakes!) Sift together the flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove, allspice, salt, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.
• Beat 1/2 cup of butter, the white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. The mixture should be noticeably lighter in color. Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the butter mixture before adding the next. Stir in the milk and pumpkin puree after the last egg. Stir in the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cups.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 25 minutes. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.
• While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. Once the cupcakes are cool, frost with the cream cheese icing, and garnish with cinnamon on top.

Lissa Bee's Cream Cheese Frosting

a pumpkin roll....in a cupcake!

I am dedicating this post to my brother-in-law Danny, who gave me the idea for this recipe!

Danny LOVES pumpkin rolls, so he told me i should make it into a cupcake! So, I figured I would give it a try and see how it went!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Make the batter...

Fill the cupcakes...as you can tell I am far from perfect when doing that!

Put them in the oven......

Let them cool......

Time for icing/filling! See my post on cinnamon cream cheese icing!

Take a cake decorating tip. I used a #21 by Wilton. Get your icing bag ready.

Insert the tip into the cupcake and squeeze some icing in.

Then take whatever cake decorating tip you want, and decorate the top. I did a cool swirly looking one

And you are done! yum yum!

Put in refridgerator so the icing doesn't go bad. Its like a pumpkin roll in a cupcake!

GINGER PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

I have had this recipe on the back burner for awhile, but I can't get the holidays out of my system quite yet! My husband's aunt sent it to me a few months back. Here is an after Christmas recipe if you can't get the holiday's out of your system either!

GINGER PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

Ingredients
8 oz gingersnap cookies, crushed
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
2 8 oz. packages cream cheese or light cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
1 tablespoon flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice




Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325. Combine crumbs, butter and sugar. Press into bottom and sides of 9-inch cake pan or springform pan. Bake 15 minutes. Set aside.

 2. Beat cream cheese and brown sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time. Add remaining
ingredients and beat until smooth.


3. Pour into prepared crust. Bake for 50 minutes or until filling barely moves when gently shaken. Cool, then chill in refrigerator for several hours or overnight.
 4. Garnish with fresh whipped cream and a ginger snap.

ENJOY

Lauren's Pumpkin Coffee Cake

Looks like part of the East Coast is going to get a lot of snow this weekend? Need a great snowed in recipe? Try Lauren's Pumpkin Coffee Cake!

My friend Lauren emailed me this recipe, and told me to share it blog-wide! (I am so excited!) Here is this snowy weekend's Lazy Weekend Concoction! So sit by the fireplace with someone you love, drink some coffee and eat some pumpkin coffee cake! 

Pumpkin Coffee Cake

Preheat oven to 350.

These ingredients will go in the cake part:

1 package yellow cake mix
1 15 oz can of pumpkin

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c oil

3 eggs

1/2 c chopped nuts

These ingredients will go in the topping part:

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c flour

1/4 c soft butter

1 tsp cinnamon

Combine cake mix, pumpkin, brown sugar, oil, eggs and nuts in one bowl. Blend. Put in greased, medium sized cake pan. In another bowl, combine sugar, flour, softened butter, and cinnamon. Mix with a fork until it's crumbly. This will be the coffee cake topping. Sprinkle over batter in cake pan. Feel free to add extra brown sugar and sugar to the topping! But FYI- don't fill the topping TOO high or it may overflow in the oven. Bake for 45 mins uncovered. 

Enjoy! It's deelish!! : ) -Lauren

Pecan Pumpkin Pie Squares Recipe

Pecan Pumpkin Pie Squares Recipe

Ingredients

•1 cup all-purpose flour
•1/2 cup old-fashioned or instant oats
•1/2 cup packed brown sugar
•1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
•3/4 cup granulated sugar
•1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
•1 can (12 fl. oz.) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk
•2 large eggs
•2 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Topping
•1/2 cup pecans, chopped
•1/4 cup packed brown sugar
•Whipped cream

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 350° F.

COMBINE flour, oats, brown sugar and butter in small mixer bowl. Beat at low speed for 1 to 2 minutes or until crumbly. Press on bottom of ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

BAKE for 15 minutes.

COMBINE granulated sugar, pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs and pumpkin pie spice in large mixer bowl. Beat at medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes; pour over crust.

BAKE for 20 minutes. Combine pecans and brown sugar in small bowl. Sprinkle pecan topping over filling. Continue baking for 15 to 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Top with whipped cream.

Pumpkin Roll Re-Post!

Pumpkin Roll!!

This recipe is a re-post. The pictures on previous blogs have disappeared, so I am re-posting! Here is the pumpkin roll recipe. It's easy, and great for holidays!

First, take a 10x15 pan. Grease the pan and place wax paper over it. Grease the wax paper and sprinkle with flour.

Combine flour, spices, and other dry ingredients in a small bowl.

Combine eggs and sugars in a larger bowl.

Add pumpkin to the bowl with the mixed eggs & sugar.

Then add the dry ingredients to the bigger bowl. Mix well

Pour the ingredients onto the pan with the wax paper. Spread evenly. Then place in the oven for about 11-13 minutes. When you touch the cake and it springs back, it is ready!

Next, take a cloth towel and cover with powder sugar. Make sure you sprinkle enough on the towel, otherwise the cake will stick to it! (trust me I know!) When the cake is done in the oven, take pan and flip over onto the cloth towel. Carefully peel the wax paper off the cake.

Next, roll the cloth with the cake. Let sit until cool, about 15 minutes. While waiting for this to cool, next make the cream cheese filling. After the cake sits for 15 minutes, carefully unroll the cake, and spread cream cheese filling evenly over the cake. Re-roll cake a wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Sprinkle powered sugar before serving!

All finished. It's delicious!

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle Recipe

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 (14-ounce) packages gingerbread mix
• 1 (5.1-ounce) box cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix
• 1 (30-ounce) can pumpkin pie filling
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
• 1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping
• 1/2 cup gingersnaps, optional
• 
  

Directions

1. Bake the gingerbread according to the package directions; cool completely. 

2. Meanwhile, prepare the pudding and set aside to cool. 

3. Stir the pumpkin pie filling, sugar, and cardamom into the pudding. 

4. Crumble 1 batch of gingerbread into the bottom of a large, pretty bowl. Pour 1/2 of the      pudding mixture over the gingerbread, then add a layer of whipped topping. Repeat with the remaining gingerbread, pudding, and whipped topping. 

5. Sprinkle of the top with crushed gingersnaps, if desired. 

6. Refrigerate overnight. 

Trifle can be layered in a punch bowl.