Pumpkin Bars

Well Halloween is almost upon us and my world is surrounded by all things pumpkin.  Literally.  Scott counted 68 gourd-related items strewn haphazardly about the house.

Anyways, I was looking for something pumpkin-y to make for Bible Study this past Thursday and decided to try a new recipe, (to me at least) it's been around and comes from the highest possible source: Mary Gieser.  I added a bit of sugar to the frosting and increased the cream cheese, but aside from that, it's all Mary.

Three really nice things about this recipe: it makes a ton, filling a half sheet/jelly roll pan; it uses an entire can of pumpkin; and third, you can make it the day ahead of time with no discernible difference, perfect for a Halloween party.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bars
4 eggs
1 & 2/3's cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
1 (15 oz) can of plain pumpkin
2 cups flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven 350 degrees.  Spray a metal half sheet pan (or jelly roll pan) with Pam.  In a mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, sugar and pumpkin until it's well mixed.  In a separate small bowl, combine the dry ingredients and then add them to the wet.  Mix thoroughly.  Spread the batter evenly into the pan.  Bake for 25-30 min, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool the bars completely.

As the bars bake, make the Frosting:
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups powdered sugar

In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter with a hand mixer until smooth.  Slowly add in the remaining ingredients and beat until fluffy.  Use it to frost the bars when they're cool.

These are delicious, delicate with a strong flavor of pumpkin.  Closer to a cake then a cookie, but you can still pick it up with your hand.  Try them!

My Latest Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie

So I'll admit it, I am not a monogamous chocolate chip cookie baker.  I bounce around from recipe to recipe, trying different ingredients and techniques in search of the holy grail: the perfect cookie.  A cookie that is rounded and moist in the middle, doesn't spread too much while baking, uses really good chocolate and stands up well to travel.

I've settled into a committed relationship with an adaption of Thomas Keller's Chocolate Chip cookie, out of his Ad Hoc cookbook.  Chef and Owner of The French Laundry in Napa Valley, Bouchon in New York and Vegas and a few other notable places, this guy obviously knows his stuff.(This being the understatement of the year.)  I, however do not have time to chop up a 55% chocolate bar and a 70-72% chocolate bar, SIFT THE CRUMBS out to keep the cookie looking "clean", and other such nonsense.  So here is my version.  I hope you enjoy.

2 & 1/3 cups flour, plus 1 TB.
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 lb. unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. good vanilla

6 oz. semi sweet Ghiradeli chocolate chips

6 oz. 60% chocolate Ghiradeli chocolate chips (to taste, sometimes I add more, eyeball it)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Combine the first three dry ingredients in a small bowl.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle beat the butter on medium spead until smooth but not creamed.  Add the sugars and mix, don't beat too much air into it.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egss, one at a time, beating until mixed.  Add the vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients and mix on low until combined. Add the chocolate chips.  

Using a small ice cream scoop (2 TB size) scoop balls of dough onto a wax paper covered rimmed baking sheet.  Fill the sheet with balls and then stick it in the freezer until they are frozen fairly solid.  Dump them all in a zip lock bag to store in the freezer, or bake them from frozen form on parchment paper lined cookie sheets.  Bake at 375 degrees for five minutes, one sheet at a time, then rotate the cookie sheet and bake another 4 & 1/2 or 5 minutes.  

Pretty Darn Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 20 really large cookies

I tore a form of this recipe out of the April Martha Stewart Living Magazine and finally had a chance to make them on Sunday. These are awesome. A fun alternative to your normal Tollhouse. I've tweaked it in a few spots, here's what worked for me.

2 & 3/4 cups flour
1 & 1/4 tsp. table salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 & 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
One package ghiradelli chocolate chips

In a small bowl, mix together the first four dry ingredients, set aside. Beat butter and sugars on medium low until well mixed, scraping down bowl as needed. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. Add flour mixture, beat on low until just combined. Add chocolate chips.

Using an ice cream scoop (holding about 3 TBS.), drop dough on a rimmed baking sheet. Place sheet in freezer for about 20 min, or until frozen hard. At this point you can dump them all into a ziplock bag and keep it in the freezer until you're ready to bake 3 or 10 or all of them.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put a sheet of parchment paper on each cookie sheet, this is key. Drop six cookie dough balls on each sheet, spacing them out well. If cookie sheets are on the top/bottom racks of your oven, rotate them halfway through baking. Bake until golden brown on the edges but soft in the middle. I started checking at 11 minutes, took another couple minutes. Call it 12-15 minutes. Slide the parchment paper onto your counter and let the cookies cool completely before serving. You can then reuse the cookie sheets to do another batch right away, and no washing your sheets or a wire rack! You seriously need to go buy parchment paper right now.

