Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gluten-free, vegan, and allergy-friendly! Also DELICIOUS.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups pureed pumpkin (1 15 oz. can is fine)

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c molasses

2 c rolled oats

1 c flour *substitute gf flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

***for the spices, a pumpkin spice mix would be amazing

1/2 c raisins *OPTIONAL--I say GROSS.

1 c chocolate chips/chunks of your choice

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix pumpkin, sugar, and molasses together.

In small bowl, combine oats, flour, spices, and baking soda.

Mix together with pumpkin and sugar. Mix in chocolate and/or raisins.

Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet. (I sprinkled a little kosher salt on top–highly recommend) 

Bake 11/13 minutes.

NOTES:

I was really impressed with these as they stuck together super well despite the lack of egg and they came out nice and chewy. 

I think the bake time was a little longer than written? Just watch for your desired level of chewy. 

And the batter was so good we ended up cooking a tray-full of the batter then eating the rest straight out of the mixing bowl over the course of a couple days.

Snickerdoodles!

I vaguely remember making snickerdoodles for a colonial fair in elementary school.  So I've always had a soft spot for that lesser-known cookie - or maybe it was just because they're delicious.  So when I happened across an easy recipe online (one in a cookbook I have required tartar sauce? (correction: cream of tartar, but still, what is that and who has it lying around?)), I was excited to give it a go:

Recipe

3 tbsp room-temperature butter
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

cinnamon sugar: 1 tsp granulated sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Whisk together the butter and sugar, then the egg yolk and vanilla.  Stir in the flour, salt, and baking powder, then refrigerate for 15 minutes.  Heat oven to 350 and mix your cinnamon sugar.  When the dough has hardened a bit, divide it into two cookies (this is a very small-batch recipe), roll them in the cinnamon sugar, and place on a parchment paper-covered baking sheet.  Bake 16-18 minutes.

Notes

Keeping things in the ADKs theme, I used maple sugar instead of the first batch of sugar.  Either because of that or because of a weak/too short refrigeration period, the dough was still super gooey when I tried to roll it and ready it to bake.  The end product was still delicious!  If not picture-worthy...

Peanut Butter Cookies

Build lean muscle while eating cookies?  Worth a shot...

Recipe

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup Splenda (really? maybe plain sugar instead?)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
sea salt

Mix the peanut butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg until doughy.  Line a cookie sheet with foil, lightly oil, and plop spoonfuls on there.  You can flatten them out and give them the standard press pattern with a fork if you want.  Give a very light sprinkle of sea salt.  Cook 10-15 minutes at 350, until golden brown.

Notes

Simple enough, but I don't think I got a single ingredient right in my first attempt.  I had chunky peanut butter, honey, and almond extract.  OK, an egg is hard to mess up.  And sea salt.  So not as bad as I thought, but still...  I said what the hell, I'll make it work through sheer force of will.  It was... interesting.

Almond Cookies

Here's an "old Dutch Colonial," recipe not house -->

Recipe

3/4 c butter (not a misprint - that's a stick and a half)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 c flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c almonds, crushed

Cream the butter, sugar, and almond extract.  Sift the flour with baking soda and salt.  Beat together the butter/sugar and flour mixtures.  Roll the dough out into about a 12" square.  Brush just enough of the egg onto the dough to cover in a light layer, then sprinkle the almonds on top.  Cut into squares and separate.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Notes

This was totally not my dinner tonight...

Anzac Biscuits

Happy Australia Day!  Anzac biscuits (history, recipe) are a classic Australia Day treat, with their origins (like the day itself) in the WWI era, when there was a need to send a tasty treat on a long sea voyage, and also one that did not require eggs as Australia's typically-bellicose dairy farmers were fightin' round the world.


Recipe

1 c quick cooking oats
1 c flour
1 c sugar
3/4 c coconut flakes
1/2 c butter
1 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix up the dry ingredients (oats, flour, sugar, coconut).  Melt the butter and mix in the syrup.  Mix the baking soda and boiling water, then add to butter, then add all that to the dry ingredients.  Spoon onto a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Notes

I'm not much of a baker, so this first batch was a bit of a learning experience.  Still, not too difficult.  I used honey instead of "golden syrup."  I had to split the batch between two trays, and the one closer to the burner got a little overdone.  In retrospect, I should have pulled them out once they looked done; they were very soft, but toughened up a bit as they cooled.  Overall, plenty of tasty biscuits.  And as another plus, your kitchen will smell like delicious baked goods and/or melted butter.