Pumpkin Pecan Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

Hello all and Happy Thursday.  Prayers to those that need them.  Sorry I'm so late today, just not back in the swing of things.  Today is another cookie, lots of goodies over the holidays lol.  It is from Betty Crocker, totally simple and tasty.  It called for pumpkin spice cookies and I'm totally sure they would have been delicious but I wasn't able to find them so I used peanut butter cookies.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pecan Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

1 pouch Betty Crocker pumpkin spice cookie mix

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 egg

36 unwrapped miniature chocolate-covered peanut butter cup candies

36 pecan halves

Heat oven to 350°.

In medium bowl, beat cookie mix, butter and egg with spoon or electric mixer on medium speed until blended.  Shape level tablespoons of dough into balls to make 36 balls.  Place a dough ball in each of 36 ungreased mini muffin cups.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown around edges.  Immediately place 1 candy in center of each cookie.  Cool 10 minutes; remove to cooling rack.  Press pecan half onto top of each candy. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

Mini Pumpkin Pies

I'm still looking for quick and easy recipes that I can make ahead of time, since we will be traveling the night before. So I was looking at how I was going to make my pies for Thanksgiving as well as possibly for my hub's unit Thanksgiving. I had tried to do this last year with apple pie and I think the trick is the store bought pie as I can't get mine thin enough.

This recipe comes from my new favorite website, Elevenses. Anything to do with tea and I'm there!

Mini Pumpkin Pies
Ingredients:

1 package refrigerated pie crusts
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice.
Directions

Preheat oven to 425. Mix pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, and pumpkin spice in a large bowl until smooth. Pour into muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray and lined with pastry, then top with a pastry leaf. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F then bake 20 – 25 minutes longer or until knife inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool 30 minutes in pan and remove to wire rack to cool for another hour for pumpkin filling to set completely.

Pumpkin Spice Latte

I had my first Starbucks pumpkin spice latte yesterday. To bad it was 90 degrees and didn't feel like fall at all!  I know I want more though.  So,  I went looking for one I can make at home.  I found this one that uses a Kcup. If you don't own a machine that uses them,  they make ground pumpkin spice coffee in the bags as well.

Make sure you check out the credit at the end!

Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte
Author: Amanda@AFewShortCuts.comPrep time: 5 minsTotal time: 5 mins
Ingredients
8oz cup of Green Mountain Pumpkin Spice Coffee
2 oz of International Delight Vanilla Caramel Creme (or other similar)
Whipped Cream
Pumpkin Pie Spice
Instructions
Brew your coffee in your keurig.
Add the creamer of your choice. I preferred the International Delight Vanilla Caramel Creme.
Top with Whipped Cream and sprinkle with a dash pumpkin pie spice.
Serve
Recipe by A Few Short Cuts at http://afewshortcuts.com/2013/09/copycat-starbucks-pumpkin-spice-latte/

Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes

Hi guys!  (No racial slur or otherwise negative content meant) LOL  The world today is a crazy place man.  Maybe it always has been it's just that as we age we pay more attention to things like that.  Who knows.  Anyway on to my purpose lol.  Happy Thursday!  Hope your week is going well.  Mine is going, but you know Thursdays are my favorite, for having the day off!  So, to the eats.......!
Today our feature can be a snack or dessert, but whatever you call it it's yummmmmmmmm.  Super easy and I think I would probably call them Mini Pumpkin Muffins, but it's not my recipe so that's that lol.  But I can and will call them super good!  Hope your residents enjoy them.!  See you Saturday!

Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes

Yield: 24 donut holes                               Cook Time: 10-12 minutes

For the Donuts:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoons ground cloves
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned plain pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup milk

For the Coating:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

directions:
1. Preheat oven 350°F. Spray a 24-cup mini muffin tin with baking spray and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. In a separate, large bowl whisk together oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until smooth. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

3. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

4. While the muffins bake, melt butter in one bowl and combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in another bowl. Remove muffins from oven and cool for 2 minutes. Dip each muffin in melted butter, then roll in cinnamon sugar to coat. Serve muffins warm or at room temperature.

