Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing

I found this cookie recipe in a Martha Stewart magazine several years ago, tried it, and have been making it ever since. I tend to get a little intimidated by Martha Stewart and the ingredient quantities look a little crazy but whoever concocted this recipe must've really taken the time to work out all the quirks and get every ingredient just right. I love brown butter icing, really makes this cookie worth it. *Side note: I don't pipe my cookies therefore mine are not perfectly round like Martha's :)

INGREDIENTS
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin (14 ounces)
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

ICING
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon evaporated milk,
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract



DIRECTIONS
Make cookies: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a medium bowl; set aside.
Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low. Add pumpkin, evaporated milk, and vanilla; mix until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add flour mixture; mix until combined.
Transfer 1 1/2 cups batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip (such as Ateco #806). Pipe 1 1/2-inch rounds onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until tops spring back, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely.
Make icing: Put confectioners' sugar in a large bowl; set aside. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling pan occasionally, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Immediately add butter to confectioners' sugar, scraping any browned bits from sides and bottom of pan. Add evaporated milk and vanilla; stir until smooth. Spread about 1 teaspoon icing onto each cookie. If icing stiffens, stir in more evaporated milk, a little at a time. Cookies can be stored in single layers in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

Makes about 6 dozen

Broccoli Cheese Soup

I had a bunch of broccoli that needed to be used up and with the cold weather hitting us this week, soup sounded really good. I found this recipe on All Recipes. It's really simple and makes a lot; we ate it for lunch again today as leftovers and I think it was even better. My 18 month old gobbled it up, an awesome surprise!

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter
1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) package frozen chopped broccoli
4 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
1 (1 pound) loaf processed cheese food, cubed
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2/3 cup cornstarch
1 cup water

DIRECTIONS
In a stockpot, melt butter over medium heat. Cook onion in butter until softened. Stir in broccoli, and cover with chicken broth. Simmer until broccoli is tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

Reduce heat, and stir in cheese cubes until melted. Mix in milk and garlic powder.

In a small bowl, stir cornstarch into water until dissolved. Stir into soup; cook, stirring frequently, until thick.

Peach Crisp

Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce

Our peach tree had it's first production of peaches this year and WOW, they were good! After eating quite a few fresh peaches I began digging around for a good Peach Crisp recipe to finish up with the rest. I'm no expert but when you see Maple Cream Sauce tacked to the end of a sentence, it's gotta be worth trying. And when you hear that it came from THE PIONEER WOMAN, you know she won't disappoint! The one thing I will probably add next time around is a sprinkling of tapioca over the peaches to add as a thickener.

INGREDIENTS
5 whole To 6 Whole Fresh Peaches (best When Not Overly Ripe Or Soft)
1 cup Flour
1/2 c. Sugar
1/2 c. Light Brown Sugar, Firmly Packed
1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Ground Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 stick Butter (1/2 Cup)
1/2 whole Lemon
7 T. Real Maple Syrup, Divided
1 1/2 c. Whipping Cream
3 T. Light Corn Syrup

DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, light brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt using a fork or pastry cutter. Cut butter into small pieces and gradually add to flour mixture until evenly mixed.

Peel peaches into a bowl. Add the zest from half a lemon. Squeeze juice from lemon half and stir in with peaches and zest. Add 2 tablespoons real maple syrup to peaches, stir well.

Pour peach mixture into a small pan (8” or 9” square) and cover evenly with crumb topping. Cover with foil and bake at 350ºF for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes or until crisp and brown on top.

Maple Cream Sauce:
Pour whipping cream into a saucepan. Add 5 tablespoons real maple syrup, 3 tablespoons corn syrup and stir over moderate heat until thickened and reduced by about one-third, approximately 15 minutes. Refrigerate mixture until it is cold and thick, or set the saucepan into a small bowl of ice (the ice will melt and turn into ice water). Stirring your mixture, it will cool and thicken in about 15 minutes. Drizzle sauce over peach crisp. Serve warm.thicken in about 15 minutes. Drizzle sauce over peach crisp. Serve warm.

