Friday, November 27, 2009

Pumpkin Cookies


First mix 2 1/2 Cups of flour


1 t baking powder


1 t baking soda


2 t of ground cinnamon


1/2 ground nutmeg


1/2 t ground cloves


1/2 t salt
Then mix all together and set aside


In a bowl add 1 1/2 Cups of sugar


and 1/2 C of softened butter (softened not melted...I let mine go too long in the microwave)


Cream together with a mixer


Add 1 Cup of canned pumpkin puree and 1 egg


1 t vanilla and mix together and beat until creamy


Then add the dry ingredients


Mix together until dry ingredients are mixed through


Drop onto cookie sheet by the spoonful
Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes
After the first batch I rounded them into balls and flattened them out a bit on the sheet and they looked better that way.

THE ICING:


2 Cups of powdered sugar


1 t vanilla


1 T melted butter


2 T of milk and mix together. Add more milk if needed


Drizzle icing over cookies


Dust with cinnamon if desired


I love the pumpkin cookies at City Bites and had heard these were similar. They were good, and were more cake-like than cookie. Next time I will make them with cream cheese icing like they have a city bites. Enjoy!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Roasted Potatoes

Preheat the oven to 425.

All you need is: 1 envelope of onion soup mix, 4 potatoes, and 1/3 C of olive oil.


This is the soup mix I use. Chop up your potatoes and toss with the dry soup mix and olive oil.


Turn occasionally throughout the cook time. Cook for 35-40 minutes, or until tender and golden brown. Very Good!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Crockpot Chicken

This one is so easy:


Place onions, garlic, and lemons in the bottom of your crockpot. (Or celery, potatoes, carrots, anything you like).


Take a whole chicken and rinse in water. (I bought the kind of chicken that already has the inside parts taken out. Otherwise, you would need to fish those out at this time.) Cover the chicken with seasoned salt.


Place breast down over the veggies. Cover and cook on low or high depending how long you will have it in there. I left this while I was at work all day so I put it on the low- 10 hour setting.


When I came home this is what it looked like. Mmm Mmm! You can save the broth to have chicken broth on hand.


Cut and serve.


The chicken was tender, but not really flavorful. I may add more lemons and seasoned salt next time. I will definitely make this again. Depending on how big your family is, you can use the left overs in tacos, enchiladas, sandwiches, salad, or soup.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Molten Chocolate Cakes

Preheat the oven to 450

1 Cup of unsalted butter


8 oz of semisweet chocolate


Melt butter in a medium heat-proof bowl over simmering water


Stir together and remove from heat when completely melted together


In another bowl mix 5 eggs


1/2 cup of sugar and a pinch of salt



Beat together with a hand mixer until the sugar dissolves


Add egg mixture to the chocolate mixture and beat together until smooth


Add in 4 T of flour and beat together just until combined.


You can use 8 ramekins or 8 extra large muffin papers placed in muffin tins. Spray each with cooking spray.


Divide batter evenly between the ramekins or muffin cups. Bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes. Bake until the batter puffs, but the center is not set. Pull papers away or run a knife around cake in the ramekin. Transfer to a desert plate.


Dust with powdered sugar, and serve with strawberries, raspberries, whipped cream, ice cream...


Or just milk!
The great thing about this recipe is you can make the batter up to 6 hours before you plan to serve it and put it in the ramekins in the refrigerator. Just allow to warm to room temperature before baking.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie


First you need 3 eggs and 3/4 C of white sugar


Mix together


Add 3/4 C of light corn syrup


add 1/4 C of melted butter and 2 t of vanilla


Mix together well until all ingredients are combined


(For the crust, I used the pie crust recipe in the post below this.) In the shell of the crust, place 1 C of semisweet chocolate chips and 3/4 C of chopped pecans.


Pour the filling over the top


Until it covers the chocolate chips and pecans


Bake in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes.


I don't really like pecan pie, but I really liked this pie! MMmm mm!