Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had some leftover pumpkin after I made pumpkin rolls for Thanksgiving, and my mind instantly went to this recipe. I went to my blog to find it and couldn't believe I didn't have it on here yet. Jadi made these for me a couple of years ago and I've been in love with them ever since. These cookies are moist, soft, and cake-like, and the combination of pumpkin, cinnamon, and chocolate is so good. I'm just glad there's more leftover pumpkin in the fridge.

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I always use butter in my baking, so this would be 1 stick of butter)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp milk
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil (or butter), vanilla and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for approximately 10 minutes or until golden brown and firm. (I only baked these for a little over 8 minutes.)

Seriously, these are fabulous. Thanks for yet another wonderful recipe, Jadi!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I don't make banana bread that often, but I always love it when I do. I found this recipe on Cooks.com and it looks like it was published submitted by the company Reynolds. The only thing I didn't like about it was that the bottom was overdone. I didn't line the pan with parchment paper like the recipe suggests, and maybe that would have made a difference. I guess I'll have to make more and find out!

Reynolds parchment paper
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and salt
2 medium (1 cup) ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil (I used melted butter)
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped nuts (I omitted these)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x5-inch loaf pan with Reynolds parchment paper, extending paper up sides of pan; set aside. (Again, I just greased the pan.)

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt on a sheet of parchment paper (I just used a bowl); set aside. In a large bowl combine bananas, eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla extract. Add dry ingredients to banana mixture; stir just until moistened. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips; pour into pan.

Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan. Use edges or parchment to lift bread from pan onto a wire rack. Pull back edges of parchment. Cool completely (or eat warm like I do!).

I bet these would make yummy muffins, and maybe that would also solve the burnt bottom issue.
---
Update:

These made delicious muffins, and they had no burnt bottoms. I baked them for somewhere between 10 and 20 minutes, and the recipe made about 16 or so muffins.

White Chocolate Blondies

I got this recipe from my friend Brad and they are seriously delicious. I like this recipe a lot better than my other blondie recipe. I made these on Sunday for dessert and the whole family loved them. They're chewy and buttery and the white chocolate is awesome. The original recipe calls for nuts and suggests lining the 9x13 pan with foil and then cooking spray, but I omitted the nuts and just buttered the 9x13 and they turned out beautifully.

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I just used my regular bleached flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) melted butter
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 ounces white chocolate chips (1 cup) or chopped bar, or 3 ounces each white chocolate and seminsweet chocolate chips. (I used a whole chopped white chocolate bar plus 1/2 cup semisweet chips)
(1 cup pecans or walnuts--optional)*

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 9x13 pan.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.
3. Whisk melted butter and brown sugar together in medium bowl until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Using rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into egg mixture until just combined; do not overmix. Fold in chocolate (and nuts) and turn batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with rubber spatula.
4. Bake until top is shiny, cracked, and light golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes; do not overbake. Cool on wire rack to room temperature. (Or eat hot like I always do. So yummy.) Cut into squares and serve.

If you want to add the nuts, here's the first step of the recipe:
Spread nuts on large rimmed baking sheet and bake until deep golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer nuts to cutting board to cool; chop coarsely and set aside.

If you want to foil-line your pan:
Cut 18-inch length foil and fold lengthise to 8-inch width. Fit foil into length of 9x13 baking pan, pushing it into corners and up sides of pan; allow excess to overhang pan edges. Cut 14-inch lenth foil and fit into width of baking pan in same manner, perpendicular to first sheet. (If using extra-wide foil, fold second sheet lengthwise to 12-inch width.) Spray foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.

(See why I just rubbed butter all over the pan???)

Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookies

I got this recipe from Jadi's blog and have made these several times. (It might also be on the back of the Reese's peanut butter chips bag, I can't remember.) These are yummy and a fun variation if you're tired of plain old chocolate chip (though that rarely happens for me). As far as favorite peanut butter and chocolate cookies go, I also LOVE Peanut Butter Cup Cookies and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) Reese's peanut butter chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; set aside. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in peanut butter chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 9 minutes. Do not overbake--cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking and flatten while cooling. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Thanks, Jadi!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

This is yet another fabulous recipe from Jadi's blog. If you like peanut butter with chocolate, you'll love these. The candy gets all melty and gooey, so they're totally delicious hot out of the oven, but are equally as yummy once they've cooled. You can either bake these in a mini-muffin tin or on a cookie sheet. I don't have a mini-muffin tin, so I just used a cookie sheet and loved how they turned out. Click here for the original recipe on Jadi's blog and you can see what they look like if you use the tin.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk
30-40 miniature Reese's peanut butter cups, frozen and unwrapped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.

