Tag Archives: cookies

Pumpkin Pie Cookies

I have a new favorite fall dessert, y’all.

Normally I don’t think ‘cookies’ when I’m thinking about fall and Thanksgiving, but I was looking for an easy dessert to bring to a small church fellowship. I wanted to make something pumpkin, but cutting into a whole pumpkin pie outside & dishing it out just didn’t sound fun. Plus I was trying to stay away from “communal” dishes, with these unprecedented times and what not (if I had a nickel…). Luckily I came across a great recipe & in my usual fashion I tweaked it to my liking.

These soft, tender cookies really do taste like a pumpkin pie. You can really taste that subtle pumpkin flavor. I also love the natural color that the pumpkin puree and spices give to them.

I had to stop myself from eating too many before taking them to our fellowship! I may need to make another batch or two for Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Pie Cookies

Makes approximately 30 cookies. Adapted from Kimspireddiy

For cookies:

1 ¾ sticks softened butter
1 ½ cups sugar (300g)
1 egg yolk
½ cup pumpkin puree
2 tsp vanilla
2 ½ cups flour (300g)
½ tsp baking powder
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
pinch each of cloves, ginger, & nutmeg
pinch of salt (up to ½ tsp if using unsalted butter)

For glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar (120g)
1 tbsp pumpkin puree
½ tsp cinnamon
1-2 tsp water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar in mixing bowl.
2. Add egg yolk, pumpkin puree, & vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and spices.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients & mix until combined.
6. Use a cookie scoop or tablespoon to drop balls of dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone mat.
7. Use your clean fingers to gently pat down cookie dough into uniform discs.
8. Bake 10-12 minutes. Cool for about 15 minutes on cookie sheet and then allow them to cool completely before glazing; cookies will be soft.
9. To make the glaze: Whisk together 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1 tbsp pumpkin puree, ½ tsp cinnamon, and 1-2 tsp of water. Drizzle over cookies by using a ziplock bag & cutting a tiny hole in one corner. Glaze will harden & set.

Due Date Cookies

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I am doing everything in my power to get baby boy Blueberry out in a natural way. One of the things I’m doing is eating 6 dates a day. According to studies, women who eat 75 grams of dates (approximately 6 deglet noor dates, or 3-4 medjool dates) a day for the last month of pregnancy have shorter & easier labors. Dates are also packed with nutrients like potassium and magnesium which help with with swelling and blood pressure. You can read all that Mama Natural has to say about them here.

The only problem is that I am not a fan of the taste of a plain date. Therefore I have been finding creative ways to get them in without just forcing myself to eat them. I’ve been putting them in smoothies, eating Larabars, making them into peanut butter balls, and baking these cookies. I found this recipe and tweaked it to make it more date-y and also a little more simple for the 9 months pregnant mama. There’s no waiting or chilling in my recipe – just whip up & bake!

Cupcake loves making these cookies with me, or as she says it “mixa con Mami”. I love toddler speak! She really enjoys eating these cookies, too. My husband said they were ‘good, not great’. He’s more of a chocolate chip guy. I told them they weren’t for him – they were for me and the baby!

Dates and walnuts go really well together, but I have also made these with a mix of walnuts, almonds, and pecans. You can’t go wrong with any or all of those nuts.

This recipe contains 24 dates and makes 24 cookies. Therefore with this recipe you can be saying 6 cookies a day instead of dates!

Please say a prayer for me as I approach delivery day!

Due Date Cookies

24 pitted deglet noor dates (or 12-15 medjool)
1 cup walnuts (or your favorite nut)
1/2 cup room temperature butter (1 stick)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350. Using a food processor, chop the dates and walnuts together until they are broken up into very small pieces – a little bigger than a coarse meal. Alternatively, chop by hand to desired size. Set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar using stand or electric mixer.
Add the egg & beat until incorporated. Then add vanilla.
Mix in dry ingredients on low. When fully incorporated, add date/walnut mixture.
Scoop 24 cookies onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Bake for 11-12 minutes, until bottoms just start to brown. Cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to cool completely. Enjoy!

Zombie Finger Cookies

Makes 24-30 fingers

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
24-30 sliced almonds
lingonberry jam

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with baking spray.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, & salt.
Using a mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter & sugar together until light & fluffy.
Add the egg & vanilla. Beat until smooth.
Slowly add in the flour mixture until dough forms.
Using about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll the dough between your palms to form fingers (Giada says about 5-inch-long fingers about 1/2-inch thick). For the knuckles: using a knife, make 1 slit close to the nail bed & 3 slits towards the middle of the finger.
Melt jam in microwave for 30 seconds. Dip sliced almonds in melted jam & then press into the end of each finger to make fingernails.
Arrange the fingers on the cookie sheet & bake for 16 to 18 minutes, until light brown. Transfer the fingers to a wire rack & cool completely.
Dip the blunt ends of the fingers in the warm jam & serve.

Cinnamon Gingerbread Ice Cream

5 Replies

My husband & I decided to host Christmas dinner. We had a pretty successful Thanksgiving at our house, so we decided to take on Christmas dinner as well.

I actually like the whole hosting thing. We made a roast, some veggies, & dessert. Our family & friends made & brought way more food than we did. We just had to do the clean up, but even then we had some help. It was a lot of fun!

For dessert I made pudding.

Just kidding! I made cinnamon gingerbread ice cream.

My friend Beth had gotten me some gingerbread cookies from Ikea when she was gathering supplies for our Ikea cookie contest baking & that’s what inspired this whole recipe.

I almost called this Pepparkaka ice cream, but I didn’t think the joke would go over too well.