Recipe from The Craving Chronicles

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Hello Everybody!  As we welcome another Tuesday I find myself jumping upon the wagon!  What wagon you ask LOL.   The pumpkin wagon.  I was thumbing through my recipe book and ran across this recipe and remembered just how yummy they are!  So to be like everybody else but hey Pumpkin is a good thing LOL!  :D.  Hope everyone enjoys.  Remember to make time for the little things this week.  Oh and that of course includes these cupcakes!  See ya Thursday

Pumpkin Cupcakes with 

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 Cup (1/4 lb) butter, at room temperature

1 Cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 Cup canned pumpkin

1 Tablespoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 Cup milk

Orange cream cheese frosting (recipe follows)

Candy sprinkles (optional)

1.  In a bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until smooth.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  Add pumpkin and vanilla and beat until well blended (mixture will look separated at this point).

2.  In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.  Stir half the flour mixture into pumpkin mixture.  Stir in milk just until blended.  Add remaining flour mixture and stir just until incorporated.  Spoon batter equally into 12 muffin cups (1/3 cup capacity; cups should be about 3/4 full) lined with paper baking cups.

3.  Bake in a 350° regular or convection oven until tops spring back when lightly pressed in the center and a wooden skewer inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.  Let cool in pans on racks for 5 minutes; remove cupcakes from pans and set on racks to cool completely, at least 30 minutes.

4.  Spoon orange cream cheese frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a 3/4" star tip and pipe onto tops of cupcakes, or spread on cupcakes with a knife.  Decorate with candy sprinkles, if desired.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting:  In a bowl, with a mixer on low speed, beat 6 ounces cream cheese and 6 tablespoons butter, both at room temperature, until well blended.  beat in 1 1/2 Cups powdered sugar, 1 Tablespoon finely minced orange peel and 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon orange extract until smooth.

Hey I found this gem at "myrecipes.com" who had found it in a magazine called "Sunset".

Autumn Brittle

Todays recipe is perfect for those up coming chilly nights.  We keep talking about autumn and chilly nights and it was in the upper 80s today!  We are crazier than even I thought!  I found this recipe at Adventures in Cooking.  She is a lot like us and tries new things and shares them! 


Did you know that pumpkin seeds are also called pepitas?




Autumn Brittle

Ingredients: 1 Cup Almonds 1 Cup Cashews 3/4 Cup Pumpkin Seeds 2/3 Cup Dried Cranberries 2 1/4 Cups Granulated Sugar  1/4 Cup Golden Brown Sugar 1/2 Cup Honey 1 Cup Water 1/2 Teaspoon Salt 1 Tablespoon Butter Heat the sugars, honey, water and salt in a large pot over a low-medium flame. Use a pot that is larger than you would think necessary because when the mixture begins to boil it will foam up and increase in size. Stir every five minutes or so. Using a candy thermometer, continue to heat the mixture until it reaches a temperature of exactly 302 degrees Fahrenheit. This is very important because this is the temperature at which sugar hardens into a rock-like state after it cools. Pay close attention not to go very far above 302, otherwise you will burn the sugar. It can take up to an hour for the mixture to reach that high of a temperature, so don't get too worried if 15 minutes go by and the thermometer is still at 175. While the sugar mixture is boiling, place a sheet of parchment paper on top of a shallow pan, about 9 x 13 inches in width and length, and grease the parchment paper. Set aside. Once the sugar mixture reaches 302, immediately remove it from heat and stir in the butter, cashews, almonds, pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries until they're coated in the mixture. Immediately pour the mixture onto the parchment paper and spread it out into a large rectangle using a rubber spatula. Try to keep the surface relatively even and about 1 inch in height. Place the pan in the refrigerator and allow the brittle to cool for one hour. Once it has finished cooling, remove the sheet of brittle from the parchment paper and break the brittle into pieces using a meat tenderizer or clean hammer. Arrange the pieces on a serving platter and serve. Store excess brittle in a cool dry place.

Pumpkin Butter

So things are actually going pretty sane at my Asylum!  Which has me scared to death!  When things go this well for this long, something has to give.  My hubs accuses me of always looking for the bad so of course I am going to find it!