Cream together the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well.

Shape into 30-40 balls and place each ball into a mini-muffin pan or onto a cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for approximately 8 minutes (I think I did 7 or 7 1/2 minutes). Be careful not to over bake. They should be a very light golden color. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and then carefully remove from pan.

Wonderful with a cold glass of milk! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Roll

This is one of my absolute favorite desserts. I only make it around this time of year, and I look so forward to it. I made it today for our preschool Thanksgiving lunch, and used the last of the fresh pumpkin I had frozen after our trip to the pumpkin patch. I have never used canned pumpkin, but I'm sure it would be just as delicious. This version of the recipe is from Cooks.com. Seriously, try it--it's SOOOO good!

Pumpkin Jelly Rolls

3 eggs, beaten 5 minutes
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup pumpkin, canned
1 cup chopped pecans

Filling:
1 cup powdered sugar
8 ounces cream cheese
5 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add remaining ingredients to beaten eggs. Pour into well greased cookie sheet. (You need to use a jelly roll-style pan, or a cookie sheet with edges.) Sprinkle with 1 cup chopped pecans. Bake 15-20 minutes (I bake it for 15) at 375 degrees. Turn out onto a clean tea towel. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Roll into a roll. Let cool.

Filling: Mix powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter, and vanilla.

When cake is completely cool, unroll cake and spread on filling. Remove towel, roll back into a roll. Keep refrigerated.

(If you make this the night before and wrap it in plastic wrap/foil, it is very easy to slice into sections the next morning because the filling has had a chance to set. )

Fluffy Apple Dip

I love this time of year--the beautiful leaves, the holidays, and all the delicious recipes. I posted this recipe last year around this time, but thought I would re-post it because I love it so much and have made it for a couple of events recently. I found this apple dip recipe last year in the September/October issue of "Simple and Delicious" magazine. This is my absolute favorite dip, and it gets a great response whenever I make it. And the best part--it's SO easy.

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (*I never have this, so I always just use cinnamon, and I love how it turns out)
1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow creme
Assorted apple wedges

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, peanut butter and pie spice (or cinnamon) until blended; fold in marshmallow creme. Serve with apple wedges. Makes 2 cups.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

My friend Karey told me about her sister-in-law Lara's recipe blog, and I've been in love with it ever since. If you've never been to Recipe Shoebox, check it out! Lara updates regularly, and she includes a wide variety of family-friendly, healthy, and delicious recipes. One day recently I wanted to bake, but wanted something different than our usual chocolate chip. I'm not crazy about plain peanut butter cookies, but I found Lara's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, and we all loved them. Thanks, Lara! Click here for Lara's post of this recipe.

1 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy, depending on on personal preference)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips

Beat butter, peanut butter, sugars, and vanilla until creamy. Beat in egg. Gradually beat in dry ingredients. Stir in morsels. Drop dough by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes.

(Bonny's note: This dough also refridgerates well if you want to bake small quanitites at a time.)

Pancakes

We love having breakfast for dinner every once in a while. This is the pancake recipe I usually use; I found it on Cooks.com. Sometimes I'll substitute yogurt for some of the milk, and they always turn out nicely.

2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour (Last time I made these, I had to add almost twice this amount of flour to get the right consistency)
2 3/4 cups milk, *see note
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I use melted butter here, too)
2 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Beat egg with hand beater until fluffy; beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth. Grease a heated griddle.

Pour about 3 tablespoons batter from tip of large spoon or from pitcher onto hot griddle.

Cook pancakes until puffed and dry around edges (tiny bubbles will begin to form).

Turn and cook other sides until golden brown. Flipping once should be enough. The first pancake isn't always the best one.

Note: Buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream may be substituted for some or all of the milk.

This may cause the batter to be too thick or too thin; adjust accordingly by adding milk to thin or flour to thicken. When you use a sour ingredient, cut the baking powder by 1/2 tablespoon and add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. If you don't have buttermilk, you can add powdered buttermilk to the milk.

Makes about 18 four-inch pancakes.

(Sometimes I sprinkle chocolate chips, pecans, or fruit into the batter.)

Fruit Salad in a Watermelon Bowl

Ryan made this fruit salad the other night, and I just thought the presentation was so pretty. What a great way to use the whole watermelon.

