Hey Pumpkin Head How About Some Spiced Pumpkin Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting?

"Approach Baking With Reckless Abandon" unknown author

Wow that quote is so me.  I have to admit that Fall baking borders an obsession with me.  Between apples and pumpkin I tend to fall to pieces (grins... pun intended) and turn into one crazy bakin' mama!  You might wonder where all this food goes (besides to my hips) when it's baked off.  Well, my husband, kids, nieces, nephews, friends, neighbors and other family or anyone else that wants some!

So, I have never made pumpkin cookies like these before and I was a bit skeptical when the original recipe called for oil.  Don't let it spook you, they turned out fabulous.  These cookies are more of a cake texture, very soft and chewy with an wonderful earthly flavor with the spices in them, oh, and the cream cheese swirl frosting?  That sets this cookie over the top.  Of course I tweaked a thing or two.  

Note: I am still working on a printer friendly blog and it's not in place yet...just copy and paste recipe off blog into word and print that way.  Thanks for your understanding.

Ready to bake?  Let's get STARTED!

What You Need (Makes about 18 large 1/4 cup cookies)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon cake flour

(you can use 2 cups reg flour if you like)

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs at room temp

1 1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup canola oil (or any tasteless oil)

1 cup canned pumpkin puree (plain..do NOT get with spices in puree)

1 cup finely chopped and toasted pecans (optional)

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients 

4 ounces cream cheese at room temp

2 tablespoons unsalted butter room temp

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

How To Make Frosting: Beat the cream cheese and butter until soft and creamy, then beat in powdered sugar and vanilla until frosting is soft and creamy.

Let's Bake Them!

• Make sure oven rack is in center of oven.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
• Spray baking sheets with baking spray or line with parchment paper
• In large bowl, sift or whisk together flour(s), baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves, and salt.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer, or with hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until light and smooth (about 2 min.) Beat in oil, extract and pumpkin.
• Add flour mixture until well incorporated then fold in nuts if using.
• With a small ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measuring cup scoop batter onto baking sheets and space them 2 inches apart. 
• Bake 15-18 min.  Check at 15 min. mark inserting toothpick down center of cookie..if comes clean it's done (just like a cake)
• Remove from oven, let sit on sheets for 5 min before transferring to wire cookie racks to cool completely.  Cookies should be cool before frosting.
• Place frosting in piping bag, fitted with small plain tip and pipe swirls on cookies.  You can also use a plastic baggie and cut a small corner off the tip and pipe on that way, or just frost them.  I like the swirls.
• Store frosted cookies in the refrigerator.

And there you have it.  Question...do you drink coffee and if so do you use cream in your coffee?  Well I have a surprise for you...check out my recipe for homemade pumpkin spice creamer here.  Talk about a fabulous combination!

Until next time, see you in the kitchen

 

Where Meals and Memories are Made

 

 

FALLing Over Mrs. V's Spiced Apple Pie Muffins Recipe

My girlfriend Misty Thompson of Learn Ways To Save and Hodgepodge Nest Blogs calls me the crazy apple lady because I love all things with apples in them.  I even just like to slice up an apple for a snack and dip in it a sugar/splenda, cinnamon mixture and chomp away.  I just use 2 teaspoons of splenda and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon mix it and dip my apples in the cinnamon sugar.

Oh, anyway, so this morning I made some homemade pumpkin spice creamer for my coffee while whipping up these fabulous apple pie muffins and my house just screamed FALL it smelled so good in the kitchen.  Mr V. and I have now sat down to munch on these moist, apple-licious muffins along with our morning coffee.   I really need to go for a long walk to work this off hahahaa.  I originally saw this recipe over at a favorite baking blog of mine called My Baking Addiction and then changed it up a bit Mrs. V style.  Head on over and take a look-see at their blog sometime.


Okay, let's you started on baking these scrumtp-dill-icious muffins.

Spiced Apple Pie Muffins (Makes 1 1/2 dozen regular size or 10 Jumbo Size Muffins)

What You Need For Batter

2 cups coarsely chopped Golden Delicious apples

2 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice mix

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 cup low fat buttermilk

1 stick unsalted butter melted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon maple extract

1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar

½ cup apple juice or cider

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons sugar (or splenda)
Muffin pans and liners

What You Need For Topping

1 package (= ¼ cup)  instant maple brown sugar oatmeal

½ cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons melted butter

Combine and mix these ingredients together ahead of time with pastry blender and set aside.

Now let’s MAKE THEM!

