Saturday, October 22, 2011

Saturday

It's Saturday morning and I'm doing a little baking. Nothing exciting, just regular chocolate chip cookies. I'm baking them for the Fire Department supper tonight. My friend, Elizabeth, asked me if I wanted to contribute a dessert for them to sell and I decided on chocolate chip cookies because who doesn't like those?? : ) Well, I finally uploaded some pictures to my computer last night so I can post pictures of the pumpkin dessert I made.


I made a pumpkin cake with apple cider glaze. It didn't turn out very pretty (as all my recipes haha) but it tasted good & didn't last around the house very long. :)

Two-Ingredient Pumpkin Cake with Apple Cider Glaze
For the Cake:
1 Yellow Cake Mix
1 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree
For the Glaze:1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons apple cider
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Empty the contents of the boxed cake mix and pumpkin puree into a large bowl.  Using a hand-mixer or stand mixer beat until well incorporated.  The batter will be very thick, but will come together nicely.

Pour batter into a greased  7 x 11 X 2 pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Do not over bake.

Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan, then flip onto a platter.

Make the glaze while you're waiting.

Combine powdered sugar, apple cider and pumpkin pie spice.  Glaze should be thick but pourable.  Add more sugar or cider if needed.  Pour over the cake while still warm.  Reserve some to pour over each slice when served.

Serve warm or room temperature.






Not very good presentation, but you get the idea lol 


 I also made some cute Halloween cookies for work. It was from a simple recipe for sugar cookies, but you replace some of the flour with cocoa. 




Chocolate Candy Corn Cookies
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft
  • 1/2 c sugar
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 c all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 c unsweetened cocoa
  • About 36 candy corns
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat/stir the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until combined. Stir in the egg yolk, vanilla, baking powder, and salt. Add flour & cocoa, and mix until a dough forms.


Scoop out
level teaspoons (a measuring teaspoon, not a cereal teaspoon) of dough, and place balls on baking sheets, 2 inches apart. (It looks like too little dough for each cookie, but it works.) Roll into balls.

Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are firm and cookies are dry to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes.


While these are baking, start going through the bag of candy corn to find 36 good ones.


Remove from oven; gently press a candy corn into center of each cookie (surface of cookies may crack slightly). The candy corns will stick once the cookies heat them up..they seem like they will fall off at first, don't worry.

Cool on sheets 1 minute; transfer to a rack to cool completely.


Make 32-36 cookies.



Don't you love how I try to make it a cute picture with the pumpkin & I don't even clean up my mess in the background lol

I made a bunch of these cookies, but took the picture before they were all done because I figured I'd forget.      



So, back to the simple chocolate chip cookies......totally burned the first batch! lol. I put them on the bottom rack without thinking about...so now working on the second batch. Hopefully these turn out better!