Margherita Tortilla Pizzas

Ryan gets a subscription to "Food and Wine" magazine, and yesterday I was flipping through the July 2009 issue and came across this recipe by chef Jacques Pepin. I thought it sounded delicious and simple enough for me to actually pull off. It was the first time I had ever used our pizza stones, and I loved the way these turned out. They were nice and light, so easy to make, and wonderfully fresh. Fresh mozzarella is one of my favorite things in the world to eat.

Margherita Tortilla Pizzas:

Four 10-inch flour tortillas
Extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
4 medium tomatoes (2 pounds)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound fresh mozzarella, preferably buffalo, shredded (4 cups)
1 cup finely shredded basil leaves

(Bonny's note: I did not use buffalo mozzarella--just fresh cow's milk mozzarella. I also didn't shred it, but rather cut slices off and placed those around the pizza.)

1. Set a pizza stone in the oven and preheat the oven to 500 degrees, allowing at least 45 minutes for the stone to heat.
2. Brush both sides of one tortilla with olive oil. Place the tortilla on a lightly floured surface and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Thinly slice 1 tomato; arrange on the tortilla. Season with salt and pepper and top with 1 cup of the mozzarella. Drizzle lightly with olive oil.
3. Slide the tortilla onto the hot pizza stone and bake for about 8 minutes, until the pizza is crisp on the bottom and the cheese is bubbling. Garnish with 1/4 cup of the shredded basil, cut the pizza into 8 wedges and serve. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, tomatoes, cheese, and basil.

Bonny's notes: I used two pizza stones so we could have two cooking at once. My stones were also plenty hot after only 30 minutes, and the pizzas were done after about 7 minutes. These are so nice and versatile--you could really make them with anything. We topped a couple of ours with some cooked chicken. Delicious!

Oatmeal Carmelitas

This is yet another fabulous recipe from Jadi's blog. These are so chewy and delicious, and they kept for several days. I made them on a Tuesday and the following Sunday they were still really good. The only thing I did differently here was that I didn't add nuts because Ryan doesn't like them. You will love these! Thanks again, Jadi!

For the Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups butter, softened (2 1/2 sticks)

For the Filling:

1 (12.5 oz) jar caramel ice cream topping
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 (6 oz) pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips (or a little more)
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13-inch pan. In a large bowl, blend all crust ingredients on low speed until crumbly. Press half of crumb mixture (about 3 cups) in bottom of greased pan. Reserve the remaining crumb mixture for the topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine caramel topping and 3 tbsp of flour. Remove partially baked crust from the oven; sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Drizzle evenly with caramel mixture; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake an additional 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely. Refrigerate 1-2 hours until filling is set. Cut into bars. Enjoy!

No Bake Cookies

I learned how to make these cookies at a church activity when I was a teenager, and I've been making them ever since. They are so easy to make and really yummy.

1 stick of butter
1/4 c. cocoa
1/2 c. milk
2 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/2 c. peanut butter
2 1/2 to 3 c. oats (depending on how dry you want the cookie. I prefer using 2 1/2 cups.)

Mix butter, cocoa, milk and sugar into a large pot, stirring frequently. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute without stirring. Take the mixture off of the heat and add the peanut butter, vanilla, and oats. Spoon out onto wax paper. The cookies take about 15-30 minutes to set. Enjoy!

Banana Cake

If you like warm banana bread, you'll love this moist, delicious cake. This is yet another great recipe I found on Jadi's recipe blog. I had some overripe bananas I needed to use and this was a scrumptious way to do it.

2 sticks butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
4-6 smashed bananas
1 cup milk
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream butter, eggs, and sugar until fluffy. Stir in bananas and milk. Combine dry ingredients and stir into the creamed mixture. Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

Frosting

1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup hot milk
3 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Melt butter in sauce pan and add brown sugar. Bring to a boil for 1 minute over medium heat. Cool 15 minutes and add milk. Whip until smooth. Then add powdered sugar. Let cool before serving.

Jadi pointed out (and I agree with her) that the frosting is rich so you only need a thin layer. I stored mine in the fridge afterwards since there is milk in the frosting. This was really yummy--I highly recommend it!

Hawaiian Haystacks

This dinner is so easy to make and is a big hit at our house. It's definitely one we keep as a staple.