JELL-O Magic Mousse

Everyone will probably think I'm weird for posting such an easy recipe but this is a fun little variation to regular jell-o and the thing that bugs me the most is that sometimes you'll find it on the side of a jell-o box and most of the time you won't. It's hit or miss, you never know which flavor of box is going to have the recipe. So I decided to post the recipe so I wouldn't have to rely on the box anymore :)

INGREDIENTS
3 c. boiling water
1 pkg. (6 oz.) JELL-O Brand Gelatin
1 tub (16 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, frozen or thawed

DIRECTIONS
Add boiling water to gelatin mix in large bowl; stir 2 minutes until completely dissolved. Whisk in COOL WHIP until blended. Refrigerate 8 hours or until firm.

Sour Cream Apple Bars

This recipe came from Your Home Based Mom. This time of year we have lots of apples to eat up and this recipe jumped out and me when I saw the combination of sour cream and apples, I love these to ingredients together. My bars turned out slightly different from your home based mom's; I realized halfway through the bake time that I had forgotten the pecans so I hurried and sprinkled them on the top. It worked though and they were delish!

INGREDIENTS
Crust:
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
2 c. uncooked quick cooking oats
1 c. flour
1 c. chopped pecans
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. allspice

Filling:
1 c. sour cream
3/4 c. sugar
2 T. flour
1 egg
2 medium (about 2 cups) apples, unpeeled, shredded

DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine butter and brown sugar in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Add remaining crust ingredients and beat until well mixed.

Press HALF of crust mixture onto bottom of ungreased 13 x 9 pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown.

While crust is baking combine the filling ingredients; mix well. Gently pour the filling over the hot, partially baked crust. Crumble the remaining crust mixture over the top of the fill and press down lightly.

Bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the center is set. Cool. Cut into bars. Store refrigerated

Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

This recipe came from Top Secret Recipes. We love it!

INGREDIENTS
Rolls:
1 1/4 oz. package active dry yeast
1 c. warm milk
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. butter, melted
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
4 c. flour

Filling:
1 c. brown sugar
2 1/2 T. cinnamon
1/3 c. butter, softened

Icing:
8 T. (1 stick) butter, softened
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. (2 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt

DIRECTIONS
For the rolls, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl. Mix together the sugar, butter, salt and eggs. Add flour, and mix well. Knead the dough into a large bowl, using your hands dusted lightly with flour. Pour in a bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough flat until it is approximately 21 inches long and 16 inches wide. It should be about 1/4 inch thick.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

For the filling, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Spread the softened butter evenly over the surface of the dough, and then sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar evenly over the surface.

Working carefully from the top, roll the dough down to the bottom edge. Cut the rolled dough into 1 3/4 inch slices and place 6 at a time, evenly spaced, in a lightly greased baking pan. Let the rolls rise again until double in size (about 30 minutes). Bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly brown on top.

While the rolls bake, combine the icing ingredients. Beat well with an electric mixer until fluffy. When the rolls come out of the oven, coat each generously with icing. Enjoy!

Homemade Bread

This recipe came from R.C. Bair, a lady that I grew up with that still bakes bread all the time. I'm not much of a bread baker but I should give it a try more often :) This recipe is easy and really good! I used fresh ground whole wheat flour but white flour works as well.

INGREDIENTS
6 T. sugar
1 T. saf-instant yeast
6 T. shortening or softened margarine
7 cups flour
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk plus enough warm water to equal 5 cups liquid.

DIRECTIONS
Measure the above ingredients into a mixer. Mix for several minutes, then add 1 T. salt and additional flour until dough pulls away from sides of the mixing bowl. (Approx. 4-7 more cups depending on flour and consistency). Let rise until double in size. Dive into 4 equal parts. Place in greased bread pans. Let rise again and then bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Potato Soup

It's that time of year again, fall is in the air and I've been dying to whip up some heart warming tummy pleasing soups. This one is a no fail recipe that's always 1st on my list when soup sounds like a good thing to fix my family for dinner.

We had some red potatoes in the garden that were smaller than a medium sized yukon gold so you may have to adjust the quantity of your potatoes depending on the size or variety.

INGREDIENTS
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
6 potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1 quart half & half milk
salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS
Cook first 6 ingredients together for 10 minutes or until tender. In a glass measuring cup, melt butter in microwave and then stir in flour. Add flour/butter mixture to cooked potatoes. Stir until thick and bubbly. Quickly add half & half. Heat through but do not boil. Serve.

Red Curry Coconut Noodles

I found this delicious noodle dish off of the Tasty Kitchen website. If you enjoy Thai food and curry, this dish tastes exactly like an entree right out of a Thai restaurant. YUM! *I halved the recipe for a serving of 4 and it was plenty for our little family.