Gale Gand's Cocoa Krispy Treats...for Mary

This was a dessert I made probably five times in two months over the Christmas season last year.  Super easy, better for you then regular Rice Krispy Treats (protein from peanut butter, ahem.) and just plain delicious.

Gale Gand's Chocolate Krispies (From her Chocolate and Vanilla Cookbook)

4 cups cocoa krispies

1/2 cup light Karo corn syrup

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

4 oz. chocolate chips, melted (optional if you're lazy like me)

Boil the sugar and syrup together until sugar is melted completely.  Remove from heat, stir in peanut butter.  Add cocoa krispies and combine well.  Press into a greased 9x13 pan and drizzle the melted chocolate over top.  

Unfortunately, they don't freeze well, that's about the only bummer.

What would you do with 150 individually wrapped Snickerdoodles?

My little friend Eva is running for 8th grade class president.  Sam and I thought we'd aid her efforts with a blatantly devious plan to bribe the junior highers with food.  We'll know later today if it worked.  

Snickerdoodles (adapted from Gale Gand's recipe)

For the topping: 3 TB sugar & 1/2 tsp. cinnamon or your own cinnamon sugar, to taste

3 1/2 cups flour

1 TB. baking powder

2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

1 TB. light corn syrup

2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

To make cookie dough, stir together the dry ingredients.  In a mixing bowl with the paddle attachment, cream the butter.  Add the sugar and continue to mix, adding the eggs one at a time and blending well.  Add corn syrup and vanilla.  Gently mix in the dry ingredients and mix until well blended.  Chill the dough for 1 hour.  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Roll balls of dough into the size of a walnut and then roll them in cinnamon sugar a few times until well coated.  Place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper and bake for 8-9 minutes, rotating tray halfway through baking.  

You can also form the balls, roll them in cinnamon sugar and place on a rimmed baking sheet and freeze until hard.  Then place all the balls in a ziplock bag and keep in the freezer, baking them normally, just out of the freezer as you need them.

Lemon Cheesecake Tarts

So I made these little lemon cheesecake tarts for my cousin's bridal shower...they turned out pretty well judging by the amount of recipe requests thus far.  I thought I'd save myself some typing and just share it here.  This recipe originated over at Cooking Light, but I adjusted it.

Lemon Cream Cheese Cookie Cups            Yields 2 dozen approximately

Dough

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

1 large egg

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

cooking spray

Filling

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. grated lemon rind

1 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 large egg

8 oz. block of softened cream cheese

Topping

Homemade lemon curd (I used Ina Garten's from the Food Network's recipe.  Piece of cake)

 or store bought if you don't have time

Tiny mint leaves for garnish

To prepare dough, beat 1/2 cup sugar and butter at medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and egg, beat well.  Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl and add to sugar/butter mixture.  Beat at low speed until well blended.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour, or freeze for 15 min.  Gently press dough into mini muffin tins coated with cooking spray.  Go as light as you can on the dough, it will puff up and swell as it cooks.  You want just enough dough to cover the muffin cup lightly.

Preheat oven to 350.  To prepare filling, beat 1/2 cup sugar and the next four ingredients in a mixer until smooth.  Spoon 1 TB. of filling into each prepared muffin cup.  Bake at 350 degrees for 23 minutes or until edges are brown and filling is set.  Remove cups from pans immediately, cool on a wire rack.  

At this point, the cookies will store well in the fridge for a couple days.  When you are ready to serve them, top with lemon curd and a mint leaf.

I know it looks complicated.  Believe me, it's worth the hassle.

Possibly the Easiest Cookie Ever

I firmly believe there is an entire population of under-served, unacknowledged macaroon lovers out there.  This mind-blowingly good, incredibly easy recipe is for you.

Chocolate Pecan Macaroons

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

2 cups flaked coconut

1 cup chopped pecans (I buy the roasted, salt ones from Trader Joe's)

1 tsp. almond extract

salt to taste (start with 1/4 tsp and add more if you need to)

In a large, heavy saucepan combine chocolate and condensed milk.  Cook, stirring constantly,for a few minutes until the chocolate melts and mixture is thick, smooth and glossy. 

Remove from heat.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Blend well.  Drop by teaspoonsful onto cookie sheets covered with parchment paper.  Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 10 minutes or until bottoms have just set.