Baked Pumpkin Spice Donut Holes and Perfect Pumpkin Cookies

Once again, I present horrible photos! Sorry about that. I kinda forgot about the time change and how it gets dark early and etc., etc. But, I wanted to share these 2 quick, easy and delicious pumpkin treats with you that we made this past Sunday for a family dinner.

I wanted to make a soft pumpkin chocolate chip cookie and decided to give this recipe a try. I thought they turned out really great. My kids loved them too.

I had 3/4 cup pumpkin puree left and didn't really feel like letting it sit in my fridge, so I quickly found another recipe that used exactly that much pumpkin. They aren't technically donuts, but a mini muffin that kind of tastes like a donut. They are dipped in melted butter and then coated in cinnamon-sugar. Similar to the ones I made last year, but the ingredient list is a little different.

Here is the recipe for Baked Pumpkin Spice Donut Holes
*I only dipped the tops into melted butter instead of the whole thing

Here is the recipe for Perfect Pumpkin Cookies
* I made 42 cookies

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bottomed Vanilla Cupcakes

Why not finish out a snack/sweet week here on the blog with something totally decadent and crazy? These cookie/cupcakes should do the trick.

I made these for a dessert gathering and did not try them myself. My husband took the few remaining that were leftover to work the next day and his boss declared this the best dessert ever.

What could be better than combining chocolate chip cookies with vanilla cupcakes? I don't know, but if you like those two things than I guess some fluffy frosting and a cookie on top just sweetens the whole deal.

These were fun and enjoyed by everyone who tried them. Have a great weekend everybody!

Here is the recipe for Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bottomed Vanilla Cupcakes

Double Cookie Dough Ice Cream

I have been meaning to make this ice cream for my husband for a long time. He loves chocolate chip cookies and I knew it would be something that he would love. I don't know why I put it off for so long, but finally, a couple of weeks ago, when we had some friends over for dinner, this ice cream was on the menu for dessert, along with this ice cream.

The reason this is double Cookie Dough Ice Cream is because the ice cream base tastes like cookie dough and there are chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough churned into the ice cream.

This was very popular. It practically disappeared a few minutes after being served. Everyone raved and raved about it and I know that I will be making it again.


Here is the recipe for Double Cookie Dough Ice Cream as seen on Annie' Eats, who used the cookie dough from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz, ice cream adapted from Joy the Baker

Whole Wheat Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake

This cake has made an appearance here before, but not in it's full-sized glory. And last time, I didn't include the ganache glaze. Those two things meant that it had to be re-made.
Not to mention the fact that it is delicious and I remembered how good it was even though I made it a year and a half ago.

Not to worry. We didn't eat this entire cake. It was part of the dessert table at a recent church gathering. It didn't last long and that didn't surprise me. This cake is a really good way to use some of your zucchini. Do you need any??- because I have some I could share!!!!


Whole Wheat Chocolate Zucchini Cake from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking
use 9*13-inch pan or a 10-cup Bundt

Cake:
2 1/2 cups traditional whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened, or vegetable oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup chocolate chips
Glaze: (optional)
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup chocolate chips
2 tsp corn syrup

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease the pan of your choice. (I used baking spray w/ flour)
Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, powder and salt in a medium bowl
Stir together the sugars and butter (or oil) in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Add the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla; mix well.
Add half the dry ingredients. stirring until evenly moistened. Stir in the zucchini, then the remaining flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake until the top springs back when lightly touched, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 15 minutes.
If using a bundt pan, remove the cake from the pan and cool completely.
If using 9*13-inch pan, you can serve from the pan of invert cake onto a platter and drizzle with the glaze.

