Pumpkin Bars

 
I'm not a huge pumpkin fan, but I do love me some pumpkin bars. These are especially tasty and super easy to make!  Thanks for the recipe, Cheri!  I also wanted to note that these can be completely dairy free if you buy dairy free frosting at the store to frost them - AWESOME!

Ingredients

4 eggs

1 2/3 c. sugar

1 c. canola oil

1 (15 oz) can of pumpkin

2 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda

Frosting

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 c. butter

1 t. vanilla

3-4 c. powdered sugar

Directions

1. In a mixer bowl beat together eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy.
2. Stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda.
3. Add to pumpkin mixture and mix thoroughly.
4. Spread batter into ungreased 15 X 10 X 1 inch pan.
5. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.
6. As it cools make the frosting. 

Frosting

1. Cream together cream cheese and butter.
2. Mix in vanilla.
3. Add powdered sugar a little bit at a time beating it well until smooth.
4. Frost bars when completely cooled.

Turkey Treats

Okay, so how cute are these?!?!?!? I found them through pinterest. They originally were suppose to stand up, but I decided that was too much work and they are totally cute just like this. I think everyone will be thrilled to see these on turkey-day! I tried 2 different kinds of cookie frosting. Wilton's cookie frosting was much to thin and not suitable at all for this, but the Betty Crocker cookie frosting seemed to work great. I'm sure it's easy to make a nice cookie frosting that is thick and will harden up, but as I had surgery earlier today, I opted for EASY! To make these, you need fudge striped cookies, candy corn, peanut butter cups, nutter butter cookies, mini brown m&m's, red and yellow jelly belly's. The yellow jelly belly's need to have the tip cut off so they stick out nice for a nose. Other than that, once the frosting dried it was all stuck together like glue. Totally can't wait to show these off at Thanksgiving! Thanks for the extra hand, Allison!

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Brandon's preference is to have coconut bittersweet chocolate cookies. For that, I put in a 4 oz bar of Ghirdelli bittersweet chocolate cut into chunks and 1c. coconut instead of the 1-2 cups chips.   Also, any kind of chip works well. I really prefer white chocolate chips. You can also add nuts if you want, they are tasty with some macadamia nuts.  This batch was made with a 4 oz bar of Ghirdelli semi-sweet chocolate 

This recipe is also really easy and seem to turn out better if you just mix them up by hand instead of using the mixer. They freeze really well and when we want one, we pull one out of the freezer and microwave it on 50% power for like 30 seconds and they are as good as coming out of the oven. YUM!

Ingredients

2 1/8 c. all-purpose flour (~ 10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
12 T. butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly
1 c. brown sugar  (7 ounces)
1/2 c. sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 t. vanilla extract
1 - 2 c. chocolate chips or chunks (semi or bittersweet)


Directions

1. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions.  Heat oven to 325 degrees. 
2. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
   By hand, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended.
3. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla.
4. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined.
5. Stir in chips.
   Using 3 T. cookie scoop, scoop dough into ball. Holding dough ball using fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Rotate halves ninety degrees and, with jagged surfaces exposed, join halves together at their base, again forming a single cookie, being careful not to smooth dough’s uneven surface.
6. Place formed dough onto one of two parchment paper-lined (or use silicone baking mat) jellyroll pans, about nine dough balls per sheet. (Dough can be refrigerated up to 2 days or frozen up to 1 month—shaped or not.)
    Bake, rotating cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes(start checking at 13 minutes). (Frozen dough requires an extra 1 to 2 minutes baking time.)
7. Cool cookies on cookie sheets.
8. Serve or store in airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.