Pumpkin Drop Cookies: Pink Ribbon Recipe

Pumpkin Drop Cookies: Pink Ribbon Recipe

Hi everybody :

Today is the beginning of my Pink Ribbon Recipes. Since cookies are my favorite things to bake, I'm starting with cookies :)  Pumpkin Drop Cookies. My first taste of pumpkin was when I made Pumpkin Nut Belgian Waffles, I LOVE them! So when I saw this recipe in the book, I thought, why not?

Since pumpkins are high in beta-carotene, a form of vitamin A, an antioxidant vitamin. Studies have shown that antioxidant, may reduce the risk of certain types of cancer. These cookies are also great for nausea and diarrhea, two common side effects of cancer treatments.

So let's get it stared...

  
 

















Pumpkin Drop Cookies adapted Betty Crocker Living with Cancer Cookbook

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup raisins

1. Heat oven to 375 F. Grease cookie sheets with shortening. In large bowl, mix butter and sugars with spoon. Beat in eggs. 

Stir in pumpkin. Stir in remaining ingredients except raisins. Fold in raisins.

 


2. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls about 3 inches apart onto cookie sheets.

3 Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set and golden. Cool 1 to 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.  Makes about 4 dozen cookies

 












Low fiber; low residue

1 Cookie: Calories 80 (Calories from Fat 20); Total Fat 2g (Saturated Fat 1/5g Trans Fat Og); Cholesterol 15mg Sodium 120mg; Potassium 55mg Total Carbohydrate 15g (Dietary Fiber 0g); Protein 1g % Daily Value: Vitamin A 30%; Vitamin C 0%: Calcium 2%; Iron 4%; Folic Acid 2%, Magnesium 0% Exchanges: 1/2 Starch, 1/2 Other Carbohydrate, 1/2 Fat Carbohydrate Choices; 1

What I Did and/or Think:
I followed the recipe and made the cookies as directed. 

To get them the shape I normally like my cookies after I drop them from the spoon I flatten them slightly with damped hands before baking them. The first patch I didn't do that, I did as stated in the recipe and this is how they came out below.

 








The Taste: The cookies were good.  They are soft cake-like cookies. I'm normally a sweet potato girl but, I'm starting to like pumpkin more and more :)



ENJOY! Come again...

Linked to:

Strut Your Stuff Saturday @ Six Sister's Stuff
The Better Baker Weekend Potluck # 40 
Sweets for Saturday# 91 @ Sweet As Sugar Cookies  
Me and My Sweets: Fall Cookies Blog Hop 

Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches With Rum-Raisin Filling

Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches With Rum-Raisin Filling

Hi everybody :)

You may have notice from my past cookies post Chewy Quaker Oatmeal Bars Copy-Cat., Banana Oatmeal Cookies: 4 Ways, and Plate Size Cookies that I'm very passionate about oatmeal cookies, which was the first thing that lead me to this recipe. The second was those 3 words: Rum-Raisin Filling. And as if that wasn't enough, the picture, when I saw the cookie sandwiches I was DONE.

I rush to the kitchen to see did I have all the ingredients. To my dismay, I discovered that I didn't have dark rum or cloves :( BUT I was not deterred, "where there's a will, there's a way" was my motto for today, so here's what I did...

Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches With Rum-Raisin Filling adapted Classic Southern Desserts: All-Time-Favorite Recipes

Makes 15 Sandwiches

prep: 50 min. * cook: 10 min. per hatch * other: 23 min

1/2 cup butter. softened
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves ( I used allspice)
2 cups uncooked regular oats
3/4 cup chopped pecans
Parchment paper

Preheat oven to 375. Beat first 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add egg and almond extract, beating until blended.


Whisk together flour, baking soda, and next 3 ingredients in a medium bowl; gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed until blended after each addition.

 

Stir in oats and pecans.

Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on large parchment paper-lined baking sheets. ( I use my medium OXO Good Grips Cookie Scoop to scoop them out, then I rolled them and flatten slightly)

Bake at 375 for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden. Let cool on baking sheets 3 minutes. Remove to wire racks, and cool completely (about 20 minutes). Spread about 3 Tbsp. Rum-Raisin Filling onto each of half the cookies; top with remaining cookies.

Rum-Raisin Filling

1 (3-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
3 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp dark rum* (I used Bacardi Gold Rum and a pinch Allspice)
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1 (1 lb ) package powdered sugar (4 cups)
1 1/2 cups raisins

Rum-Raisin Filling;:
Makes 2 1/2 cups

Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add milk and next 3 ingredients, beating until blended. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until smooth.