I also realized we haven't been sharing much of the crazy because the crazy is keeping us busy!  My kiddos are back to school, hubs is back to his regular work schedule (which is crazy in itself) and I am holding down the fort (or Asylum in this case).  One of the things that drives me the craziest is meal planning and having a decent healthy meal on the table for my family.  That is why we created this blog!  Saucy and I both love to cook/bake and wanted to expand our horizons and maybe share some great food with great friends along the way.


We found out yesterday we have readers in other countries as well (I am sure we look certifiable to you) thanks for joining us on this crazy adventure!


Today, I figured you would need something to put on Saucy's Pumpkin muffins!  So I thought I would share a quick and easy pumpkin butter recipe.  The recipe says it is good to freeze as well!  I have never tried it as it doesn't make it that long for me!  I also double this recipe to share with a neighbor!



Slow Cooker "Spicy" Pumpkin Butter
skinnyms.com
Ingredients

• 1 (15 oz.) can pure canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) OR
• 15 oz. freshly baked and pureed pumpkin
• 1/3 cup 100% apple juice (no sugar added) (this is optional as I have made it without and it was great, just replace with water)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (I used pancake syrup)
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions

Stir all ingredients together in a 1 or 1 1/2 quart slow cooker and cook until it thickens (about 5-6 hours) on low.

While hot, it will still be runny, even after thickening. Place in a heat-safe container and chill overnight in the fridge.

More honey can be added for sweetness if desired.

NOTE: This is a "spicy" pumpkin butter. If you like a milder version, simply cut the ginger, cloves and nutmeg in half. (you can always add them back in later)

Storage: Keep in fridge for up to 2 or 3 weeks. Freezes well.

What is great about this recipe is you get that homemade taste of canned pumpkin butter without having to can it!

Pssst....Want to know how I get the labels off of the jars?  Head over to my other blog and find out!  I don't think Saucy will mind since I share this blog over there too!

 

Time for pumpkin

Hello all!  Happy Thursday.  So you know life is just crazy, yeah well I keep waiting for it not to be.  Long wait ahead of me huh?  Mom is changing the types of foods she likes, you know the stuff she loved she no longer eats.  Hard to keep up with so I'm trying new things.  Like I told you before also, the softer the better.  I stumbled across the recipe on facebook today and thought no way lol.  Could it really be that easy?  And let me tell you emphatically yes, it can be that easy!  LOL.  The recipe came from www.skinnycinderelly.com and a lady by the name of Gail Blaney!  Hats off to her, because they sure have worked great with my momma!  Kids especially I think will really enjoy them.  Another excellent point of fact is that they are simple and can be taken to many other levels.  Depending on just what kind of mood you are in.  I personally didn't want a lot of extra ingredients (hard for the momma) so I went straight up!  Mom is anxious to have another for breakfast in the morning!  :)

Pumpkin Muffins

Only 2 ingredients! A boxed yellow cake mix and a 15oz can of pure pumpkin.

Just the cake mix and the pumpkin!

No oil, no eggs, no water, no nothing!

Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes (mine were perfect on 20 minutes, mom has a gas stove and it runs hot!) 

I made a change here (due to some comments I read and happily took their advice) and used the Spice cake for more flavor than just the yellow cake.  To each their own, heck even chocolate cake might be good.  Hmmmmmmmmm, for another day!

Happiness to all.  Hope your week finishes out great.  See you on Saturday!

I'm breaking the rules!

Since Saucy was breaking the rules this week already I thought I would share my pumpkin scone wish list recipe! We have some pumpkins growing in the garden and I hope they make it before the snow flies!

Pumpkin Scones

Makes 6 scones
Ingredients: 2 cups flour
7 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
3 Tablespoons half & half
1 egg
6 Tablespoons cold butter, cubed

For the plain glaze:
1 cup + 1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons half & half

