Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Last night we had dreaded left-overs for dinner. I h.a.t.e left-overs. I have been trying to be better about eating them because, "waist not, want not" right? I had dreams of making something delicious. Something that would leave the whole house smelling wonderful for the rest of the night. Something that would make my husband fall in love all over. But alas, I pulled out the left over stir-fry and rice. Yum. So to make up for my lack of a mind blowing dinner, I made these little devils for dessert! I got the recipe here.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling

Makes 12-14

3 cups AP Flour

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 - 15 oz. can of pumpkin

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream Cheese Filling

1 - 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened

1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature

1 - 16 oz. package of powdered sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

a pinch of cinnamon (to taste)

Beat together brown sugar, sugar, oil and pumpkin.

Add eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition,
followed by the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, shift together the dry ingredients.


Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.

Using a pastry bag with a round tip, or a big zip top plastic bag with one corner snipped, squeeze out concentric circles of batter, starting from the middle and working outward until the circles are about 2 inches in diameter.

Bake for 11 minutes and cool on a rack.

Beat together cream cheese and butter. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Frost flat side of half the pies and top with another piece.

Enjoy right away or chill overnight.

*I halved the recipe and it still made 14 pies.*

Key Lime Pie

I got this recipe from a "culinary mystery" novel written by Josi Kilpack. (See her book here . See all the recipes from this book here .)

KEY LIME PIE

4 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 tbsp. grated lime zest
1/2 tsp. salt
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 egg yolk
1/2 c. fresh lime juice (about 4 limes; if using key limes, use about 1/3 c. juice and add more to taste)
whipped cream (for garnish)
sliced limes (for garnish)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Using electric beaters, mix cream cheese, lime zest, and salt until creamy. Add sweetened condensed milk and mix until incorporated. Add egg yolk, mix until combined. Add lime juice and stir until well blended. Mixture will thicken slightly. Pour filling into your choice of prepared crust (a recipe for a crust using animal crackers is given in the book, see link for recipe above) and bake until set, about 20 - 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours before serving. Garnish with whipped cream and slice limes.
Serves 8.

Note: Key lime pie is not naturally green. Most recipes call for a couple of drops of green food coloring to the mixture before pouring into crust.

Cinnamon Honey Butter

I found a recipe here for Cinnamon Honey Butter the other day to put on scones. I tried it and fell in love. That love grew when I decided to try it on pancakes last night for brinner! (breakfast for dinner-get it ;-)) It was most excellent! Make some. Make some right now. Make some right now and LOVE it.


Cinnamon Honey Butter
Makes approximately 1 cup

1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until smooth. Store in the refrigerator.

Soup Night

Yesterday was for sure one of those days/nights. It rained and was windy and cold all day. Just stepping outside made me wish I had a never ending cup of hot coco attached to my hand. It was inevitable that it had to be a hot coco and soup night. So even though hubby and I didn't get home until almost 9pm, I put water in the kettle (yes, I have one and yes, I love using it) for coco and threw the ingredients for this amazing soup into the pot. Then I changed into sweats and my slippers and cozyed up with my soup and coco.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
      1 Tablespoon olive oil
      1 yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed chicken broth

1 1/4 cups water

1 Cup whole corn kernels, cooked

1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces (You can substitute a 12oz. can of chicken.)

Crushed tortilla chips

Sliced avocado

Shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Chopped green onions

In a medium stock pot, heat oil over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic in oil until soft. Stir in chili powder, oregano, tomatoes, broth, and water. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir in corn, chiles, beans, cilantro, and chicken. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Ladle soup into individual serving bowls, and top with crushed tortilla chips, avocado slices, cheese, chopped green onion, and sour cream.

Chewy Peanut Butter Snickers Cookies

I have really developed a love for cooking/baking over the last little while and if I were home more, I would spend a lot more time doing it. As it is, I made these cookies at 9pm one night just because I couldn't stand it any more. And then I spent the next few days devouring them. I adapted this recipe from here.

Chewy Peanut Butter Snickers Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
20 mini snickers candy bars cut into small chunks

1 - Preheat oven to 375 F
2 - Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars until smooth.
3 - Beat in 1 egg at a time
4 - Mix in water, corn syrup & vanilla
5 - Add flour, baking soda & salt and mix until just combined
6 - Fold in the snickers chunks
7 - Form dough into balls using approximately 1 1/2 tablespoons dough per ball
8 - Bake for 12-14 minutes or until edges are golden

9- Allow cookies to cool a few minutes before removing to cooling racks