Halloween Cookies- Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Posted on October 31, 2016 by jacky grace

I love fall. I love the weather turning chilly. I love sweaters. I love changing leaves. I love cinnamon. And I love pumpkin.

I was thinking about cinnamon which led me to thinking about snickerdoodles. (recipe here). I really associate those cookies with Christmas, though, so I started thinking about how to fallify them. And landed on pumpkin.

So, here are my pumpkin snickerdoodles.

For this recipe you will need:

2 sticks salted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
plus more cinnamon and sugar for rolling

This dough is really easy to make. Just keep in mind it needs to be refrigerated for 1 hour before you roll and bake your cookies.

To make the dough, start by creaming two sticks of butter.

When the butter is fluffy, add sugar, brown sugar, pumpkin, vanilla and egg and stir to combine.

In a separate bowl, mix your remaining ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon) and slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet.

Stir until combined

At this point, the dough needs to go into the fridge for at least one hour.

…Time lapse…

Preheat the oven to 350, grease two cookie sheets and take your dough out of the fridge. in a small bowl, mix together cinnamon and sugar. I tend to a 2:1 sugar : cinnamon ration, but mix to your taste.

Let’s start making cookies! I made roughly ping pong size balls of dough and wound up with 6 dozen cookies.

Roll the dough into a ball

Roll the dough ball into the cinnamon and sugar and place on the cookie sheet.

When your cookie sheet is full, lightly press down on the dough balls to flatten them. These cookies don’t spread, so flattening them is necessary.

Bake at 350 for 11-13 minutes.

The best part? The house smells like pumpkin pie. The bestest part? You get to eat cookies that taste like pumpkin pie. And who doesn’t love a cookie?

And the bestest bestest part? You’ll have 72 cookies to share with friends or coworkers.

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

Posted on September 15, 2015 by jacky grace

There is a hint of a chill in the air here. The mornings start out crisp. The sky is a clear turquoise blue. Summer fruits no longer abound on grocery store shelves.

Fall is coming.

Fall is a warm mug of tea, a hint of cinnamon in the air and pumpkins.

These muffins packed with pumpkin, oatmeal and cinnamon give you something to accompany that mug of tea.

No all you need is a good book.

For the muffins:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup old-fashioned oats

Preheat the oven to 375 and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. I got 12 muffins out of this recipe.

In one bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

In another bowl, mix the egg, pumpkin, milk and oil.

Add the wet to the dry.

Stir until combined.

Then add in the oats

And stir until combined.

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake liners.

And bake for about 15 minutes. The house will smell like pumpkin pie. Is there anything better?

Pumpkin Bread

Posted on November 20, 2013 by jacky grace

Bread is my weakness.

In the fall, pumpkin is my kryptonite.

Combine the two and I am utterly defenseless.

I found this recipe perusing the blogosphere. I landed on My Baking Addiction’s site and was instantly smitten with this recipe. Her original is here. I made one slight tweak to the amount of sugar in mine. Also, instead of making two loaf pans of pumpkin bread, I made one 9×9 pan of pumpkin bread. The Itty Bitty City Kitchen does not have room in cupboards for two loaf pans.

But that goes to show you, baking isn’t something that needs to be 100% precise. You can play a bit. Adjust the sugar if you don’t like things too sweet. Or add in some mix-ins to a plain recipe. My future mother-in-law said that this would be great with walnuts mixed in. I bet chocolate chips could make this more dessert like for the chocoholics.

Oh. Also. This recipe is awesome because it’s simple. My fiance even made it all by himself. I wasn’t there, but I hear it was a highly entertaining experience. Though I can’t say his mom’s kitchen will ever be the same.

For the pumpkin bread you will need

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon allspice

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease your pan(s).

In a large bowl or in a food processor (if you want to cheat, sorry meme, I was in a rush!) mix the pumpkin, oil, water, eggs, vanilla and sugar.

In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice and ground ginger.

Add the pumpkin mix to the dry ingredients and stir really well to combine.

Pour the batter into your greased pan(s)

Bake at 350 for about an hour.

Enjoy the smells of pumpkin and cinnamon filling your kitchen.

Allow to cool slightly (I say slightly because I’m impatient and I’m sure you are too. Or if you’re not, I’m going to pretend that you are so I don’t feel alone), slice and enjoy with a spicy chai latte or some good strong coffee.

Pumpkin Pie

Posted on October 22, 2013 by jacky grace

I have never made pumpkin pie before and I figured now is as good as time as any to give it a go.

I looked up a couple recipes and took ideas from them all to come up with this variation.

The key to this recipe is my grandma’s pie crust. Check out the recipe here.

But go ahead, use any pie crust you want.

Then make it again with her crust.

I promise you will taste the difference.

So the filling.

I should say, one of the main reasons for making pumpkin pie, besides it being fall and pumpkin pie being amazing, is that I got a fancy new toy and was dying to try it. My beach godmother sent me a new Cuisinart as an engagement gift. It needed to be christened. Christenings should always involve pie.

So for the filling you will need:

1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup whole milk
1 and 1/4 cups heavy cream
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon allspice

Ready for two step pie making?

All of the ingredients go in the Cuisinart.

The blended ingredients go in the pie crust. The pie gets baked at 350 for 50 – 60 minutes.

The pie gets sliced and eaten.

I’m probably going to have to make it a few times. You know, to make sure it’s perfect for Thanksgiving…

Butternut Squash Soup

Posted on September 10, 2013 by poulosc

See that. That right there is Fall.

Corn on the cob roasting on a grill, the smell wafting down 3rd avenue as you stroll down the street, checking out the jewelry, food and weird stuff on display at a street fair.

I love New York Street Fairs. Great people watching, great fun finds, and, of course, great food smells. Sausage and peppers, kettle corn, gyros, and that tinge of fall in the air. Here’s a schedule of street fairs.

Walking the street fair on Saturday and feeling that tinge of a chill when the sun started to set had me thinking fall.

And when I think fall, I think butternut squash.

This time, in soup form.

Soup itself is such a fall food. Making a soup out of such a great fall vegetable just has me ready for scarves and sweaters and tights! I’m a sucker for tights and boots.

This is a ridiculously easy recipe and it’s a great make ahead too.

You will need 1 butternut squash, 1/2 a white onion, 2 cloves of garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and vegetable stock.

Start by roasting the squash like we did when we made the pasta sauce.

Let the squash cool completely, then scoop out the flesh into a large pot. Add the onion, chopped roughly, and two cloves of garlic peeled and halved. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium, stirring so that the onions and garlic brown a bit.

Add enough vegetable broth to cover the vegetables and simmer covered until everything has softened. You can use chicken broth, too, but I wanted to keep this vegetarian.

Puree the soup with a blender or immersion blender. For a little bit of that je ne sais quoi that will have people wondering what you could have possibly put in this soup, add a sprinkle of all spice. It adds a nice complexity of flavors and a touch of warmth that is perfect for cooler fall nights.

Ladle up big bowls and top with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

This has me wanting pumpkin spice candles and cinnamon cookies.

Itty Bitty City Kitchen

tiny kitchen, BIG CULINARY ASPIRATIONS

Tag Archives: fall

Halloween Cookies- Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Pie

Butternut Squash Soup