'Tis the season for pumpkin

Last year I heard that a pumpkin shortage was coming in the future...so I stocked up and I'm really glad I did because the price of pumpkin this year is double what I paid last year.  Sure, there's pumpkin out there, I'm just not sure I'd be willing to pay almost $3 a can for it!  Now I'm really glad I have it because I've been craving pumpkin goodies and after my cookie disaster of a couple weeks ago I am feeling the need to redeem myself in the cookie making department.
I don't care so much for the store bought pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (although my family loves them) but the homemade kind are heavenly.  They are especially good slathered with cream cheese frosting (hey, you're eating cookies...who's counting calories?)  This recipe is really a good one and it makes about 7 dozen cookies.  I suppose you could cut the recipe in half, but then you'd blink and the cookies would be gone. I prefer these cookies cold so the chocolate chips are crunchy.

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
3 cups canned pumpkin (this is just shy of a 29 oz. can so you need to measure)
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
4 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon milk
2 Tablespoons vanilla
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips (that's 2 full bags--and yes, it's a lot but you're going to have to trust me that if you cut it in half you'll be sorry)

Combine pumpkin, sugar, butter and eggs and mix well (for some reason, the butter sometimes goes chunky in this mixture but it all works out in the end so just mix it the best you can and move on)  In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and add to the wet mixture, along with the vanilla.  Add the flour mixture and mix well.  Add the chocolate chips (you can also add a cup of chopped nuts if you want, but I'm not a fan).
Using a paper towel, rub a baking sheet with butter to grease it. (I tried cooking spray but it doesn't work as well and gives the cookies a flavor)  Drop batter onto the greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 12-16 minutes or until FIRM (poke them with your finger to check for doneness-if they're jiggly they aren't done.  Mine took 16 minutes exactly)  Let them cool on the pan for about 10 minutes before removing. Re-grease your cookie sheet between batches to ensure that the cookies don't stick.

A Cookie Boo Boo

I never professed to be a professional baker, but I do tend to do okay most of the time.  Unfortunately today was one of those "doh!" moments when I was making mistake after mistake.  I think someone was telling me I wasn't supposed to be making or eating cookies.

Here's the dough...

Here's the balls of dough waiting to be baked...

To look at them, you might not guess there is anything wrong, but you're just going to have to trust me that this is NOT the way they are supposed to be.  First of all, these are NOT chocolate chip cookies, even though it looks that way.  Secondly, that dough is supposed to be dark brown...as in, chocolate.  So what did I do wrong, you ask?
Well... it all started innocently with me wanting to make some of my FAVORITE COOKIES EVER...cookies that I haven't made in a long time.  The recipe calls for a whole cup of cocoa, which I didn't have...but I did have baker's chocolate.  So I substituted it.  It was a great idea until I added the melted chocolate to the nice, cold, dough and it all set up before getting mixed in properly.  Hence the look of chocolate chips... But by then the dough was made so I figured I might as well continue and see how they turned out. By the way, after all was said and done I realized I left out the HOT water completely...which might have made all the difference... *sigh*
The cookies seemed to bake okay, but they weren't fluffy like they were supposed to be.  Then, when I tried to remove them from the pan they were all sticking.  That's when I looked back at my measurements and realized I had only put in half as much shortening and baking soda as I was supposed to.  Oops.  So for the next batch I sprayed the pan.  Not a good plan...as that batch spread all over the baking sheet and turned into thin, crispy biscuits.  Ugh.  But the fun was still not over...
Next came the filling....and SURPRISE!  I didn't have enough butter OR shortening to make a full batch, so I had to cut it in half.  I guess this was just as well, since the cookies had become thin little disks anyway.
So, when all was said and done, they are still good.  They look weird, but they taste okay.  They should be poofy little cakes filled with delicious creamy goodness. (Technically, they are supposed to look and taste a little like a Suzy Q (only a TON better) and instead they look a little more like bakery rejects.)  I'm putting the actual correct recipe on here... and you're just going to have to trust me that they're delicious because normally they are.  I'm including the picture of my finished cookies...just ignore it and know if they look like this then you, too, have screwed them up! Someday when I make them again I will come back and add a better picture.

WHOOPIE PIES
2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup cocoa
1 cup HOT water
2 eggs
1 cup milk
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda

Cream sugar and shortening.  Add eggs, milk and vanilla and mix well.  Stir together flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda.  Add to mixture.  Mix in hot water.  Drop by heaping teaspoonful onto an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

FILLING
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup shortening
6 cups powdered sugar
6-7 Tablespoons milk

Cream butter and shortening, then add vanilla and sugar and beat vigorously.  Add milk one tablespoon at a time until frosting has a creamy consistency.  Frost cookies generously and sandwich them.
 

Improvised Cookies

I was looking to make some brownies or cookies the other day and found myself curiously lacking in some key ingredients (with all my food storage how is that POSSIBLE?!)  It seemed like every recipe I pulled out I was missing something...so I decided to just improvise and make some cookies.  They turned out really good and luckily I was jotting down notes as I went along so I would know what I did in case I wanted to make them again.  

CHOCOLATE CHUNK PUDDING COOKIES

2 1/2 cubes buter (not margarine)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 Tbsp. vanilla (no, that is not a typo)

2 cups flour

2 cups oat flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 lrg. package Cookies N Cream Instant pudding mix

12-oz. package semi sweet chocolate chunks

1/2  12-oz package milk chocolate chips, finely chopped

 

(If you don't have oat flour, you can grind oatmeal in a blender until it is a fine powder.)

Cream butter and sugars.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.  Add pudding mix, flour, oat flour, salt, baking powder and soda.  Stir in chocolate chunks and chopped milk chocolate (the more finely chopped the better).  Roll into balls and bake for 12 minutes at 375F.  Makes about 5 dozen cookies. 

Now, hurry and eat them all while they're still warm.  You'll be glad you did.