Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Kayla and I were in the mood to make some chocolate chip cookies on my birthday and we searched on pinterest for a recipe, these cookies looked good and we decided to try them. They were so so so delicious! The perfect cake-y but cookie texture at the same time. Unfortunately I lost the recipe soon after we made them and I thought that I was going to cry, I probably spent 30 minutes googling and when I found it again I may have danced a little :) This recipe is definitely going in the favorites. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe came from My Delayed Fairytale

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes: 20

Ingredients

Mix the following together:

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

Mix the following together in a separate bowl:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix the following together before adding to flour mixture:

1 teaspoon milk

1 teaspoon baking soda (dissolve with the milk)

Add to entire mixture: 

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preparation:

1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil and egg.  In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

2. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in.  Add flour mixture to pumkin mixture and mix well.

3. Add vanilla and chocolate chips

4.  Drop by spoonful (generously) on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 9 minutes.

Special Touch: I like to place a few of the chocolate chips on the top of each cookie before I bake them to give them a more finished look.  Enjoy!  And don't eat the whole batch!

Monster Cookies

These cookies have all things yummy in them, peanut butter, oatmeal, m&m's, sugar, etc. I could just easily eat the dough (lets be honest I did eat the dough :D). I have a problem here in Utah, most of my cookies come out flat :( but besides that they tasted great!

Monster Cookies

Recipe came from Recipe Girl

Monster Cookies

Yield: 36 regular sized or 22 giant cookies

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 10 min

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups creamy or chunky peanut butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup granulated white sugar

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup M&M's plain chocolate candies

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick spray, or line with parchment paper or a silpat mats.

2. In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter with the sugars and butter. Use an electric mixer to mix until well combined. Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Mix in the oats and baking soda. Then stir in the chips and M&M's.

3. Drop the cookies by heaping spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets. If you'd like your cookies to look pretty (like the photo), dot a few extra M&M's and chocolate chips on each mound of dough before baking.

4. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Do not overbake. Cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheets until cookies are set. Transfer to wire racks; cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Pumpkin Pie Cinnamon Rolls

I used to refuse to even try anything that had pumpkin in them. If you had shown me this recipe a few years ago I would not have even contemplated even trying it, but as I was looking through recipes for one to try this one sounded delicious and I couldn't wait to try it. The frosting was soooooo good and I tried the cinnamon rolls right after I cooked them, they were good but I think they were even better the next day. My only complaint is that the way they suggest putting the filling in the rolls makes it so that when you bite into it you can get way too much filling at one time, I would suggest rolling out the dough like you normally do with cinnamon rolls and spreading the filling out even across the dough.

Pumpkin Pie Cinnamon Rolls

Recipe came from Diethood

Pumpkin Pie Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

• 2 cans Pillsbury Crescent Rounds
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
For the Frosting
• 4-oz cream cheese, softened
• 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375.
• Lightly grease two 8-inch cake pans with non-stick spray; set aside.
• Separate dough into 16 rolls and unroll.
• Brush each piece of dough with melted butter.
• In a small bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
• Evenly divide pumpkin filling and spread over each piece of rolled-out dough.
• Carefully roll up each dough, lightly pinching seams together.
• Arrange the rolls 1 inch apart in the prepared cake pan.
• Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, or until tops are golden brown.
In the meantime prepare the frosting.
• Place cream cheese in your mixer's bowl and cream for 1 minute.
• Gradually add in powdered sugar and continue to beat until well combined.
• Mix in pumpkin pie spice.
• Add vanilla and mix until thoroughly combined.
• Remove pans from oven and immediately brush each roll with frosting.
• Serve

Oreo Pudding Cookies

I am really behind in recipes, I haven't been trying lots of new ones lately but enough that need to be posted. This is one recipe that NEEDS to posted, it is a definite winner...I made a double batch and took all of them to work and left them on the counter in the breakroom, people tried them and then left but continually they kept coming back and grabbing stacks of 3 or 4 at a time and leaving again. Needless to say they didn't last very long. A couple of notes that I would make are is that I liked the cookies that had the candy bar chopped up a little finer and don't cook the cookies quite as long as they say, I think I cut off a minute or two and it made them the perfect softness (which in my opinion definitely changes the flavor of the cookie). 

