Miss Marian's Pumpkin Cookies

When I was a single girl, I purchased my first home next to a very nice older couple.  They were the nicest neighbors anyone could ever wish for.  Every year Miss Marian would bake these wonderful pumpkin shaped cookies for Halloween and give them out as treats.  Unfortunately today, you can't give such treats out because they will end up in the trash can.  After I got married and moved away from the neighborhood, I would take my kids to their house every Halloween for those treats. THEY wanted those cookies and looked forward to them every year!  Even though she shared that recipe, I never made those cookies. 

One day I decided to make them.  Well, well, well, I got bad reviews and scolded that they did not taste like hers!  I put the recipe away and never made them again.  Years went on, the kids got older and did not go out for Halloween any more, so no more cookies for them. We moved again and somehow that recipe got lost, the kids still always talking about her pumpkin cookies, and me telling them to be quiet about the pumpkin cookies.

 So it's Fall again, Halloween is right around the corner.  My husband, thinking like he always does, stops at their house as he is passing by one day, and asks her for the recipe.  He brings it home to me and asks me to make the cookies, again.  Here is the result, much better this time, as I am older and wiser about baking at least.  The kids (they're adults now) are enjoying their pumpkin cookies with milk.  Everybody is happy, it's Fall again!

Recipe below.

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A few ingredients to start with. Almost everything you would have I'm sure, except the molasses.

Get the ingedients going in the heavy duty mixer, and you get this nice ball of soft, gingery dough.

Line baking sheets with parchement, you don't want them to stick.

 Cut them out with a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter.  Ms. Marion used the old Tupperware pumpkin cookie cutter that had a face on it .  I had the same cutter, but that too got lost when we moved.  I wanted sprinkles on the cookies, my daughter said no, they have to look like Ms. Marion's.  So she hand cut faces on the cookies and drew lines on some of them.

 So here they are, THE COOKIES. No pumpkin in them, just shaped like pumpkins.  These truly are the best Fall cookie, they're soft, not too sweet and full of the aroma's of Fall.  You get lost with them, a glass of milk, a cup of tea or coffee.  HAPPY FALL EVERYONE!

Ms. Marion's Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients

3 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup Grandma's Molasses

1 egg, beaten

Directions

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ground ginger and cinnamon, set aside.  Cream together the butter, sugar, molasses and egg.  When all is combined, gradually add the dry ingredients until a soft dough forms, scraping sides and bottom of the bowl to incorporate all of the flour mixture.  Wrap dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Dust your work surface with a little flour, so the dough does not stick.  Roll dough out to 1/8 inch thick and cut with cookie cutters into shape.  Place 2 inches apart on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.  As always, all ovens vary, the cookies are done when they are no longer shiny, they retain their same color, they do not brown like other cookies.  Take out of the oven, let cool on sheet for 3 minutes, transfer to wire cooling rack.  Amount of cookies will vary with the type of cutter you use.  I used a big 4 x 3 1/2 inch pumpkin cutter, and the recipe made 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

Gingerbread Snack Cake - A Little Sugar And A Lot of Spice

 Baking in the kitchen, my favorite place to be!  I enjoy making desserts that are not only good for you but actually taste good.  It's hard to find desserts that are not loaded with fat and dairy products, so you have to go searching for ideas and work them.  That's what I did  for this deliciously moist, healthy for you, vegan Gingerbread Snack Cake, and everyone that tasted it said it was great.  It only lasted one day in my house, and the pan was empty.  Great with a glass of milk or a hot cup of tea, but you won't need anything to wash it down, it's that good.  Don't shy away from things unknown to you, I used to be afraid to cook with ingredients that I knew nothing about, such as some of the ingredients in this recipe, now that I've tried them, I like the results.  You would never know what is in this cake unless you baked it yourself.  My sister tasted a piece of the cake and I asked her what she thought, she loved it.   Then I told her what was in it, and now wants the recipe.   So go forth and bake things with unknown ingredients you will be pleasantly surprised.  Recipe below.

