Happy Halloween

I just wanted to pop in and say hello! Hope you all are having a happy Halloween with the kiddos. What are your youngins' dressing up/dressed up as? What's their favorite candy?

I don't have any youngins', but someday if I have some, I have a feeling they'll really like Almond Joy. Those are NOT just for the elderly.

Wellll, when I was younger I didn't like Almond Joy that much. I probably preferred Bottle Caps, Whoppers and Nerds.

When I used to get home from trick-or-treating I'd always lay all of my candy out, divide it up into categories, and admire it. Yes, even back then I was a little OCD.

For a couple of years we used to trick-or-treat at the mall with friends.
Which one am I? And yes, mommy made my costume for me. Oh boy!



But that didn't last long. For real trick or treating you have to drive around and stop into all of the fancy neighborhoods. (Don't go to your dentist's house though, because she'll just give you a toothbrush.) Not cool.

Once I was a seductive mermaid. I think I was realllly into The Little Mermaid that year. Mom made this too.



Another year I was a monarch butterfly. Mom made this costume also. Here we are at storytime in the library, doing some crafting. Isn't mom pretty? I like your sweatshirt, mom. :) Very late eighties.



I guess this was my first costume - a ghost. An unhappy ghost. Probably because my sisters' costumes were a lot better than mine. There's no doubt in my mind that my mom made these costumes too. She's awesome. HOLD ON to your nose, Rachel!



Meow. Meow?


I'll be back tomorrow with a recipe to use up your kids' leftover Halloween candy! (Hide their Butterfingers tonight while they're sleeping.)

Spiced Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

I've never carved a pumpkin with a boyfriend in a townhouse before.

That is, until Monday night.



I love carving pumpkins. I love scooping out the flesh and seeds. I love roasting the seeds. I think I'm always more excited about the seeds than the pumpkin.



Eric going all Psycho on the pumpkin.











He's had really bad allergies lately.





I've made all kinds of roasted pumpkin seeds before, but now I just prefer a little oil, salt, and fresh cracked pepper on them.




The finished product. Yes, those are heart eyes. Halloween is our anniversary!


We're proud of our little pumpkin.




<3 Happy two years.




I wish I could say I used fresh pumpkin in this bread, but I did not. Even fresh pumpkin can't compare to Libby's! I love Libby's. Can I work at Libby's? That would be awesome.



I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies the other day and I guess I just didn't get my fix. So I baked a Spiced Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread to satisfy my raging pumpkin appetite.



This is your basic pumpkin quick bread, but it's a little more gourmet. It has buttermilk, spices, mini chocolate chips and toasted walnuts in the batter, and it's sprinkled with a crumb topping made from butter, flour and brown sugar.

Now that I've had this pumpkin chocolate chip bread, my life is complete.

What to make next.. what to make next.. any requests?

Have a happy and safe Halloween!


Spiced Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
Printable Recipe

3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts, toasted

Spiced Crumb Topping
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together melted butter, pumpkin, brown sugar, sugar, buttermilk and vanilla until well combined; whisk in eggs until combined. Stir in dry ingredients until incorporated; stir in chocolate chips and walnuts until combined.

Scrape batter into prepared pan. To make the spiced crumb topping, in a small bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice until combined. Knead in butter using fingertips or a pastry blender, until mixture is well combined and clumps together. Sprinkle crumbs over the top of batter.

Bake 50 minutes or until well risen, golden brown, and a wooden skewer inserted into bread comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool on a wire rack for 45 minutes before removing bread from pan.

Makes 1 loaf

Oreo Stuffed Double Chocolate Cookies

Good morning! Welcome to my blog on this beautiful Wednesday.

Halloween is just a few days away... have you picked out your costume? Carved the pumpkin? Prepared yourself for what parties you're going to and considered what the earliest time to escape would be? Have you purchased your Halloween candy yet?



Eric and I have indeed picked out our costumes. Eric bought ours a month ago at a discount store that sells damaged goods. Haha. But you'll have to wait and see what we're going to be...

We have carved our pumpkin, but you'll have to wait for that too. :)

As for the parties, we still haven't quite figured that out yet. We know we want to spend as little time as possible at the party that's going to be awkward.

Candy, candy. We don't have any candy yet. What kind of candy should we buy? I vote for caramel apple suckers if they still make those. Or Twix.