Oreo Pudding Cookies

Recipe came from Cookies And Cups

Oreo Pudding Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 pkg (4.2 oz) Oreo pudding/pie filling mix
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups chopped Cookies and Creme Bars (About 4 Hershey's)

How to Make

1. Preheat oven to 375°
2. In a stand mixer cream together butter, pudding mix and both sugars. Add in eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Turn mixer to low and slowly add in flour, baking soda, salt and oats.
3. Stir until combined.
4. Stir in chopped candy.
5. Drop by tablespoon onto baking sheet and bake for 8-9 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Copycat Cheesecake Factory Raspberry Lemonade

A bunch of us got together a couple of weeks ago for Brea's birthday. I was put in charge of bringing a drink, and as I stopped drinking soda a month or so ago I really wanted to find a drink that was delicious and it at all possible did not include soda. My Mom had suggested that I could take juice or I thought that I would just take soda and then drink water. But at the last minute Saturday night I went searching through pinterest and blogs and found this drink that was supposed to be amazing...and it was! Everyone kept going back and forth to the kitchen to get more (finally to make it easier, especially for the pregnant ladies, we brought it into the living room). I didn't have the directions and threw the water in before the water was boiling, I'm not sure if that really changed anything but I added a little more sugar because it just needed a little more sweetness ;)

Copycat Cheesecake Factory 

Raspberry Lemonade

Recipe came from The Sexy Knitter

Copycat Cheesecake Factory Raspberry Lemonade

Makes 2 quarts

Ingredients:

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries

Extra sugar for sugaring the rim of your glass

Directions:
Bring the cup of water to a boil. Add the sugar and stir constantly for one minute until sugar is thoroughly dissolved; remove from heat and add to a blender with raspberries. Puree until smooth. Add puree to 2-quart container with lemon juice and enough water to make 2 quarts. Chill before serving. Serve over ice in sugared glasses. (Or, you know, glass, if you're going to hoard it.)

To sugar your glass, run one of your lemon rinds around the edge of the glass to moisten. Dip rim into dry sugar until coated to your liking.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I liked this soup, but anyone that knows me knows that I don't like spicy food at all so I would have cut back the rotel a bit next time.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Recipe came from Mom

1/4 cup Butter or Margarine

1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour

3 cups Chicken Broth

1 cup Milk

8 oz. Velveeta- cubed

10 oz. can Rotel

2 cups cooked, shredded Chicken

1 teaspoon Cumin

1 teaspoon Chili Powder

Salt and Pepper-to taste

Flour Tortillas-as needed

Shredded Colby Jack Cheese or Mexican Blend Cheese-as needed

In a pot, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes.

Slowly whisk in small amounts of chicken broth at a time, then whisk in milk.

Reduce heat to low and stir in velveeta cubes; stir until melted.

Stir in rotel, chicken, and spices.

Once soup is heated through, it is ready to serve at this point. However, if you wish to make tortilla strips, it can sit over low heat while they are made. Stir the soup occasionally.

For tortilla strips, cut tortillas into strips and deep-fry in 350 degree vegetable or peanut oil until golden, then drain on cooling racks.

Spoon a ladleful of soup into a bowl, add a handful of shredded cheese, then spoon another ladleful of soup over cheese. Sprinkle tortilla strips over top. Repeat for remaining servings.

*If you want to save a lot of time, use crumbled tortilla chips instead of tortilla strips. As a substitute for rotel you can use 1 1/2 cups of salsa. Spiciness can be easily adjusted by using spicy rotel or salsa and/or adding cayenne pepper to the soup.

Butternut-Curry Soup

Mom discovered this recipe last year and she really loves it (if the frozen containers full of this soup in the freezer is any sign). Surprisingly I'm a fan of it too, I love it best when it is warm and it is so creamy, yummm!

Butternut-Curry Soup

Recipe came from Mom

6 cups Butternut Squash, cut up (we used a Costco tub)

2 large Sweet Apples, cup up

3 medium Onions, cup up

2 tablespoons Butter

1/4 cup packed Brown Sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons Curry Powder

6 cups Chicken Broth or Vegetable Stock

8 ounces Mascarpone Cheese

2 teaspoons Salt

Sour Cream

Fresh Snipped Chives

Melt butter in stockpot and add onions. Cook for 5 minutes. Then add squash, apples, and chicken broth; simmer over medium heat for 25 minutes, or until squash is soft. Remove from heat and puree vegetable mix. Wisk in curry powder and mascarpone cheese.