Libby's Old Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies

During October I bought a couple cans of pumpkin with the idea of making pumpkin cookies for Halloween. It got put off and then when I actually looked at the recipe I noticed I was missing way too many ingredients. I bought all the ingredients, but I had a new mission. I wasn't going to bake these for my family, but for my husband's cousin who is in boot camp. He has to provide sweets for his whole squadron(?) or his sergeant(?) will take them all. Anyways, here's the recipe!

Ingredients

* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
* 1 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
* 1 large egg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract





PREHEAT oven to 350° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl.

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Ingredients * 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour * 1 teaspoon baking soda * 1 teaspoon baking powder * 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon * 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar * 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened * 1 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin * 1 large egg * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until well blended. (I accidentally added my egg and vanilla here)





Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract until smooth(I just beat in the pumpkin)



after:




Gradually beat in flour mixture





Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.





BAKE for 15 to 18 minutes or until edges are firm (I did 15)



ta-dah!





After they cool you add the glaze:

GLAZE:
*2 cups sifted powdered sugar
*3 tablespoons milk
*1 tablespoon melted butter
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine in a small bowl until smooth. I put the mixture in a bag and made a small hole in the corner

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Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.

and then just squeeze!!










We taste tested these and they are AMAZING. I don't know how I can part with them!!

Measuring Flour

I noticed something while leafing through my Betty Crocker cookbook that I received when Mike and I were married. Apparently, you're supposed to scoop flour out with a spoon and put it in your measuring cup that way. After its overflowing you then level it off with a knife.

I googled "measuring flour" and came upon a website that gave the correct weight for one cup

• One cup of white flour weighs 120 grams.
• One cup of whole wheat flour weighs 140 grams.
• One cup of bread flour weighs 130 grams.
• One cup of cake flour weighs 114 grams.

So, if you have a scale you can do it that way! Correct flour measuring is very important. Too much flour and your end product will be tough and dry. Too little and it will just fall apart!

Dark Chocolate Toffee Cookies!

Its been a bit of time huh? Sorry, life has been a bit busy and I've had no time to try to bake.

The other day I grabbed some Hersheys Special Dark chocolate chips while shopping at Wal-mart. Dark chocolate is by far my favorite type of chocolate.

Sooo, here we go!



Set your oven to 375

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup(2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups(1 12oz pkg) HERSHEYS SPECIAL DARK CHIPS
1 cup chopped nuts(I used toffee instead)

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Heat oven to 375

Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. (I xferred it to another bowl after I realized that I needed 2 bowls)

Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl with mixer until creamy

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Heat oven to 375

Add eggs and beat well






Gradually add flour mixture, beating well






Stir in chocolate chips and nuts(toffee)




Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.




bake 8 -10 minutes or until lightly browned.




let cool and then move to wire rack...I dont have one so I just put them on parchment paper



Ivie approved AGAIN!! yay


and one last image:


I made a giant one for Mike with the last of the dough.

Butter Pecan cookies

Rhonda and I went to Sams the other day and I found this book:



I had to pick it up! While leafing through the book I found a four ingredient cookie recipe for butter pecans and decided to try them out!


3/4 cup softened butter
1 pkg of 3.4oz Butterscotch pudding
1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 cup of chopped pecans

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Ingredients: 3/4 cup softened butter 1 pkg of 3.4oz Butterscotch pudding 1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour 1/2 cup of chopped pecans

Set oven at 375



In small bowl beat butter and pudding mix until smooth



Gradually beat in flour

Fold in pecans

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Ingredients: 3/4 cup softened butter 1 pkg of 3.4oz Butterscotch pudding 1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour 1/2 cup of chopped pecans

roll into 1 1/2 in balls and place on pan 2 inches apart (apparently I was supposed to flatten them..but I didnt. Whoops!)



Bake 10-13 minutes or until light golden brown.



Ivie approves!

They turned out okay. I wasn't amazingly impressed, but they weren't hard to make. It said it yields about 2 dozen. I ended up with 20.

Sugar Cookies

Last Christmas I was shopping at Sams with Rhonda when I found a giant box of sugar cookie mix. I was struck with the idea that, since I was pretty low on money to get my family gifts, I would give them cookies! At that point, I had never baked cookies by myself. It was a bit scary, but I was going to do it! My first batch I tried to do cut out cookies.



I wasn't so impressed with them. So, I decided to do drop cookies with my second batch. I tried putting the sprinkles in mix. This caused the cookies to change colors. I put the red sprinkles on top of the green cookies and green sprinkles on the "pink" cookies. This wasn't really what I wanted. I had wanted. I really had wanted regular cookies with the sprinkles mixed in. I did achieve this with my third batch! What I did was that I rolled my scooped out dough into the sprinkles!

This is how they looked!!



I pulled them out while the tops were looking a little undone. I wasn't really for sure if I was supposed to do that(you are if you want your cookies chewy). After I was done I separated all the cookies in little ziplock bags. Then I took these stick on Christmas-y fun foam letters and spelled everyone's names on the bags. Everyone really liked my cookies. The other day my best friend Sharleen asked me to bake them again! I am planning on baking them again, just from scratch.

Unsalted Butter

So, I was flipping through my Betty Crocker cookbook when I noticed a lot of baked sweets require unsalted butter. I didn't know why so I went online!! Apparently, regular butter has salt in it. You can use it for baking, but if it calls for salt in the recipe then you run into the issue of it being too salty. You might be thinking, "Well, I just won't but salt in!". This could work. Then again, there is no way of knowing how much salt is in the butter. There is no regulation on how much is in there. So it could end up perfect or it could not be enough.

So! I think I will buy some unsalted butter before I start baking. I also need some powdered sugar. After that I think I will be good in trying something from scratch. I'm thinking either chocolate chip cookies that are chewy or just sugar cookies!

Cake mix biscotti

Christmas of '07 my dad's wife, affectionately known as Moona, found some recipes for using cake mix to make biscotti. She made tons that season and they were oh so delicious. Well, since then I've always wanted to do it! On September 5th I decided to go ahead and do it! This is how you do it:

Ingredients:
Parchment paper
rolling pin
cooking sheet
mixing bowl
hand mixer
cake mix(do not use the kind with pudding in it!)
1 cup flour
1 stick melted butter
2 eggs
half a cup of nuts(i used toffee)





Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line your baking/cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.




Using an electric mixer, mix together the cake mix, eggs, melted margarine, flour and nuts. Blend 3 to 4 minutes. If needed scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl. The ingredients should start to form a ball.




With floured hands take the ball and shape into a long rectangle about 4 inches wide. Place rectangle[s]on the parchment lined sheet. You may need to make two placed side by side on the baking sheet. The rectangles should be about 1/2 to 3/4 inches thick.




Bake for about 30-35 minutes. It should be firm to the touch and pass the toothpick test




When done, remove from the oven but do not turn the oven off. Let the biscotti cool for about 10 minutes.




Cut using a sharp serrated knife into 1 inch slices.. Carefully turn the slices on to their sides on the baking sheet.




Return to oven and bake an additional 10 minutes. Leave the biscotti in the oven but now turn the oven off. Leave in the oven for 40 minutes. This will crisp the biscotti pieces.




Cool completely- 2 to 3 hours. Then store in an airtight container.




It was a success! They were delicious and didn't last long with the three of us in the house.