The Best Fall Cookies EVER!

Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies

Makes about 24 Cookies.

 

The original recipe (which I tweaked a little bit) is from: http://colormegreenanew.blogspot.com/

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup of butter (1 Stick)

3/4 cup of sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup of pumpkin puree ( I used organic caned pumpkin)

1/2  tsp of vanilla extract

2 cups of flour

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of nutmeg

1/2  tsp of ginger

1 tsp of cinnamon

3/4 tsp of baking soda

Cinnamon-Sugar- Spice-Topping:

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

1 tsp of cinnamon 

Baking Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix/cream together the butter and the sugar until it's fluffy. Whisk in the egg, pumpkin, and vanilla one at a time. Dump the remaining ingredients into the bowl and stir until they are combined. I used a kitchen aid mixer which makes combining the ingredients easy. About 3 minutes. Tops. :)

Once the dough is ready, roll into tablespoon sized balls/handfuls as you roll and dip them into the topping. 

In a shallow dish/plate, combine the topping spices. Take a ball (about a tablespoon) of dough, roll it around in the cinnamon, sugar mixture until coated and then flatted and place on the cookie sheet. I used Silpat mats on my cookie sheets to prevent the cookies from sticking. Parchment paper would work well too. 

Bake the cookies for approximately 10 minutes. They will come out lifted, fluffy, and cake-like. 

Have fun baking & try not to eat them all in one sitting. 

-Nicola & the little pup

Some little visitors.

Our friends Laura and Helen came to visit us last weekend. See, Helen is a smarty pants, and got into Duke's Law school. So they decided to come spend a weekend checking out NC. Of course, the ONE weekend that they come, it rained almost the whole time. And if that wasn't eventful enough for some Californians, there was a Tornado Warning. UGH. Not really helping my argument of how wonderful it would be if they moved here. Oh well.

Duke's Chapel.

The Duke Gardens.

Bida Manda. 

Miles got a free dumpling courtesy of Chirba Chirba. Thanks! 

Lake Wheeler.

A little Macaron lesson. 

These are WAY better than my first try. See previous blog to admire the disaster. 

Too bad the weather was crummy. I guess they'll have to come back to see the rest of NC. 

- Nicola & the little pup

Happy Valentine's Day.

 This Valentine's day, most of our peeps are clear across the country. We couldn’t think of a better way to show some love than mailing them (snail mail style) a homemade card. All we needed were a few things from Michaels Craft store and we were ready to spend the snowy night creating. Last week we got all of these little cards out so that they would make it in time. 

Sorry, the shiny envelopes don't photograph well. 

And for the locals…

Today was another snow day here in NC. I decided that baking would give me something to do (since I was stuck indoors all day). And I heard that neighbors LOVE food. So I figured that it was a win, win for me to bake them up a little treat. My friend, Jackee, made these for us in December. I loved the mix of rosemary with sweet jam. And they just seemed just festive enough to give out as Valentines. 

Rosemary & Strawberry Scones

Created By: Giada (Food Network)

Ingredients

Scones:

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup strawberry jam

 Glaze:

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, from 1 large lemon

2 cups powdered sugar

1 to 2 tablespoons water Special equipment: a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper. Set aside. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, baking powder, rosemary, salt, and butter until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl. Gradually stir in the cream until the mixture forms a dough. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 1/2-inch thick, 10-inch circle. Using a cookie cutter, cut out pieces of dough and put on the prepared baking sheet.  Using an index finger or a small, round measuring spoon, gently make an indentation in the center of each pastry . Spoon a heaped 1/2 teaspoon of jam into each indentation. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Transfer the cooked scones onto a wire rack and cool for 30 minutes. For the glaze: In a medium bowl, mix together the lemon juice and powdered sugar until smooth. Gradually add the water until the mixture is thin enough to spread. Using a spoon, drizzle the glaze over the scones. Let the glaze set for about 30 minutes. Serve or store in an airtight plastic container for 2 days.

 I chose not to glaze mine.

The packaging: nice and simple.

The moral of the story here is this... Bake some scones.  They're delicious. 

- Nicola & the Little Pup