I've been running a bit lately. Mostly to burn off all of these pumpkin and apple desserts I've been baking. I haven't ran since I ran the 8K in April. A month or two ago I had the urge to run again, so I've been running about twice a week. It's a good workout and harder than aerobics, biking, yoga, etc. I also like running outside; back in the winter I was running on the treadmill and I hated it. I've considered running another race but I'm not sure if I want to sign up for anything just yet. I'm slooowww.



It looks like fall here now. Kinda. It's still pretty green out there. These things are falling from the trees everywhere.



Are you familiar with this? It's called an Osage Orange, and yes it's edible, although I've never tried one I think I'll leave that up to Bear Grylls. The squirrels love them though, so maybe they are good. I don't like these things because I used to trip on them in the yard all of the time.



Black walnuts are falling, too. We used to have people who came into our yard and stole the black walnuts to sell. I don't think mom and dad minded though because they didn't have to worry about mowing over them.

I don't know a lot of people who like black walnuts, but I know that I do... I think I get that from my grandma Mutzie. Do you like black walnuts? I wish I had grandma's black walnut shortbread recipe to share with you all.



Don't these cookies look festive for Halloween? Maybe you could make some for your upcoming (awkward) Halloween parties. These were really good and I don't think it's possible for someone to not like these cookies.



I made up a very chocolate-y cookie batter and then wrapped it around Oreo cookies. After baking and cooling, I simply drizzled the cookies with melted white chocolate and orange candy melts.



A cookie inside of a cookie is always a good thing.


Oreo Stuffed Double Chocolate Cookies
Printable Recipe

1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted
14 Oreos
Melted white chocolate for drizzling (optional)
Melted orange colored chocolate for drizzling (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat cookie sheets with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together butter and sugar until creamy - about 1-2 minutes. Beat in vanilla and egg until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in dry ingredients until combined. Beat in melted chocolate chips until combined.

Divide dough into 14 balls. Flatten a ball in the palm of your hand and place an Oreo in the center; evenly wrap dough around Oreo. Repeat process with remaining dough and Oreos. Place balls on sheet pans and bake 10 minutes or until puffy and set. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

Drizzle melted white and orange chocolate over cookies.

Makes 14 cookies

Frosted Pumpkin Bars

Sometimes publishing companies email me and ask if I would like to review a cookbook. Most of the time I say YES because I love cookbooks. I have a bookshelf full of them and I have many more picked out in my Amazon shopping cart. Someday I would like to write a cookbook of my own, too.



Sometimes I turn down an offer because it might be a topic that I'm not interested in blogging about. BUT, when a publisher asked if I'd like to review Robin L. Olson's "The Cookie Party Cookbook" I accepted the offer. Books about cookies are my favorite kinds of books. Except for these.



This cookbook is called "The Ultimate Guide to Hosting a Cookie Exchange", and with 331 pages, it really is. There's more information about cookie exchanges in here than I'll ever need. I feel good that I own this guide though, in case I ever have to plan a massive cookie exchange.

I don't think I have enough friends to hold a cookie exchange. Awwww.
*Tears falling*



I'm not much of an organizer of events like cookie exchanges; I leave that for other people to do and then I just come to the event, stress free! However, I feel like maybe this is the right time in my life to hold a cookie exchange. What if local readers (all three of you guys! Thanks for the support!!) and I held a cookie exchange somewhere in Springfield... like in December? Wouldn't that be fun?! But it also could be super awkward for everyone. Heh heh heh. Maybe we could meet at a bar and get a few drinks in us so it wouldn't be awkward.

Cookie exchange at a bar what?



Back to the cookbook. With 176 recipes, it's packed with just about every cookie you could want, including classic cookies, international cookies, bars, tartlets, turtles and easy treats. The book also informs how to host a cookie exchange, creative invitation ideas, themes for parties, and ideas for prizes and parting gifts. Here's a link to the author's website if you would like more information about her or cookie exchanges.



I chose a simple recipe that I knew everyone would like: Frosted Pumpkin Bars.
This recipe was quick to make and very easy. You make a spiced pumpkin cake batter and spread it into a jelly roll pan and bake for twenty minutes. After cooling, you frost the pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing and slice into bars.

Then, drive to your sister and boyfriends' place of employment and give the bars to their coworkers.


Frosted Pumpkin Bars (Adapted from The Cookie Party Cookbook by Robin L. Olson)
Printable Recipe

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 (16 oz) can pumpkin puree
4 large eggs
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts, toasted

Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon milk or cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 15x10x1 jelly roll pan with cooking spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon. In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together butter, granulated sugar and pumpkin until creamy - about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs until well combined - about 2-3 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined. Beat in walnuts until just combined.

