PUMPKIN CRAISIN DROP COOKIES

For the most part November has been a good month so far. We have a couple of days of cold nights and cool days and then several days of normal or above normal temperatures. The tree have been prettier than I thought they were going to be. Maybe not as pretty as they have been in years past, but not too bad. We just didn't get the rain when we needed it. 

Last week we paid a neighbor's son to bag the leaves in the yard. This week we have been doing it ourselves. This Thursday the city will be coming though collecting bagged leaves. It isn't supposed to rain so Wayne put them out on the curb since he is having cataract surgery this week and won't be able to do much for a while.

I'm still enjoying making pumpkin recipes and saw this recipe from Betty Crocker and thought I would give it a try. I used sugar substitutes so was able to serve it as no-sugar-added treat since the dried cranberries have added no in the processing. They are so good. I did have some leftover so I am freezing them to bring out next Sunday. 

The cookie is a soft cookie with just the right amount of spice. 

 

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PUMPKIN CRAISIN DROP COOKIES

1/2     cup (1 stick) butter, softened (room temperature)

3/4     cup granulated sugar or stevia

3/4     cup packed brown sugar or brown sugar complete

2        eggs, beaten

1        can (15 ounces) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

2-1/2  cups flour

2-1/2  teaspoons baking powder

1        teaspoon baking soda

1        teaspoon salt

1        teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4     teaspoon ground allspice

1/4     teaspoon ground nutmeg

1        cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease cookie sheet or line with parchment paper. Set aside.

Mix butter and sugars in a large bowl with a wooden spoon until blended.

Mix in the eggs.

Stir in the pumpkin. 

Add the dry ingredients in another bowl with a whisk.

Slowly add the ingredients to the wet ingredients,

stirring to mix in before adding more.

Fold in the dried cranberries.

Drop dough using a tablespoon size cookie scoop about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet. 

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until set and golden. (I did bake mine for 12 minutes.)

Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Store in a sealed container with wax paper between layers.

Two of the maples in our back yard. One turned red and the other one turned yellow and not at the same time. I also didn't capture them at the peak time. I just enjoyed looking at them each morning when I woke up.

And the bags of leaves waiting for Thursday...

BARB'S CARROT BARS

 

I couldn't wait to get home to write up this recipe to share with you. I have never witnessed as much excitement over a cafe treat as there was over Barb's Carrot Bars. Word got out so quickly and I don't know how. People were coming to get one before I had everything out. Children with their parent just looked at them and said, "I want that one."

Barb made some Carrot Bars a few weeks ago and told me when she brought them that she had a different recipe that she liked better that she would make. I ate one of her bars and loved it and told her so. Everyone else loved them also.

I had forgotten she had a different recipe, but she sent me the recipe before she signed up on the sign up sheet and told me they were so much easier to make. Especially since she didn't have to grate any carrots. (What a chore!) What made this recipe so awesome was it used baby food. Yes. Baby food carrots!

I had a recipe long time ago that used baby food and for the life of me I can't remember what it was far. I do remember trying to find it a few years ago and had no luck. One night soon in the middle of the night I will wake up having remembered what the recipe was for. I won't remember the recipe, but if I could just remember what it made, I'm sure I could find a recipe for it. I will keep you posted.

Barb actually made 1-1/2 times the recipe and baked it in a 15 x 10 - inch jelly roll pan. If you have never done that, just take use what is called for and then add half of that amount too. (2 eggs would become 3 eggs, 1 cup of sugar would become 1-1/2 cups, etc) She did say that she made the frosting for the larger recipe like shown in the smaller recipe because she doesn't like thick frosting on them. It was plenty of frosting as far as I am concerned.

I asked her if she just used a wooden spoon but she said she used her hand mixer. Since it used, oil instead of butter, she felt using a spoon would work. I try to use my wooden spoon as much as I can whenever I can. 

I think the next time I'm off to the grocery store, I will be adding some baby food to my buggy (grocery cart). Hope you do, too.

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BARB'S CARROT BARS

2       eggs

1       cup sugar

2       jars carrots baby food

1       teaspoon vanilla

1-1/4 cups flour

1       teaspoon baking soda

1       teaspoon cinnamon

1/2    teaspoon salt

1/2    cup walnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan. Set aside.

Beat the eggs and then add the sugar and oil. 

Add carrots, vanilla, flour, and spices.