Delicious, moist, flavorful Gingerbread Cake!

 Gingerbread Snack Cake

Ingredients

Cooking Spray

2/3 cup of Almond Breeze Almond Milk

1/4 cup of dark molasses

1/4 cup of pure maple syrup

1/3 cup of carrot juice (I used Bolthouse)

1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar 

2 tablespoons of Canola oil

2 tablespoons of Golden Omega Fine Textured Flaxseed or use ground flax meal

1 cup of Hodgson Mill 100% Stone Ground Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons of ground ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of allspice

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup of raisins

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray an 8 x 8 baking dish with the cooking spray, set aside.  In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the milk, molasses, syrup, carrot juice, vinegar, oil and flaxseed (meal).  Let sit for 5 - 7 minutes.  In a larger mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and brown sugar, when all this is combined add the raisins and toss them to coat so they don't sink to the bottom of the cake.  

Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients in the larger bowl and stir until evenly combined, do not over mix the batter. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes or until cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Remove the pan from the oven, let sit for 20 minutes to cool, then remove from pan. Let cool completely. Dust with a powdered sugar if desired.  Makes 9 servings.

The Fabulous Gingerbread Boys (And Girls)!

Nothing says it's Christmastime more, than the smell of Gingerbread baking in the oven.  The scent of cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger and nutmeg combined together is so sweet.  These are a favorite of my son and daughter, and I have to hide them so they don't eat them all!  Simply decorated, because they don't need much, to make them taste so good.  Recipe below. 

Some of the ingredients that I used for the dough. It has alot of ingredients, but don't be afraid of that, it mixes very quickly, and the cookies are awesome!

This dough is simple to pull together and easy to roll out.

 Cutting the gingerbread boys and girls.

 Pre-decoration, but looking pretty cute!

 Baked and decorated.  Boys with bow ties and Girls with snowflake eyes and holding candy canes.  I also used cookie stamps on some of them.

 Pretty little reindeer, just waiting to be eaten.

Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients

3 cups of unbleached flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 Tbsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. allspice

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. salt

1 stick butter, softened at room temperature

1/4 cup Crisco shortening, at room temperature

1/2 cup packed brown sugar, light or dark

2/3 cup of molasses

1 large egg, at room temperature

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt, set aside.  In a large bowl of an electric mixer, on medium-high speed, cream the butter and the shortening together.  Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in the molasses and the egg.  Scrape the sides of the bowl, then gradually stir in the flour mixture to form a stiff ball of dough.  Divide the dough in half and flatten to form two discs.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.  Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before rolling.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.  Roll out one disc at a time, on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness.  Cut out cookies with shapes of your choice and place 1 inch apart on baking sheets.  Decorate as you like with jimmies/sprinkles, or leave some cookies plain, and after they are baked frost with icing. Gather scraps and re-roll them to form more cookies.  Repeat with remaining dough. (TIP:  If cookies have too much flour on top lightly dust them off with a dry pastry brush)

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, switching sheets top to bottom rack, and front to back, halfway through baking for evenness of color.  Let cool about 5 minutes before removing from baking sheets.  Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.  Store in airtight containers.  Makes about 36 cookies.

NOTE: These can also be decorated with frosting.  Recipe below.

Royal Icing

3 Tbsp. Meringue Powder

4 cups of confectioner's sugar

5 - 6 Tbsp. warm water (for stiffer icing use 5 Tbsp. water)

Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks, about 7-10 minutes at low speed with a heavy duty mixer, or 10-12 minutes with a hand held mixer.  Recipe makes 3 cups.  Tint as you like with liquid, gel or powdered food coloring.  To frost use a pastry bag and small tips or ziploc bag with an end snipped off.  Pipe around the edges first then use a small pallet knife to fill in the frosting.

This is a smooth and hard drying, edible icing, so to keep from drying out place a dampened paper towel over your bowl while you are working with it.  This icing is NOT recommended for frosting cakes.