Scrape and smooth batter into prepared pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the frosting, beat cream cheese in a large mixing bowl using a mixer on medium speed until creamy. Beat in butter until creamy. Beat in confectioners' sugar, cream and vanilla until well combined and smooth - about 2-3 minutes. Spread frosting over cake, sprinkle with extra cinnamon if desired, and slice into bars.

Makes 4 dozen bars

Apple Dumplings

Last week Eric was on fall break and I had the day off, so we drove to Marionville, Missouri to visit Murphy Orchard and do some apple picking. There are a lot of apple orchards in the area, and I'm not sure why we went with this one... I think maybe because it's one of the larger orchards.




It still doesn't really look like fall here. Just slightly. I don't think we've had cold enough temperatures yet. Hopefully soon, though!





An hour later we arrived at our destination.



Guess what? They wouldn't let us pick apples. They don't allow apple picking, and also they said most of the apples had been picked already. I guess many of the orchards in the area don't allow apple pickin' either.



We were disappointed for only a minute (well I was, haha) and then got over it because there were still plenty of apples to pick from and many things to look at in the orchard shop.



So we didn't get to go apple picking, but we did get to pick some apples out. :)






They also had locally grown pecans and walnuts.



Mmm honey.



Apple butter!






Are you sick of apple pictures yet??



How about some pumpkin pictures?



Did I mention the orchard makes peanut clusters, too? That's what Eric is gnawing on. They grow them from their peanut cluster trees.



I ended up getting some apple cider and Fuji apples and then we headed back home. When I got home I tasted the cider and it was tasty, and then I tried the apples and they were just okay. Good... not great. That makes me sad! The apples I had from Washington last week were better than the locally grown. Ugh. I bet I just bought the wrong kind of apple.




The apples weren't spectacular, but these apple dumplings were. First, let me explain. I made these apple dumplings and was just kinda playing around and experimenting. I didn't expect them to be that great, and I wasn't expecting to blog about them. But here I am, blogging about apple dumplings.



They ended up being delicious! Please ignore their rather, uhh, rustic appearance. I didn't get too fussy with making them, because once again, I wasn't expecting to blog about them. I should have wrapped the apples more nicely in the pastry dough and then maybe made a few leaves to go on top. Also, I don't own an apple corer. Mom, that's on my Christmas list. Coring an apple without a corer is nearly impossible. I ended up having huge holes where the cores were.



Okay, so, the apples are peeled, cored, and wrapped in a buttery pastry dough and placed in a baking dish. The apples are stuffed with oats, brown sugar, toasted walnuts, pumpkin pie spice and butter. The dumplings are then baked in and drizzled with a cider sauce made out of butter (ha!), apple cider, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, clementine zest, and dried cranberries.

Serve these warm out of the oven with vanilla ice cream. You'll swoon, I'm telling you.



Apple Dumplings
Printable Recipe

Dough
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4-5 tablespoons cold milk

6 small apples, peeled, cored

Stuffing
1/4 cup old fashioned oats
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts, toasted
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Cider Sauce
1 cup apple cider
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon grated clementine zest
3 tablespoons sweetened dried cranberries

To make the dough, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Knead in butter using your fingertips, two forks, or a pastry blender, until well incorporated and mixture starts to clump together. Sprinkle in a tablespoon of milk at a time, tossing dough with a fork after each addition, until you can form a ball with the dough; wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a medium sized baking dish with cooking spray. (I used an 11x8-inch glass baking dish)

Roll out dough (as thinly as you can without tearing) into a large rectangle; slice into 6 squares. Place an apple in the middle of each square, and pull up dough around apple and pinch edges to seal. Place apples in baking dish.

To make the stuffing, in a medium bowl, stir together oats, brown sugar, walnuts, pumpkin pie spice and melted butter until well combined; place spoonfuls of mixture in centers of apples.

To make the cider sauce, in a small saucepan over medium heat, bring apple cider, brown sugar, butter, pumpkin pie spice, clementine zest and cranberries to a boil, whisking frequently; pour sauce into bottom of baking dish around apples. Drizzle spoonfuls of sauce over the top of apples. Bake apples for 1 hour, basting occasionally with sauce, until golden brown and apples are tender.

Makes 6 apple dumplings