Rice (I used 2 cups uncooked and it was perfect for the 4 of us)
Chicken, shredded (I used about 3 breasts)
Chicken gravy (I used a mix and made about 3 cups worth)
Shredded cheese
Canned pineapple or pineapple bits
Canned mandarin oranges
Raisins
Crunchy chow mein or rice noodles (I like the rice noodles better because they're smaller and I love the texture)
Green onions, chopped (I didn't use these this time but Ryan said he would have loved these on top)

Cook the rice. Put the chicken in a pan of shallow water, cover, and boil until cooked. Put the cooked chicken on a plate and break apart (or shred) using two forks. Salt and pepper chicken to taste. Make the gravy. Serve everything buffet style so people can pick and choose what toppings to add to their haystacks.

My parents used to serve this with broccoli as a topping as well. I love this dish because you can be so creative and use whatever toppings you like. Yum!

Cookie Tips

I have been doing a couple of things differently with my cookies lately, and they've been turning out consistently better. So here are some tips for chocolate chip:

Soften your butter at room temperature rather than melting it in the microwave. If you need to pop it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds just to get it a little softer it seems to work fine, but going from frozen to melted in a minute (something I was doing) does not give you the best results. (With cookie bars this doesn't seem to matter as much. You can microwave your butter and the bars are fine.)

Add almost three cups of flour. Not quite 3, as I think that's too much, but closer to 3 c than 2 1/2. At 2 1/2 your cookies will probably not have enough and be too flat.

To spruce up your chocolate chip recipe, add M&M's, mini M&M's, or peanut butter chips to your regular semisweet chips.

Dough refrigerates well. I've been making a batch of dough, only baking one tray, and then doing another tray each day for the next several days. That way we have fresh, warm cookies whenever we want them instead of a huge batch sitting around getting stale on the counter. You can let the dough thaw on the counter for 15-30 minutes and it should be good to go. I roll my dough into balls with my hands to get a nice round cookie.

Pull the cookies out of the oven just before they look done to you, and let them finish baking for a few minutes on the cookie sheet.

Anyway, those are just some thoughts. It's a process, perfecting cookies, and a yummy one at that!

Click here for my chocolate chip cookie recipe. Happy baking!

Ice Cream Sandwich Suggestion

I have always made chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches with a vanilla-based ice cream. Maybe vanilla, maybe chocolate chip cookie dough, or cookies n' cream...something like that. But the other day all I had was mint chocolate chip so we used that, and they were SO GOOD! I like to look at another recipe blog called Stephanie's Kitchen, and she does a lot with chocolate and mint. I am usually not a fan of mint, but I loved these little ice cream sandwiches (and so did Grayson). These are to die for when the cookies are still warm and gooey right out of the oven.

Apple Sour Cream Cake

After baking:

Before baking:

I made this recently with a recipe from Cooks.com. The recipe says to spread the batter into 2 round cake pans, but I wanted to use a 9x13. I put all the batter in and it did not come even close to filling the whole thing. So I ended up tripling the recipe to fill a 9x13. I'll post the tripled recipe here.

We liked this cake. It had a coffee-cake taste and feel, with a dense cake and a cinnamon-sugar top. You can't really taste the sour cream, but it makes the top stay nice and moist. I shared some with friends and they dunked the cake in hot chocolate.

3 c flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 sticks butter (12 tbsp)
3-4 apples, peeled and cored
3 eggs
1 1/2 c sugar
3 tsp vanilla
6 tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 c sugar, for sprinkling

Allow butter to sit at room temp for about 15 minutes, or until it softens slightly but retains its shape and is not oily or soft. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wipe a 9x13 pan with melted butter or oil; dust lightly and evenly with flour and tap our the excess.

Peel and core two apples. Slice into thin, round slices.

In a large bowl, stir together baking powder and flour. Crumble the butter into the flour (using your hands) and stir until a lumpy mixture is obtained.

In a separate bowl beat the egg, gradually adding the 1 1/2 cups sugar. Add the vanilla and milk and stir in.

Mix together the contents of both bowls and stir until thick.

Transfer batter to pan. Place apple slices on top of batter. Using a spatula, cover entire cake with a thin layer of sour cream and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes or until cake tests done. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired. Serve with milk or ice cream. (My note: This is yummy warm out of the oven or warmed up in the microwave the next day!)

Strawberry Dip

I got this idea from some friends and made this for a church event. It was not only delicious but really easy. All I did was mix equal parts strawberry yogurt and Cool Whip. Serve with fresh fruit and enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches

Grayson and I made chocolate chip cookies today, so we made ice cream sandwiches with them (I love serving these as a dessert). I think these are best when the cookies are still warm, and I used chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Yum.