It had been a while since I made a custard-style ice cream, so I knew I wanted to do the whole egg yolk cooking shebang for this one. It also worked out well because I saved the egg whites for my chocolate mousse a few days later. I basically followed the custard-style ice cream recipe – the first recipe I ever posted – only I swapped out vanilla for cinnamon & whole cloves.

The cinnamon & cloves are the base flavors of this ice cream. The gingerbread comes from crumbled up Ikea cookies, but I’m sure any ginger snap type cookie would be good. I also added cinnamon chips. I saw them at Publix one day & was so curios! I’m glad I found a use for them.

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I waited until the ice cream was almost done churning before adding the mix-ins, then I transferred the ice cream to a container & put it in the freezer.

Everyone loved my ice cream!

Cinnamon Gingerbread Ice Cream

Ingredients

2 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar, divided
1 pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
2 cinnamon sticks
4 whole cloves
1/2 cup cinnamon chips
gingerbread cookies, crumbled

In a medium saucepan set over medium-low heat, whisk together milk, cream, half the sugar, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and salt. Bring the mixture just to a boil.
While the milk/cream mixture is heating, combine the yolks & remaining sugar in a mixer bowl. Beat on low until the mixture is pale and thick.
Once the milk/cream mixture has come to a slight boil, beat about 1/3 of the hot mixture into the yolk/sugar mixture. Add another 1/3 of the mixture, stir, then return the combined mixture to the saucepan. Using a wooden spoon, stir the mixture constantly over low heat until it thickens slightly & coats the back of the spoon. Do NOT boil the mixture – egg yolks will over cook.
Strain the mixture & bring to room temperature. Chill in fridge for 1-2 hours.
Turn on the ice cream maker, pour in the mixture, & let mix for about 20 minutes. During the last minute, add cookie crumbles & cinnamon chips.
The ice cream will be soft. Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container & freeze for 2 hours.

Christmas Cookie Baking

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It may seem quiet in my corner of the web lately, but that’s because life has been anything but!

There are so many wonderful activities happening this time of year! The world waits to celebrate when God came down to us as a little baby. The love of God translates to love for family & friends. It really does feel like the most wonderful time of the year – even down here in warm, sunny Florida!

A few weekends ago my friend Beth & I got together with our Kitchenaid mixers & made a bunch of cookies.

Red & green! How perfect!

Cow apron!

We were baking cookies to enter in the IKEA cookie contest. We didn’t place, but we should have! We totally made some amazing cookies.

Beth taking the entry photo of our thumbprint cookies.

Some of our contest entries:

Thumbprint cookies with lingonberry jam.

We called this one “Grandma ran over the reindeer”

We had a lot of fun! We also made peanut butter cookies, sugar cookies, & gingerbread cookies just because!

We decorated gingerbread couples, too!

I think I captured us pretty well!

What a great day! I love baking, I love spending time with friends, I love beef (which we ate) & hot cocoa (which we drank).

A few days later I got the idea to make some gingerbread cookies on my own to give away at work.

Beth lent me her airplane cookie cutter. How cute! I work in aviation, so these were the perfect Christmas gift to everyone at the office.

Can I just say again how much I love this time of year? A time for warm hearts & warm cocoa. A time to turn on the lights & the oven. A time to give gifts & give hugs.

A time to love God & love each other ❤

The Worst Cookies I’ve Ever Made

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WARNING: This post contains recipes. Use it at your own risk. Look at the title, people.

My friend Beth is doing what I’d call a modified version of the Whole 30 food plan. Modified in the sense that she is sticking to the Whole 30 foods but not exactly the Whole 30 mind set. So I asked her if I made a Whole 30 ‘friendly’ dessert would she eat it, & she said yes. I have made Paleo/Vegan cookies before with my best friend Frank & they turned out great. So what could go wrong?

I went to the store and bought some coconut flour. Why coconut? Because it was cheaper than almond flour. Then I went home to look up coconut flour cookie recipes that didn’t ask for butter. I came across a couple of recipes that called for coconut flour, cocoa powder, olive oil, & honey. Wanting to take out the honey, I figured I’d use a fruity reduction for the sweetness. I made some cookies with the cocoa powder & some without.

This picture LIES. These recipes are NOT to be used on friends.

Chocolate “Cookies”

1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp fruity reduction
3 large eggs
1/2 tbsp olive
1 tsp vanilla extract

The dough for this was so bitter, that I added about 4 tbsp of brown sugar to get it to taste like super dark chocolate. Sugar is not Whole 30 or Paleo friendly, but at this point I was trying to salvage the brown mush I had made. I should have known…

Non-Chocolate “Cookies”

1/3 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp fruity reduction
3 large eggs
1/2 tbsp olive
1 tsp vanilla extract

The dough for these tasted promising. Not sweet like a regular cookie, but maybe like a biscuit that would be good with some milk or tea…

Somewhere in the baking process everything went to hell.

Trying to be polite by saying they’re not that bad.

Smiling through the pain.

My poor husband could not hide his disgust.

My disappointed face after I tried them for myself.

Man were these things gross! They were both equally horrendous. It wasn’t just a sugar problem; they were a horrifying consistency. I have since read that coconut flour is super absorbent & not the easiest to work with. What am I supposed to do with the rest of the bag I bought???

I felt so bad for serving these to people I love! The only way I could ever see using this type of recipe gain would be on April Fool’s Day. Or to send a care package to someone I hate.

I promptly threw them out & made some REGULAR peanut butter cookies. Sorry, Beth, but after this atrocity we needed some butter, milk, & sugar!

Not everything can be a win. These cookies were an epic FAIL.

Mrs. Dessert Monster

Part-time baker; full-time mami

Tag Archives: cookies

Due Date Cookies

Due Date Cookies

Cinnamon Gingerbread Ice Cream

Christmas Cookie Baking

The Worst Cookies I’ve Ever Made