Pumpkin White Chocolate Cookies

I have been searching for a pumpkin cookie recipe that actually turns out like a cookie instead of a cake/cookie.  This is it! And with white chocolate chips to boot.  Thank you Food.com.  The real test was in my family of taste testers...they all went back for more.  Definitely a keeper.  I used fresh pumpkin in my version, but you can used canned.  To use fresh, bake the pumpkin like a squash and let cool before incorporating it.

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups white chocolate chips

Pre-heat the oven to 300*.  In a medium bowl mix together the flour, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda and set aside.  In a large bowl beat the butter and brown sugar together.  Mix in the pumpkin, eggs and vanilla.  Slowly add the flour mixture.  Finally, mix in the white chocolate chips.  Drop by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet (sprayed with non-stick cooking spray).  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Makes 4 dozen.

Pumpkin Pie Spice

I wanted to make pumpkin white chocolate chip cookies today.  I was so excited about it until I read that the recipe called for pumpkin pie spice.  Seriously, that is one of those ingredients that I never buy because I don't need it often.  I usually just need a tsp or so once or twice a year.  So, I did a little googling on Food.com (one of my go to sites for recipes) and I found this.  It doesn't make a lot, just enough for what you need.  Mix the following together and store in an airtight container. 

• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

As I was searching my cookie recipes last night, I couldn't believe that I hadn't posted this recipe before.  These cookies are THE cookie around our house.  If we are going to make cookies, these are the ones we make.  I have a fond attachment to them and joke that this is the cookie that hooked Jonathan to me for life, as I would send them to him in college care packages when we were dating.
Needless to say they are fantastically delcious and don't last long in our home.  They are based on an old Mrs. Field's recipe, using a few of my own adjustments.  Enjoy!

2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup salted butter, softened (the trick to a really good cookie is using real butter, not margarine)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup mashed banana (about 1 banana)
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 300*F.  In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking soda and salt - set aside.  In a large bowl blend the sugars together.  Add butter and mix to make a grainy paste.  Add the egg, vanilla, and banana and mix.  Add the flour mixture and the chocolate chips.  Blend until combined - don't over mix.  Drop by tablespoons onto a cookie sheet (sprayed with non-stick cooking spray).  Bake 20-25 minutes.  Transfer to a cool surface to cool down.  Enjoy with a glass of milk on the side!

Curry Squash Soup

I'm terrible at getting bowls of soup to look good in pictures. It just doesn't happen for me. So just the drawing today, but trust me, this soup is good! I make this soup at random in the sense that I just make it, I don't really take the time to measure out stuff, so the measurements are by what I think they are as opposed to really measuring it out. I love this soup for fall when squash is out at the markets. I only just realised that I've never blogged this recipe before. It is one of my staples. This time I made it, I used a buttercup squash (which is in season right now) - I've also used butternut with this recipe.

1 tbsp butter or margarine
1 onion, diced
1 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
1 tbsp or so curry powder (you can use less depending on your curry preference)
1 squash cut into chunks - (about 6 cups?)
4 cups chicken stock (enough to cover squash)
1 tsp or so chicken bouillon a dash of salt

Over med-low heat, melt the butter in a soup pot. Add the ginger and onion and saute until they are softened. Add the curry powder in. Add in the squash and the chicken stock. Make sure there is enough liquid to cover the squash. Raise the heat up to med-high to boiling. Lower heat again to simmer to allow the squash to cook and soften. Use an immersion blender to puree everything together. Taste and add bouillon and salt for flavor. Mix in. This makes a lot of soup. It's good to freeze to save for future meals or in individual packets for lunches.

BBQ Corn

Foodie admission of the week. When I see people shucking their corn into the bins at the grocery store, it takes all that I have in me not to shout at them, "Stop! What are you doing? Don't you know the best way to cook corn requires the husks to still be on?!!". So far I've been restrained. This past grocery trip my 4 year old son was not as restrained. We bumped into an acquaintance who was shucking her corn as we were just bagging our unshucked to go. My 4 year old asked her, "Why are you doing that? We cook ours with the green stuff on." She looked at me in question for confirmation which led to the explanation of BBQ-ing corn. For some reason I just assumed that everyone knows about this, so I never blogged about it. But apparently everyone does not know about this, so here is the brief as I can be explanation. Put your BBQ heat to med-low. Put the corn (still in the husks) onto the grill. BBQ for 10-15 minutes, turning every so often. The greens will get dark brown and blackened. Then shuck it. You can stop there and eat, or, you can put the shucked, cooked corn back on the BBQ for a little browning of the corn. Both are delicious. Like really fantastically delicious. As in since we discovered this we have never boiled our corn on the cob again, ever! Enjoy.

Cake Balls

These big lumps are not balls of play-do. These are for lack of a better term 'Cake Ball". Kind of like Cake Pops without the lollipop stick. I made them for my son's class at the end of the school year for his birthday. (You can tell, I'm way behind at blog posting recipes over here!). The long and the short of it is that this is what I did with a bunch of frozen leftover cake (cast offs from birthday cake molding) and leftover fondant from my other son's Mickey Mouse Cake, also frozen. The kids enjoyed them and I would make them again. Very sweet and very good! This recipe is really random in not having measured ingredients, here's my best guess. 1 cake or the equivalent in leftover cake (I used about 4 cups of cake?) 1 block of cream cheese (250ml or 1 cup) - softened 1 tbsp milk marshmallow fondant (recipe here) Tear the cake into pieces and place into a large bowl. Mix with the softened cream cheese and milk. You can use your hands to really squish and blend everything in. Take bits of the cake mixture and roll into balls. Place onto a baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and place into a freezer overnight. The next day, roll out the fondant. Cut into strips, larger than the width of your cake balls. Place cake ball on the the end of a strip and roll up to cover with the fondant. Use your fingers to make edges meet and smooth out the surface. Keep cold until ready to serve.

Canada Day Strawberry Shortcake

Isn't that cute?  This is the second time I've used this recipe.  I found it on food.com.  The first time I made it using her directions.  This time I made my own little changes and decorated it to look like our flag. The cake part is more like a sweet biscuit than a traditional strawberry shortcake cake.  You can make this and leave the cake as is, putting whipped cream and strawberries over all of it.  Or, you can slice into two cakes, layering it with cake, whipped cream and strawberries, cake whipped cream and strawberries.  Both ways are yummy.

1 beaten egg 
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup Splenda or sugar 
1/2 cup butter, softened (real butter is so much better than margarine in baking)
2 cups flour 
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup whipping cream, whipped (I usually add a tbsp of sugar to sweeten it a bit)
sliced strawberries (as many as needed)

Preheat the oven to 450*.  In a medium sized mixing bowl beat the egg.  Add the milk and sugar and mix together.  Whip in the butter.  Add the flour and baking powder.  Mix well.  Using your hands kneed the dough for a minute.  Bake in a 9 x 9 inch pan for 15-20 minutes.  Cool.  Remove from pan.  From here you can either decorate it with the whipped cream and strawberries, or, slice it into two, then layering the cake, whipped cream and strawberries.  Enjoy!