1.      Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

2.      Prepare two muffin pans with muffin liners

3.      In a large mixing bowl add the 2 ¼ cups flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and the salt, mix together then set aside

4.      In a small bowl or 4 cup measuring cup whisk the egg, buttermilk, ½ cup melted butter, vanilla and maple extracts and the 1 ½ cups brown sugar.  Whisk it until sugar is all dissolved.

5.      Take your chopped apples and place them in a small sauce pan with the ½ cup apple juice or cider, ½ teaspoon cinnamon and 2 teaspoons sugar, mix and on medium high heat bring to a rolling boil stirring constantly for 1 minute then shut them off and strain juice with mesh strainer. Place apples in a bowl to cool off a bit.

6.      As apples are cooling pour your liquid mixture into your dry flour mixture and with rubber spatula fold until ingredients are wet and combined (do not over work it or muffins will be “tough”.

7.      Gently fold in your apples, give a few quick folds

8.      Place batter into muffin pan with liners.  Using an ice cream scoop full works well.

9.      Top all muffins with your crumbly topping until tops covered

10.   Bake 20 minutes for regular size muffins and 25-27 minutes for Jumbo size or until tooth pick inserted down center comes clean.

11.   Cool on wire racks.  Once cooled I generally will individually wrap them in plastic wrap and store at room temp or freeze.  There are only two of us in the house right now so I freeze half of my batch.

My family prefers all our muffins bakery style/jumbo size.  Here is what they look like bakery size.

You can print this recipe out but clicking on the green print friendly button below.

Until next time, see you in the kitchen.

Notes:  Original recipe was found on My BakingAddiction .  Recipe shown on Mrs. V’s Kitchen was adapted, altered, baked and taste tested 10/9/2011. 

The Pleasures of Fall: Rustic Fall Fruit Tart With Apricot Jam

I woke up this morning to a lovely 64 degrees and a longing to bake again today.  Yesterday at Sunflower I grabbed an assortment of fresh fruit specifically with this wee tart in mind.  This will be dessert at Mrs. V's table tonight and can't wait!

What You Need

• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1 stick of butter room temp softened
• 1 - 8oz container of cream cheese spread
• 4 medium plums, thinly sliced
• 2 medium nectarines, thinly sliced (below is how the fruit should be sliced)

• 1/3 cup sugar or splenda
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/3 cup apricot jam
•  

Now Make It!

• Place flour, butter and cream cheese into food processor or blender
• Use a pulsing action until mixture is well blended and almost forms into a ball.
• Take out and shape into ball, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and put into fridge for 1 hour
• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
• On lightly floured surface, roll your dough out to a 12 inch circle

•  Spray a baking sheet with non stick baking spray
  ( I use Bakers Joy) and set aside

• Toss your fruit with sugar, ginger and cornstarch and arrange decoratively over crust to within 2 inches of edge of crust.

• Fold edge of crust over fruit (see below)

Bake 30 min. Remove from oven; spread fruit with jam. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy and until next time, see you 'round the table

Where Meals and Memories are Made

Its Fall In A Cookie: Blissful Butterscotch Pecan Delights Cookie

So, my niece and her family are coming over for dinner tonight and I decided to bake cookies to have for after dinner.  As I was walking down the grocery isle I saw butterscotch chips on sale at an amazing price and my mind started whirling as to what kind of cookie I can create with them and this is what I came up with.  I am calling them Blissful Butterscotch Pecan Delights.  I hope there are some left by the time the kids get here because Mr. V is gobbling them up pretty quick and he says it tastes "like Fall in a cookie."

I am giving you two versions of my cookie recipe.  One fully sugarfied and one de-or low sugarfied :-) I made them both ways.  Shhhh nobody can tell the difference, at least not around my house.

Ingredients (makes 4 dozen cookies)

• 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar (or 1/3 cup SPLENDA brown sugar)
• 2/3 cup sugar (or 2/3 cup SPLENDA)
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon maple extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups butterscotch chips
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray baking sheets with baking spray
• In large mixing bowl (I use my KA) combine sugar, brown sugar, shortening, salt, both extracts, and baking soda and mix on medium high with hand or stand mixer until creamy
• Add egg and mix again until smooth
• Slowly mix in flour, add chips and nuts
• With cookie scoop make 1 1/4 inch dough balls place them on your cookie sheet 2 inches apart
• Bake cookies for 9 minutes, let cookies sit for 5 minutes before transferring to wire cookie rack to finish cooling.

Until next time, see you 'round the table,

Where Meals and Memories are Made

Blissful Butterscotch Delights Cookie created 10/2/2011 by Mrs. V’s Kitchen ask for permission to use on another blog/website by contacting Mrs. V