Mix in nuts, if using.

Pour batter into pan and bake until the center feels done, approximately 20 minutes.

Cool and frost with the following frosting.

FROSTING:

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar

3       oz cream cheese

1/4    cup margarine

1       teaspoon vanilla

Cream the margarine and cream cheese. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth.

JUNE'S FROSTED PUMPKIN COOKIES

 

I have to warn you. If you chose to make these cookies, you can't eat just one! I know. 

I always try to eat one of each treat the Cafe Treats Bakers make so I can honestly let you know how they tasted. I loved the spices, the orange juice I could taste in the cookie and the frosting, and the pumpkin. They are just the perfect little sweetness for this time of the year. I think you will agree with me if you try them.

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JUNE'S FROSTED PUMPKIN COOKIES

2-1/2     cups flour

1           tablespoon baking powder

1           teaspoon salt

1           cup pumpkin

1           teaspoon allspice

1           teaspoon cinnamon

1           teaspoon cloves

1           cup shortening

1-1/3     cups sugar

2           teaspoons orange juice

2           eggs

1           cup raisins (optional)

1/2 to 1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.

In a smaller bowl, mix together the pumpkin and spices. Set aside.

Cream together the shortening and sugar until creamy in a large mixing bowl.

Add the orange juice and beat in the eggs.

Blend in the pumpkin mixture.

Stir in the dry ingredients.

Add raisins and nuts, if using.

Drop by spoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 13 minutes.

Cool and then frost with a powdered sugar frosting. (June used some powdered sugar, a teaspoon butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 2 teaspoons of orange juice.)

CRANBERRY COTTAGE BREAD

 

I mentioned in an earlier post that October is Pastor Appreciation Month in the United Methodist Church. I usually find something to bake to give them to show my appreciation. Surprise! Surprise!

One of the loaves I made was NORMA'S CRANBERRY PUMPKIN BREADNorma's Cranberry Pumpkin Bread which I had made before and shared here on my blog. It came from a cookbook I have called Yolanda's All New Cranberry Cookbook by Yolanda Lodi. I ordered it online after getting back from a vacation on Cape Cod several years ago. I have made so many recipe from the cookbook and still have more I want to try. 

The second loaf recipe I made was my husband's favorite banana bread recipe called BANANA SPLIT BREAD. It really is a good banana bread recipe.

The third bread I decided to make was this Cranberry Cottage Bread which was also from Yolanda's cookbook. It uses dried cranberries whereas the first one uses fresh cranberries. The cottage referred to in the title is cottage cheese not a small cozy house. The recipe also surprises you with dried apricots. It is really a delicious quick bread also.

It isn't quite as quick as the other two because if you really want to make a tasty and beautiful loaf/slice, you really need to make sure that you finely chop the dried fruit. You want to make sure that the dried fruit is evenly distributed within the loaf. I was very meticulous in doing this and it probably took me 30 minutes to do both of them. The first time I made the recipe I measured the whole fruit and then chopped as the recipe implied by the placement of the words "finely chopped". The second time I decided to measure the fruit again after I finely chopped it and saw it was more than 1 cup. So I moved the "finely chopped" to before the fruit instead of afterwards in the recipe since the batter was a little easier to work with since the second time around, I had added less chopped fruit. 

(PRINT RECIPE)

CRANBERRY COTTAGE BREAD

1/2     cup (1 stick) butter, softened

2/3     cup dark-brown sugar (I just used light)

2        large eggs

1        cup cottage cheese

3        cups all-purpose flour

3        teaspoons baking powder

1        teaspoon baking soda

1/2     teaspoon salt

1        cup finely chopped dried apricots

1        cup finely chopped sweetened dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan or three mini-loaf pans. Set aside.

Finely chop the dried apricots and dried cranberries.

Set aside.

In a large bowl, with a mixer at low speed, cream the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy.

(I did increase the speed to medium once the mixture was blended to fully cream the mixture.)

Add one egg at a time, making sure the batter continues to be fluffy.

Stir in the cottage cheese until well blended.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt,

dried apricots and

dried cranberries.

Add to the large bowl. Mix with a spoon until the dry ingredients are moistened.

(Batter will be stiff and sticky.) (Since I made the recipe twice because I needed four mini-loaves, the second time I added the dry ingredients a little at a time and it was much easier to mix up.)