To make the glaze: Heat the heavy cream to a simmer, and pour over the chocolate chips in a bowl. Stir in the corn syrup, and keep stirring until there are no more lumps and the mixture is smooth. Drizzle over the cooled cake, if desired.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

With the overflowing amount of zucchini that I have at my disposal, it was only a matter of time before some sort of zucchini bread/muffins was made. I posted a few zucchini muffin recipes here in the past and as usual, I wanted to try something new.
My son requested that chocolate chips be involved, so I found a muffin recipe that looked good and decided to change it up a little bit. Well, actually a lot of changing went on in here.

I used only white wheat flour and substituted low-fat buttermilk for most of the butter/oil called for. I added a few Tablespoons of canola oil, (2-3), and hoped for the best when I popped these guys into the oven. I also had to omit the nuts/dried fruit and add mini chocolate chips to keep my son happy.

Success!! I love it when that happens to a recipe that I feel like I modify quite a bit.
These were great- We loved them.


Here is the recipe for Zucchini Muffins from Simply Recipes
* Instead of butter, I used a combination of mostly low-fat buttermilk and a few Tablespoons of canola oil
* I used white wheat flour
* Instead of adding nuts or dried fruit, I added mini chocolate chips

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Pancakes

I wasn't expecting to take a photo of these, but they were soo good and soo quick, that I felt I had to share them. I have made them a few times already and will continue to make them. I just love it when a whole wheat breakfast tastes so good. Plus, chocolate chips can make any child love anything. The batter is simple and it takes just a few moments to mix up. So, go whip up a batch. They are fluffy and perfect!

Unfortunately, I don't have time to make them today. We've got baseball tournaments, softball tournaments, a baby shower, a birthday party, another baseball game smack dab in the middle of that, and the list goes on. But, maybe tomorrow when the weekend slows down, I will make them again, because they are so delicious! Have a good one!

Here is the recipe for Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Pancakes from Recipe Girl
* I used low-fat buttermilk
* I added 2 Tablespoons of water to the batter, just so it was pourable
* I used milk chocolate chips
* I made 3-4 inch pancakes and got about 12

Banana-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know I have described the love-hate relationship we have in this family with bananas. Sometimes they are gobbled up and other times, they sit and get brown. I am very particular about my bananas- if I am going to consume them fresh. They have to be just right. Not very ripe. Not mushy. Slightly green. And even if the conditions are perfect, I'm still not crazy about them.

Anyways, it's the same old story. Bananas sit there and get overripe. What to do? Smoothies? check. Banana bread? check. Muffins? check. Banana pancakes? check. Tons of things I don't even have the chance to take pictures of and post about? check. Like these and these, for instance.

So, I present to you yet another option for those times when you have ripe bananas and need to get rid of them immediately. These were the perfect after school snack.
And if ripe bananas disappeared as fast as these cookies did, there would never be such a dilemma.

Here is the recipe for Banana-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies from myrecipes

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I found these cupcakes months ago and knew that they would be the perfect birthday treat for my hubby. He is an absolute lover of chocolate chip cookies and the dough you have to make to get them.
My hubby's birthday is on December 23rd. That was the perfect day to make these cupcakes because we were having a Christmas get together with some family that night and I knew I would be able to take these to share as a dessert.
I wouldn't say any part of these cupcakes was complicated, but there were 4 separate things to put together, so it took a fair amount of time. First- the cupcake batter, then the eggless cookie dough filling, the cookie dough for the cookies to top the cupcakes, and lastly, the frosting.
The cupcakes turned out beautifully. I didn't get my cookie toppers as small as I could have, but I was happy with the results. Tracey nailed these a couple weeks ago- check hers out!
The thing about these cupcakes is that each part tastes like cookie dough. I'm not a big fan of chocolate chip cookies or the dough, but I was amazed at how much the frosting in particular, tasted like CCC cookie dough.
These were really popular with certain people. My brother-in-law, who usually passes on all desserts I make because he just doesn't care, ate 2 whole cupcakes. I couldn't believe it.
I think they were a little too complicated for some of the kids, who just ate the cookie off the top or a few bites here and there. My hubby was happy with them, but I think he would've been just as happy with just the cookies on top. (Go figure!)
Overall, these were a beautiful, delicious hit of a dessert.

Recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
* be sure to fill the cupcakes with a good amount of the cookie dough filling- I should've used more filling in my cupcakes


Recipe used for the Chocolate Chip Cookies to top the cupcakes from Annie's Eats

Pumpkin Spice Granola

This recipe and variations on it, have been floating around everywhere the past couple of months. I think it originated on Baking Bites, so that is where I went to get the recipe when I wanted to make this granola.

The interesting thing about this granola is that it contains pumpkin puree and there is no oil or butter at all. The pumpkin puree is combined with applesauce, maple syrup and other things, and that is what binds it all together.

I don't keep puffed rice cereal on hand and I had seen some granola recipes that used uncooked quinoa/amaranth in granola, so I subbed some uncooked quinoa and uncooked amaranth in my granola mix. I liked the extra crunch that they added.
I threw in some roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and chocolate chips as my add-ins. I don't really care for dried fruit in my granola and I knew the addition of chocolate chips would make this more appealing to my kids, who happened to love this granola.

This was really good and a fresh take on granola. We loved it.

* note-I don't eat yogurt very often, but this granola was really good with Siggi's Orange & Ginger yogurt.

Recipe for Pumpkin Spice Granola from Baking Bites
* I used 1/2 cup uncooked amaranth and 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa in place of the puffed rice cereal
* I added 1/4 cup ground flaxmeal to the dry ingredients
* I added 1/2 cup roasted pepitas to the granola after the first 30 minutes of baking
* I stirred in 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips after the granola was cool

Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I like muffins. I don't like to eat muffins that taste like cupcakes. I prefer healthy muffins and it is fine with me if they aren't super sweet or full of fat, as long as they still taste good and aren't dry.
I wanted to make pumpkin muffins and found a recipe that I tweaked quite a bit. Luckily pumpkin puree keeps baked goods nice and moist, so this recipe didn't need a lot of oil or butter. Low-fat buttermilk also added to the nice texture of these muffins. I like the texture that the oats add to this muffins as well.
I made these before school one morning and added mini chocolate chips because my son thinks that mini chocolate chips make anything better.
I was really happy with the results of these muffins. Moist, flavorful and pretty healthy!

I also just wanted to share this idea I saw in a recent issue of EveryDay Food for a healthy breakfast- Savory Oatmeal with a Egg. I didn't follow the recipe, but I did use their idea (partially). They used quick-cooking oats, a soft cooked egg, and no spinach.
I made my steel cut oats on the stovetop, then fried an egg in a small amount of olive oil. Then I sauteed a couple handfuls of spinach, in the same pan. I sprinkled a little bit of shredded cheese over my oatmeal, then topped it with the egg, spinach and chopped green onions. It was really good. My 3 year old liked it too.


Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins adapted from FitSugar
Inspired by Carrots-n-Cake and About: Lowfat Cooking

Ingredients

3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
3/4 cups old fashioned oats
6 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg or 1 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 1/2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 large egg
1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk + a couple more Tbls if the batter looks too thick

1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line muffin tin with muffin cups.
2. Whisk dry ingredients and spices together in a large bowl.
3. Add pumpkin, oil, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla to a medium size bowl and mix thoroughly. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredient and gently fold together, just, until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
   
4. Fill muffin cups evenly and bake for 18 to 25 minutes. Mine were done in 22 minutes.
   

Makes 9 muffins.

TWD- Peanut Butter Crisscrosses

This week's Tuesday's with Dorie pick- Peanut Butter Crisscrosses, was chosen by Jasmine. You can find the recipe on her blog- Jasmine Cuisine.

I made a half batch of these last week while my kids were getting ready for bed. They were really easy to throw together and there is no chilling time for the dough, so as soon as it is mixed up, they are ready to go on the cookie sheet. I reduced the amount of chopped peanuts and added in some mini chocolate chips, at the request of my kids.