INGREDIENTS
6 whole Chicken - Boneless, Skinless Breasts (cubed)
2 cans Coconut Milk
2 teaspoons Red Curry Paste
1 Tablespoon Ginger (fresh, Grated)
1 Tablespoon Cilantro (fresh, Chopped)
¼ cups Sweet Thai Chili Sauce
500 milliliters Chicken Or Vegetable Broth
1 package Rice Noodles
1 whole Onion (julienne)
2 whole Red Peppers (julienne)
1 cup Broccoli Slaw
1 Tablespoon Salt To Taste

DIRECTIONS
Start with a large pot over medium-high heat. Scoop the cream off the top of the coconut milk, and put into the pot. The cream will be used as the “fat” instead of oil or butter. Along with the cream, add the curry paste and ginger. Let this simmer for 1 minute.

Then add the chicken. Cook the chicken through.
Then add the rest of what is in the coconut milk cans, sweet Thai chili sauce, cilantro, and chicken broth. Bring this to a simmer.

Then add your julienned veggies and rice noodles. Simmer this. You will see the broth slowly thicken as the rice noodles absorb it. It should only take about 5 minutes for the rice noodles to be cooked through.

Pull the pot off the heat, and let sit for about 5 minutes. It will thicken during this time. Then, it’s done. Slurp these noodles out of big noodle bowls! Garnish it with a bit more cilantro.

* I have also added peanut butter to this recipe, and a bit of honey if you want a less savory/spicy version.

Mushroom Soup

I found this yummy mushroom soup recipe from The Pioneer Woman and since I love mushrooms I had to try it. It is so rich and full of flavor and dipping freshly toasted french bread is a must! I can't wait to try this again on a cold winter day!

INGREDIENTS
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 whole Small Carrrot, Finely Minced
1 whole Celery Stalk, Finely Minced
1 Tablespoon Garlic, Crushed And Minced
1 pound White Mushrooms, Sliced Thin
4 ounces, fluid Chablis White Wine
4 ounces, fluid Tomato Juice
4 ounces, fluid Chicken Broth
1 pint Heavy Whipping Cream
1 cup Parmesan Cheese, Freshly Grated
1 teaspoon Cornstarch
1/4 cups Water
1 pinch Salt And Pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS
Heat oil, over medium heat, in a large deep pot.

Mince the carrot and celery nice and fine. Too big and the soup will end up chunky. Toss into the pot and allow them to soften while you slice the mushrooms. Next, add your garlic, right as the carrots and celery start to cook down.

Add the mushrooms to the pot and allow them to reduce and soften. Pour in the Chablis, and let it cook with the mushrooms for a few minutes.

Add the tomato juice, and the chicken broth. Allow it to boil for about 5 minutes before adding the heavy whipping cream, and bring to a soft boil.

Grate Parmesan and add it to the pot. Let this cook for a few minutes, until the cheese is melted and blended with the soup. Add the cornstarch to 1/4 cup of water, then pour into the soup.

Lower the heat and let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes or so, until thickened. Salt and pepper the soup to your own taste.

Serve with French bread or just plain ‘ol crackers. Whatever floats your boat!

Fresh Salsa

INGREDIENTS
8 roma tomatoes
1 14.5 oz. can Rotel
1/4 cup yellow onion, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
1/2 lime, juiced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. sugar

DIRECTIONS
Combine ingredients in a food processor and pulse until desired consistency. Refrigerate at least 1 hour to let the ingredients fuse together; that is if you can wait that long :).

Blueberry Jello Salad

My friend Donelle shared this yummy jello salad recipe with me. I like the versatility with the ingredients, you can change it up to your liking. I've tried cherry pie filling with cherry jello and raspberry pie filling with raspberry jello. It always comes out great!

INGREDIENTS
1 large box grape jello
1 regular size can crushed pineapple
1 can blueberry pie filling
8 oz. package cream cheese
1 8 oz. container sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
2 T. sugar

DIRECTIONS
Pour grape jello powder into 9x13 baking dish. Add 2 cups hot water onto jello and dissolve. Add pineapple w/ juice and pie filling. Refrigerate until set.

Bring cream cheese to room temperature. Beat cream cheese, add sour cream, vanilla and sugar, combine until smooth. Layer on top of jello. Refrigerate again at least 1/2 hr.