Stir in raisins. *Omit rum, if desired.

What I Did and/or Think:
I used allspice in place of the cloves and added a pinch of it along with the Bacardi Gold for the dark rum. Although the recipe stated that the rum can be omitted, I didn't want to leave it out, no way, rum-filling it says...so rum-filling it shall be :)

The taste: They were Deliciously Sweet! I LOVE the taste of the almond flavor in the cookies, who knew almond flavor would be GREAT in oatmeal cookies!. The combination of the cookies and filling was like an adult version of oatmeal cream pies, only BETTER! Even though the cookies are delicious on their own, you got to try it with the filling. These cookies are my newest # 1 Oatmeal Cookies. I'm putting them in a special file: The REPEAT HALL of FAME!

B.T.W. These cookies spread out BIG so space them out on cookie sheet. They bake up kind of thin because of the corn syrup, and they are meant to be shared so they would make great gifts.

ENJOY! Come again...

Linked to: 
Mix it Up Monday @FlourMeWithLove
Marvelous Mess Monday @ Marvelously Messy
This Week's Cravings # 101 @ Mom's Crazy Cooking
Melt In Your Mouth Monday # 85 @ Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms
Recipe Sharing Monday @ Jam Hands 
Sweets for a Saturday # 88 @ Sweet As Sugar Cookies
Strut Your Stuff Saturday Week 64 @ Six Sister's Stuff
Foodie Fridays @ Designs By Gollum
Friday Favorites - Week 135 @ Simply Sweet Home  

Plate-Size Cookies, Resized

Plate-Size Cookies, Resized

Hi everybody :)

I woke up this morning with a serious sweet-tooth attack. This led me to my cookbooks. In a time like this the only cure is COOKIES. I love baking cookies more than anything else. My favorite cookie is Oatmeal.
So I started out looking for the BIGGEST oatmeal cookies I can find. One that's full of craisins, walnuts, coconut, and chocolate, all my favorite ingredients in an oatmeal cookie.

And I thought I might had succeeded.... 

Plate-Sized Cookie

until I had to reevaluate my choice....  (see What I Did and/or Think below)

Plate-Size Cookies adapted  The Fannie Farmer Baking Book

Ingredients
1 cup vegetable shortening (I used Butter-Flavored Crisco)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)
1 cup raisins (I used dried cranberries or craisins)
1 cup grated coconut
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate morsels (I used Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Chips)
3 cups uncooked oatmeal (not instant) (I used old fashioned oatmeal)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease your biggest cookie sheets.
Combine the shortening and sugar in a very large mixing bowl, and beat until thoroughly blended.

Beating Shortening and Sugar

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla and water, and beat well. Stir and toss together the flour, salt, and baking soda.

Dough after adding the Flour

Add them to the first mixture and beat until completely mixed Add the nuts, raisins, coconut, chocolate morsels, and oatmeal, and stir until blended.

Cookie Dough

Using a 1/3-cup measure, scoop up pieces of dough and scrape them onto the prepared cookie sheets about 4 inches apart.

4 Cookies on a Sheet Pan

With your moistened fingertips, flatten each blob of dough into an even round about 4 1/2 inches across and 1/4 inch thick Bake for 15 to 20 minutes (watch them carefully), until the cookies have spread and are golden brown all over. Remove from the oven and let cool on the sheet for a minute, then using a wide spatula transfer them to rack to cool completely.

What I Did and/or Think:
I started off following the directions in the recipe using a 1/3 cup measure to scoop out the cookies, doing that I only cook 4 cookies at a time.  For a golden brown color I let my cookies cook for 9-10 minutes. I also use my Silpat Baking Mat. Cooking the cookies for 15 minutes as stated in the recipe cause them to be over-cooked. The cookies were great but they was thin, and being so big cause them to be difficult to move without coming apart.

They had to be resized. So I use my medium OXO Good Grips Cookie Scoop to scoop the dough out between chilling it. Bake at 350 degree for about 8 minutes and PERFECT-O! I had nice chewy cookies although not plate-sized, but totally worthy of a REPEAT!

Regular-Sized Cookies

ENJOY! Come again....

Linking to
Not Your Ordinary Recipes: Foodtastic Friday
Whipper Berry: Friday Flair Link Party 
The Better Baker Weekend Potluck
Sweets for Saturday @ Sweet As Sugar Cookies
Show Your Stuff
Foodie Friday @ Simple Living