2 Ingredient Pumpkin Cookies

I found a VERY SIMPLE cookie recipe this past week and then thought of the perfect thing to make them for! There is always a sign up sheet at Trevor's school to bring a healthy snack.

When I discovered "2 Ingredient Pumpkin Cookies" here , I had to try them. They are from the blog Cookies and Cups.

Of course Trevor wanted to help me! He was a bit disappointed that there was no egg to crack though since that is really all he likes to do.

AS usual, I made this recipe a bit of my own as I always seem to do. I couldn't find the spice cake mix in the store like Cookies and Cups called for. What is healthier than oatmeal and pumpkin, right? So I chose oatmeal cookie mix instead.

This recipe calls for only the cookie mix and a can of pumpkin. I added some butterscotch chips and a bit of cinnamon to mine.

Technically mine should be called 4 Ingredient Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies.

Turned out to be more of a drop cookie than the recipe picture but that is because of my oatmeal mix.

I haven't figured out how in the world to make a drop cookie (or for that matter a bar cookie) look good in a photograph! But here is what they look like. I was very pleased with how these tasted. I did have to cook them for about 4 minutes more than the recipe called for - I think because I added the butterscotch chips. But they turned out perfect. The flavor wasn't too strong in my opinion and I'm not a huge pumpkin fan. The cinnamon might have cut down on that a little.
I'm wondering if any of the kids like pumpkin...

I hope they like their healthy snack!

Gobble Gobble.

Happy Baking.

Jen

Thankgiving Assortment

A lot to be Thankful at this time of year....my family, my friends, my health, my job...my list could go on and on. I've enjoyed making some different designs for Thanksgiving this year. I've seen so many creative ideas that I just don't want to stop!! Here are some of my latest creations.


Using a tulip cookie cutter, SweetBella Bakery inspired me on these very cool cookies. Amanda has several ideas that I liked this year and found them here.


Can't be Thanksgiving without a pilgrim hat, right? I don't have the perfect cutter but I think this does okay!
Cornucopia's are always fun for this time of year.
Another inspiration from Sweet Bella Bakery. The freehand trees were something different. I haven't done much freehand on cookies. That certainly takes practice.
You've got to have some trees to remind of us fall this time of the year!


I had to try just ONE more owl cookie when Sugarbelle made some with a candy corn cookie cutter. I thought her Owl in Pumpkin Cookies were just precious. This blog does an awesome job with the tutorials and showing you step by step how to make cookies just like the ones she does. The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle is an amazing blog.

Some more acorns! We have a ton of them falling in our backyard. What about you?
Oh my and what is Thanksgiving without Pumpkin pie??? Another idea from Sweet Bella Bakery.

A fall assortment of apples, pears and pumpkins. The pumpkins were some of my favorite that I made this year. This design came from Bake at 350.


Just a few more sets of leaves....



As you can see I've been busy with Thanksgiving cookies! I do have the last few up my sleeve to finish this weekend!
Happy Baking.
Jen

Turkeys, Turkeys, Everywhere

I have been doing lots of Thanksgiving cookies! Just haven't shown anyone yet! I've seen so many cute ideas lately that I've had to try so many...I couldn't hold out anymore and NOT share them, so here are my turkey's so far...I've done several different styles!! Which one do you like best?I did a lot with the same colors only using different shapes. Loved Cookie Crazie's idea here. Using half of a daisy cookie cutter.... A 3-D turkey cookie from Bee in our Bonnet website here. Using a circle cookie cutter and then heart cutters for the feathers. Another Cookie Crazie idea.....here...I tried using the black outline and then the colored outline. I think I like the black because they stand out more. Traditional turkeys made the the actual turkey cookie cutter. My freehand drawing idea compliments of The Decorated Cookie, found here. This turned out much better than I thought it would! And using Bake at 35o's idea...2 different cookie cutter with the tutorial here. So now you can see I've had so many ideas come across my path for turkeys that I just want to try them all!! HAPPY BAKING

Peppermint Crunch-Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have gotten on to Pinterest lately and love it! I've found so many fun things to do that I will NEVER have time for it all.

If you aren't familiar with what it is, here is a definition. Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

And boy have I found lots of inspiration for baking all sorts of fun things! The first thing I tried were these Peppermint Crunch-Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies that were "pinned" from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody website here. These were very easy to eat and very yummy. I was in the mood for a little Christmas taste and found it here! I altered the recipe a bit to my taste -using white chocolate instead of milk chocolate. And making a drop cookie out of it instead of waiting for the dough to firm to cut into nice shapes. Let's just say I don't have the patience to wait!
I had never seen Andes Peppermint Crunch Chips and was glad to find them easily at Target! They made this cookie very tasty.



HAPPY BAKING.
Back to making my last set of Thanksgiving cookies. I've already a bunch but won't share them until this weekend!

Jen

It'sHard to Be Five

It's Hard to be Five, right? My son Trevor might tell you that!!

This week a friend of mine is a mystery reader in her sons Kindergarten class. She wanted some cookies to take with to give to the kids as a treat.

I didn't have much notice on this order but it worked out great and I had fun doing these.

I found a great design idea from The Chocolate Swirl Blog. and went to work.
I don't often take pictures of some of the "steps" that involved in making cookies. Here are a few with just the "piping" and "flooding".


It's Hard to be Five by Jamie Lee Curtis looks like a fun book to read and I"m going to have to find it for Trevor. But hopefully with these cookies the kids won't think it's so bad at their age!!


Happy Baking!
Jennifer

Wedding Cookies

What a compliment I had a few weeks ago when a high school friend contacted me and wanted some of my cookies. Why so special? She lives in Colorado and her fiance saw my cookies on her facebook page and wanted some for his very own! I finished them this weekend and they are going to be shipped tomorrow. Shannon and Jeff wanted my cookies to eat all by themselves! She requested some wedding cookies in their colors of pink and brown. "JNS" are their initials and she wanted that incorporated as well. Here is what I came up with for the happy couple. I hope they like them. And more importantly -- I hope they arrive all in one piece. I always worry about that as I ship things.










Love is in the Air!!

Happy Baking,
Jen

Trying New things

Had a few things up my sleeve I've wanted to try my hand at and had time this weekend! Don't you love my apron my Aunt sent me for Halloween?

I hadn't started cooking here so it was much too clean. I was covered in flour by the end of my adventures!

I want to try to make the Caldron sugar cookies taht I made for Halloween into a real cookie and not just the "bowls". So I tried 2 things this weekend. Neither are what I would really want the cookie to be like.

So I'll still be on the search for this one. I followed the recipe from Halloween and just tried to make the cookies a different way. I tried a drop cookie and then a regular sugar cookie with just topping.

Here are the what the drop cookies look like....nothing special but tasty. Just not like the delicious ones I was wanting. And here are the cookies with the topping. I think my mistake was cooking the cookie with the topping...hmm....

And on to my next adventure which was a SUCCESS.

I have a LOVE for Peanut Butter. And I have a LOVE for bar cookies. So I'm always trying to find the perfect combination. And I found one this weekend that is pretty darn close! I have so many recipes saved and pinned that I'll never be able to make them all - or if I did I might blow up! I found this one on Taste of Homes Website here. I think these turned out delicious.

I followed the recipe except used white chocolate chips instead of chocolate. I used the exact time the recipe called for to cook them and they came out perfect. Very moist, not too done, and cut very nicely. Just the right amount of peanut butter and not too rich. I'm definitely going to put this recipe in the "keep" pile. Happy Baking!
Jen