Yesterday I got a baking bug and made another Caramel Apple Cheesecake and another Gingersnap Pumpkin Pie.   Our family is in nummy-love with those two desserts, I think.  And the kids just discovered how easy it is to make the homemade caramel.  I have a feeling I am going to have to stock up on sweetened condensed milk, butter, and brown sugar now!! 

The recipe for the gingersnap pumpkin pie calls for just one-half cup of canned pumpkin.  In my last stock-up of pumpkin, I had only bought the large 15-oz cans.  So, that left me with LOTS of pumpkin left-over.  I needed something to use up the rest of that.   Enter my daughter, who saw me baking and immediately wanted to bake, too.  I told her that we had all of this pumpkin left-over, so maybe we could find a pumpkin cookie recipe.  She eagerly agreed, so I hunted and found this one.

Well, my daughter wound up finding some unused clay while I was looking, so her baking bug left her for clay works.  I wound up making them myself.  But she thoroughly enjoyed them nonetheless- enough for me to go ahead and offer them up here!  They came out very cake-like, with a smooth pumpkin-pieish flavor to them. 

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 can (15 oz) solid-pack pumpkin (mine was missing 1/2 a cup, but it didn't affect it any)
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups chocolate chips (I used about half that, since I don't like a lot of chocolate chips)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375*F.  Lightly spray cookie sheet(s) with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl combine all ingredients but the chocolate chips.  Beat on medium speed until well mixed.  Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Drop by tablespoon onto prepared cookie sheet.  Bake for about 13-15 minutes or until edges begin to brown.  Cool for 2 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack. 

  Another dessert item I decided to take with me for Thanksgiving were these little cookies.  Okay, they really aren't little, but they sounded interesting none-the-less.  I needed to use up that big ol' can of pumpkin I had opened, and who doesn't like snickerdoodles? 

Ingredients:

for cookies:
1 cup butter, softened
1&1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2&3/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons cinnamon and 3 teaspoons sugar (can be white or brown) mixed together for rolling.


for filling:
8oz cream cheese
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla


Directions:

for cookies:

1. Preheat oven to 400*F.
2. In a medium bowl cream sugar and butter together until fluffy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.
4. In a separate bowl stir together dry ingredients except cinnamon and extra sugar together.
5. Add to creamed mixture and combine well.
6. Chill dough for about 20-30 minutes.  (I chilled mine overnight and it was just fine)
7. Roll into tablespoon sized balls and then roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, coating evenly.
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned and soft. 

for filling:

1. Beat all ingredients in a medium bowl until smooth.  Adjust sugar to taste (I completely left out the white sugar). 
2. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.  This I also refrigerated overnight with no negative consequences.

to assemble cookies:

1. Remove cream cheese mixture from refrigerator.
2. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of mixture onto the flat side of a cookie.
3. Press another cookie onto it to make a sandwich.
4. I then stored these in the fridge until we ate them!

  Pumpkin pie is a huge staple of Thanksgiving dinners.  Really- how often do you not see pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving?  It's blasphemous! 
 
  I, however, get tired of having the same thing over and over again.  It becomes mundane and boring.  When I signed up to bring a dessert, I knew that a pumpkin pie would not only be expected, but that I might very well get shot if I didn't!  Not wanting to do the same thing again though, I began searching for a twist on the traditional pie that would satisfy the family's desire for pumpkin pie, as well as my desire for something a bit out of the norm, without straying too far.

When I found this recipe, I knew it was the one.  It kept with the traditional pumpkin pie, but gave a bit more pizazz to it.  The addition of gingersnaps was just the kick I wanted.  It went over really well with everybody, and it has been requested that I make more! 

Ingredients:

1&1/2 cups finely crushed gingersnaps (about 32 cookies)
1/4 cup butter, melted
4oz cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon sugar
1&1/2 cups whipped topping
1 cup cold milk
2 packages (3.4oz each) instant butterscotch pudding mix
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon


Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the cookie crumbs and butter.   Press into the bottom and up the edges of an ungreased 9-inch pie plate.  Bake at 375*F for 8-10 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Cool.
2. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.  Fold in whipped topping.  Spread over crust.  The original recipe I had did not call for it, but I think at this point it needs to be refrigerated for a bit, otherwise the next step does not work very well.  Refrigerate at least until the cream cheese is somewhat set.
3. Beat milk and pudding mixes in a small bowl for 1 minute.  Stir in the pumpkin, pie spice, vanilla and cinnamon. Spread over cream cheese mixture.
4. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
5. Garnish with additional whipped topping.  I used a homemade whipped topping, and then sprinkled more crushed cookies on top.  I then evenly spaced whole cookies on top.

  I found an absolutely easy and fabulous sounding recipe online a few weeks back.   Two simple ingredients that many households already have on hand:

•   a box of yellow cake mix, and
•   a 15-ounce can of pumpkin.   

I had both.  :)
I only had one of the huge cans of pumpkin, so I guesstimated on half.

Combine.  

Bake at 350*F for about 20-25 minutes. 

The batter is super yummy.  I'm hoping the muffins are as well.  I'll let you know in about 30 minutes!

*Very cakey.  Yummy and squishy.  They are more of a dessert muffin than, say, a breakfast muffin.  Super tasty though!  I'll definitely make them again.   Great one for the kids to try their hand at baking!

    I had a lot left over after filling my muffin pan, so I used the rest to make a mini loaf.  We'll see how that turns out.  I'm betting pretty scrumptious.  I plan on taking it to work.