For the spiced drizzle:
1 cup + 3 Tablespoons powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons half & half
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

pinch ground ginger

pinch ground cloves

Directions: Preheat oven to 425 degrees then line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In the bowl of a large food processor (or in a large bowl) combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Pulse or whisk to combine. Add cold butter and pulse until well incorporated and mixture is the texture of cornmeal. Alternatively, use your fingertips or a pastry butter to blend butter in. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, half & half, and egg. Add to flour mixture and pulse until just combined. Alternatively, stir until the dough comes together in a ball. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead 4 or 5 times to bring the dough together, then flatten into a circle 1″ thick. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough in half, then cut each half into thirds. Place the wedges onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for 14-16 minutes, or until just starting to turn golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack to cool completely. When scones are cool, whisk together the plain glaze ingredients, then spoon on top and spread slightly. Let harden for 10 minutes, then whisk together the spiced drizzle ingredients and drizzle on top. Let harden completely, about 1 hour, before serving. Store in an air-tight container for 1 day.

Sickness has struck

Sickness has struck our Asylum so today will be short, and as always when it's short we make it sweet! That and I am ready for fall flavors! Take care have a great week, I am off to the Asylum infirmary to get some rest!

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer
Alli-n-son.com

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1-1/2 cups skim milk (works fine with whatever is in your fridge)
3 TBSP canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie)
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2-1 tsp vanilla extract, to taste

Combine ingredients in a container with a cover. Shake until combined. OR use an immersion blender or traditional blender and blend until smooth. Store, covered, in the fridge and shake/stir before using.

Just a little crazy...

So one of the things that has brought me to the Asylum is my Harry Potter love.  Yep, Harry Potter.  I have an amazing cookbook called the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook by Dinah Bucholz.  I am sure there will be other recipes but today's recipe was tried on my Asylum and even sent to the neighbors.  We all agreed they were pretty great!

So whip up a batch of these and close your eyes,  pretend to hear the lady on the train calling "Treats from the Trolley!  Anything from the Trolley Dear?"  You can say "Pumpkin Pasty, please"!  I believe our doctors here at the Asylum would call that a Delusional Disorder...

Don't be afraid of the dough!  Some people shy away from recipes because they don't think they can make dough.  This is the easiest dough recipe I have ever made and really adds to the taste!  If you see a recipe that is long and lets face it you think "man that is a lot of words" do you pass it up?  DON'T!!  You may be missing out and the recipe may actually be very simple.  Just take it step by step and we are here to help!

Pumpkin Pasties

 

Pasty Crust

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 TBSP granulated sugar

1/4 tsp salt

5 TBSP butter, cut into chunks

3TBSP vegetable shortening,

      chilled and cut into chunks

4-6 TBSP ice water

 

Filling

1 cup pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

 

1. Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor (I used my stand mixer and the dough paddle).  Pulse a few times to combine. Scatter the butter and shortening over the flour mixture.  Pulse about 15 times until the mixture resembles coarse yellow meal, with no white powdery bits remaining.

 

2. Transfer the mixture into a large mixing bowl (see if you used your stand mixer you're already there).  Sprinkle 4 TBSP of cold water over the mixture.  Toss the mixture together with a spatula until it starts clumping together.  If it's too dry, add more water 1 TBSP at a time (better too wet than too dry).  Gather the dough in a ball and pat it into a disk.  Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour.

 

3. Combine the pumpkin, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon (or cinnnnaminnnoonnoonnn as we call it) in a mixing bowl.  Mix well.  Preheat the oven to 400F.  Roll out the dough 1/8-inch thick.  Use a saucer to cut out 6-inch circles.

 

4.  Put 2-3 TBSP of filling in the center of each circle of dough.  Moisten the edges with water, fold the dough over the filling, and crimp with a fork to seal the edges. Cut slits to make vents.  Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 30 min or until browned.

 

Adaption: I used a sandwich press.  It is made to cut and crimp through two pieces of bread and a filling.  I also doubled the batch.  My press is only 3 inches wide, so  I cut 9 circles, put filling in the middle and then cut 9 more circles to cover the filling.  Then I used the press to crimp the edges-I did have to go back with a fork to crimp what was missed.  I did have some filling left over, so if you go with smaller sized dough circles you may only need 1 batch of the filling.

 

So go ahead, I dare you, I double dog dare you to put on your House Colors (I belong to Ravenclaw) and have a pumpkin pasty and pretend you are sitting in your common room next to the fireplace! You know you want to!  Don't worry we can "help" you with that Delusional Disorder!