Divide the batter into the loaf pan(s). (I actually weighed my pans with the batter to make sure they were fairly evenly filled.)

(As I said the batter is stiff and sticky. You might want to moisten your finger tips with water or oil or flour.

I found a knife worked well too.)

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until the bread tests done for the one large loaf. Bake the mini loaves for about 40 minutes testing for doneness.

Cool on a wire rack.

(I removed the loaves after a few minutes.) 

PUMPKIN PUDDING DUMP CAKE

We changed back to standard time this weekend. I think I only heard negative comments about it. I personally wish we were just stay on standard time all year. When someone told me they wished it would stay DST, I asked her would she like for the sun to not come up until 8 A.M. and she said no that she wouldn't. Then I told her that's what would happen around March if we did. (I don't really remember which month it would happen, I don't remember exactly when the weatherman was sharing that bit of knowledge. In the summer here, the sun doesn't set until after 9 so that would be after 8 for standard time. That wouldn't be so bad. Anyway, I don't think anything is going to change anytime soon. I enjoyed getting my extra hour of sleep yesterday morning.

As is usual, I spent Saturday in my kitchen again baking. I made two different recipes for the Cafe Treats and I also made some "plain old" chocolate chip cookies that my MO gkids' godfather said he wanted for fresh eggs. I got fresh eggs as they cleaned the chicken house for me when I took them the cookies. I only got 17 because some chicken weren't interested that day, I guess.  Martin said he thought he liked bartering. HERE is the recipe I used for his cookies.

One of the recipes I made was the Fruity Oatmeal Bars that I have made before. Before I used a sugar-free jam/preserves but this time I used a cherry jam that didn't have a lot of added sugar and especially not high fructose corn syrup, but it meant they weren't sugar-free. They are so easy and taste really good. If you missed that recipe, HERE it is. 

The other recipe was a new one that I could make sugar-free by using a zero sugar yellow cake mix and a sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix. I dusted it with some powdered sugar alternative before I served it instead of using some zero sugar vanilla frosting. Either one would have worked. 

The cake is so moist and everyone that tried it really liked it. I heard some people recommending it to other (even though they didn't need sugar-free). It is also egg-free which is helpful for those people who have an egg allergy.

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PUMPKIN PUDDING DUMP CAKE

1      (4 serving size) instant vanilla pudding mix (I used sugar-free)

1-1/2 cups milk (I used skim milk)

1/2    cup canned pumpkin

2       teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1      yellow cake mix (I used a zero-sugar one)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

Combine the milk and pudding in a large mixing bowl and beat for 2 minutes until thick.

Add the pumpkin and spices. (I forgot the pumpkin pie spice until after I had added the cake mix, but next time I would add it before adding the cake mix so it can be blended better.)

Add the cake mix and

spices.

The batter will be thick.

Spoon into prepared pan and spread out evenly.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until cake tests done with a toothpick.

Cool in pan on wire rack.

If you like before you cut the cake into squares, you could frost with a cream cheese or vanilla frosting or just dust with powdered sugar.

I sifted a little powdered sugar alternative (by truvia) to keep it a sugar-free cake. 

JUNE'S CHOCOLATE CHIP OATMEAL COOKIES

 In case you need a break from pumpkin, I thought I would share Cafe Treats Baker June's recipe for Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. I certainly did enjoy them when she brought them a couple of weeks ago and so did our patrons at the Cafe at Platte Woods United Methodist Church. There were none left after the 11:00 service for me to save for another Sunday. I did manage to eat one between services before they were all taken so I know how good they were.

The oats are a nice addition to give the cookies a nutty taste. The Cafe Treats is a nut-free zone so most of the time the Bakers just omit them in recipes, but this recipe didn't call for any. Because of the oats though, I didn't miss that there were no nuts in the cookie.

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JUNE'S CHOCOLATE CHIP OATMEAL COOKIES

1/2     cup butter or margarine

6        tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar

6        tablespoons granulated sugar

3/4     teaspoon vanilla

1        egg

3/4     cup sifted all-purpose flour

1/2     teaspoon baking soda

1/2     teaspoon salt

1        cup old fashioned oats

1        6 - oz package (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate pieces

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Set aside.

Beat butter, sugars, and vanilla together until creamy. Beat in egg.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture; mix well.

Stir in oats and chocolate pieces.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls and space 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes.

Cool on wire rack.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.