These were good. Just the right amount of chewiness in the center, yet a crunchy edge. I thought much better the next day as opposed to warm, but that is just my opinion. I got 30 cookies from a half batch of dough and will definitely make these again.

Check out everyone else's results by heading over to TWD!

Whole Wheat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been wanting to try this recipe for Whole Wheat Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies ever since I went to the King Arthur Flour Baking Demonstration quite a few months ago. This recipe was included in the booklet they handed out after the demonstration.
I wanted to try it because it only uses whole wheat and because it is for a chewy cookie, which I prefer over other textures when it comes to cookies.

We had some new neighbors move in a couple weeks ago and I thought it would be the perfect time to bake the cookies and share them. Plus, my neighbor had already told me that she had a wheat grinder and made her own bread, so I had a feeling her family would appreciate the whole wheat-y "ness" of these cookies.

I read the recipe ahead of time, so I knew to mix the dough up the night before. It made it really easy to just take out the dough and bake up the cookies the next day.

My neighbors loved these! We really liked them too. Of course you can taste the whole wheat, but we all liked it that way. Give them a try!

KA’s Whole Wheat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup (1 ½ sticks, 6 ounces) unsalted butter
1 cup (7 ½ ounces) packed light or dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup (3 ½ oz) light corn syrup or brown sugar corn syrup
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 large eggs
2 1/4 cup (9 ounces) traditional whole wheat flour
2 2/3 cups (16 oz) bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Place butter in a saucepan and heat over medium until it melts. Add the brown sugar to the hot, bubbly, butter and turn off heat. Stir sugar and hot butter in saucepan, allowing sugar to dissolve slightly from residual heat. Pour into a mixing bowl and let cool for about 30 minutes (or to room temperature)

Stir in the vanilla, salt, baking soda, baking powder, corn syrup and vinegar. Add the eggs, beating well after each. Add flour, stirring to combine, and then mix in the chips. Cover dough and chill overnight.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or Silpat.

Drop the dough be rounded tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies (reversing the pans midway through, top to bottom, bottom to top…if you are baking more than one sheet at a time) until they are just beginning to brown around the edges, 12 to 13 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on the pan.

Remove with spatula.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

For Father's Day, I asked my husband what he wanted for dinner and he said I could make whatever I wanted. So, I tried a few recipes that I had been wanting to try, but I decided to make a dessert that I knew my husband would absolutely love.

He loves chocolate chip cookies. He likes them with milk chocolate chips and he likes to eat the dough. Total opposite of me. I couldn't care less if I ever ate another chocolate chip cookie and you couldn't pay me money to eat cookie dough!

I knew that this Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake would be the perfect dessert.

It is basically just chocolate chip cookie batter that is baked in a cake pan. But, it isn't completely cooked. When you pull it out of the oven, the top will be brown, but the middle will be loose. I actually put it back in the oven for a couple minutes because the middle was so wet, but it is supposed to be like that because then you let it sit for 4 hours and when you cut it, the texture is like a cookie that has just been pulled out of the oven.

My husband LOOOOVVVED this dessert. His exact quotes were "this is the best thing you have ever made" and "could we always have this available to eat at our house?"
He had it topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and then I sent the leftovers with him to work the next day in his lunch. He said it was just as good the next day.

I didn't even try it, mostly because a warm, gooey cookie doesn't appeal to me, but my friend who tried it, confirmed that it was one of the best desserts ever. The kids agreed.

If you know a chocolate chip cookie lover, you must make this for them as soon as you can!

** The 4 hour wait before eating is essential, so that the cookie cake can set up the way it is supposed to!


I found the recipe here.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

(adapted from Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake – Dam Good Sweet by David Guas and Raquel Pelzel, as seen on Lemonpi)

Ingredients

1 stick butter, unsalted
1 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chips)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.

Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, cream the butter, light brown sugar, and vanilla extract on medium speed until well combined, about 1 minute.

Increase the mixer speed to high and beat for 15 seconds.

Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg.

Blend on medium speed for 30 seconds.

Add the dry ingredients and combine on low speed until just a few dry streaks remain.

Add the chocolate chips and mix for a few seconds until combined.

Scrape the batter into a greased and lined 9-inch round cake pan.

Press the batter into a smooth and even layer in the pan. Bake until lightly golden and puffy around the edges (the center should still feel quite soft), 18 – 22 minutes.

Cool for 10 minutes and then run a paring knife around the edge of the pan to release the cake.

Cool for at least 4 hours before turning the cake out of the pan and onto a large plate.

Slice then serve…

Wicked Good Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cups

My son somehow saw this post by Bakerella and decided we needed to make this dessert as soon as possible.
I thought it would be a fun one to celebrate school getting out and the beginning of our summer vacation.

The idea and recipe are from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey Treats for Kids by Jill O'Connor. Somehow I totally missed this cookbook, although I do have the original Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey, which happens to be the source of my husband's all-time favorite treat, Cheesecake Pops. A better picture can be seen in this post.

Back to the point- My son and I made the pudding on Sunday night. Yesterday we all made the chocolate cups and my kids consumed these for dessert last night. (I usually don't get posts of things I make up this quickly, but someone requested it)

I tasted a spoonful and thought that the chocolate pudding had the perfect mix of pb and chocolate flavor and it was just sweet enough. Smooth and silky. Everything chocolate pudding should be.
It does make enough to feed a small army. I should've halved or 1/3ed the recipe.


We used Baker's dipping chocolate for the cups- I would probably use a different kind of chocolate if I made these again.


The water balloons were impossible to blow up with your own lungs. I had to use a basketball hand pump to blow them up.
Naked pudding
Whipped cream and sprinkles added
Happy kids
Messy and fun treat

Recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding
* I used whole milk instead of half&half
* This makes a TON of pudding, especially when you are serving it in little chocolate cups

How-to for the Pudding Cups from Bakerella

TWD- Chockablock Cookies

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Chockablock Cookies, was chosen by Mary over at Popsicles and Sandy Feet.
You can find the recipe on her blog.

Honestly, I was going to skip this recipe. Cookies aren't my favorite thing to make and there wasn't a picture of these to entice me. They sounded fine enough, with tons of mix-ins, but I just didn't know. Plus, they call for shortening, which is a no-no for me. Meaning, I don't ever have shortening on hand because I don't buy it. I wasn't about to go and buy shortening just for a cookie.

Then I decided- why not? Playgroup was the next day, so I could just take them as a treat for the kids.
I mixed these up and let the dough sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes, while I put my kids to bed.
I made 1/2 of the recipe and got 25 cookies.
I used golden raisins, peanuts, coconut and chocolate chunks as my mix-ins.
I let them cool, plated and wrapped them for the next day and went to bed.

I was curious about the molasses flavor and I tried one out of pure curiousity.
Plus I figured that since my cookies were somewhat small and I had only used 6 Tbls of butter for 1/2 the recipe, that each cookie only had 1/4 Tbls of butter, which makes it sound perfectly okay to consume a cookie. Don't you love how much thought goes into whether or not I can try a cookie? HA!

I thought that the molasses flavor was almost non-existent, except when a bite w/out a chocolate chunk was taken. Then it was faintly in the cookie.

These turned out to be pretty good. Someone at playgroup thought they tasted like trail mix cookies.
Some kids just ate them. Some picked out the raisins. Some picked out the nuts. My picky son ate them with no complaints and no removal of ingredients, which surprised me.
So, overall I thought these were a success. Not something I would have picked to try without the help of other TWD'ers, but something that I will make again.

Go see what everyone else thought about these loaded cookies by checking out the TWD Blogroll!