Pumpkin Squares

I have a card in my recipe file behind the “Pies” tab that reads: “I am smarter than Crisco and flour.” It’s like one of those positive affirmations a motivational speaker would teach you at a high-priced seminar. Only problem is, I’m not. I’m not smarter. Oh, I’ve tried, I’ve tried many times. I’ve got friends and relatives who are – smarter, that is – who can bake simply lovely pie crusts, but try as I may, I’ve surrendered; it is not my forte. So today I bring you a recipe for “Pumpkin Squares” for people who AREN’T smarter than Crisco and flour.

Crust:
1 C. flour
1/2 C. quick oats
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. (1 cube) butter
Mix well and press in 9X13 pan.  Bake 15 minutes @ 350º

Filling:
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
1 can evaporated milk
2 eggs
3/4 Cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves

Mix well with mixer, pour over crust.
Bake @ 350º 25 minutes

Topping:
1 Cup pecans, chopped
3 or 4 Tbs. butter, softened
1 Cup brown sugar
Mix well and sprinkle over filling.
Bake @ 350º  15 – 20 more minutes, or until filling is “set”, but don’t burn the nuts.

 

Chill.  Serve with whipped topping or vanilla ice cream.

Cheesy Batter Bread

Here’s a quick bread recipe. I’m really glad I remembered I had this one too, since I have a package of cheddar I picked up several weeks ago when it was on sale. It’s fine – no mold or anything, just has gotten quite sharp. I like sharp cheese (I remember my dad did too), but the others in the fam aren’t too much of a fan. Whatever kind of cheese you have will work. This is a good one all by itself, or with a bowl of soup, or with a salad. (Hint: I like it best warmed 5 – 10 seconds in the microwave if it’s not hot.)
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup butter
1/2 Cup warm milk
1/4 Cup warm water
2 1/2 Cup flour, divided
1 pkg. (2 teaspoons) yeast
2 Cups (8 oz.) shredded cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
3 eggs

Directions:
Warm butter, milk, and water together. In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cup flour and all other ingredients. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed. By hand, stir in remaining 1 cup flour. Cover.

Let rise until light, ~ 45-60 minutes.

 

 

Grease a 9×5 loaf pan (I use a nine-inch round Pyrex). Stir down dough, place in pan. Bake at 375º (350º for glass pan) 40-45 minutes.

 

 

When it comes out of the oven and is still hot, I like to coat the top with a generous coat of butter, then sprinkle with coarse kosher salt.

Oatmeal cookie

Most people’s recipe boxes have several oatmeal cookie recipes.  So add another one already.  Honestly, this is very possibly the best oatmeal cookie you will make/eat.  Credit the butter and the spices.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cardamom (optional but oh, my …)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup raisins (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350º F (175 Cº). In a large bowl, cream together butter, shortening, sugars, eggs, and vanilla. (Hint: crack the eggs into the measuring cup you’re going to use for the shortening, empty the eggs into the bowl, but don’t wash or rinse the cup before you put the shortening in it; the shortening will fall right out of the cup.)  Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, stir into the sugar mixture, add raisins if you like.  Careful as you stir, dough will be very thick, you could break a wooden spoon.  Drop by rounded teaspoons (or a small scoop) onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake 9 to 11 minutes until light and golden; do not over bake.  Let them “set” a couple minutes on the cookie sheet before you remove them to a foil-lined counter to cool completely.

B&W Chocolate Cookies

I intentionally write “B&W” rather than “Black and White” … just feels right.  This cookie started out as a chocolate base with peanut butter chips.  I do like peanut butter, but apparently not as much as others; I’m especially not a big fan of peanut butter chips in cookies.  So, I swapped out the peanut butter chips originally called for with half semi-sweet, and half white chocolate.  You can’t see the semi-sweet chips in these pix.

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups butter or margarine
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ bag white chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC)
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar; add eggs and vanilla, beat well.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Incorporate into the creamed mixture with a stout spoon, the dough will be stiff.  Stir in the chips.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased (I don’t know why all these recipes always say “ungreased” – you ever tried to scrape the cookies off an ungreased sheet?) cookie sheet.  Bake 8 to 9 minutes.  Do not over-bake; cookies will be soft.  They will puff while baking and flatten while cooling.  Allow to cool a few minutes on the sheet, and then remove to a rack or aluminum foil on the counter-top to cool completely.

Bacon Cheddar Muffins

 

I’ve been making this muffin recipe for my family and friends for years; it’s been a staple in our family our whole married life.

Ingredients
1 3/4 Cup Flour
1 Cup Cheddar, shredded (or cubed real small)
1/4 Cup Sugar
2 tsp baking Powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg slightly beaten
1 1/2 Cup milk
1/3 Cup oil
1 pkg. bacon (cut small, cooked, cooled, drained)

Directions
Combine the first five ingredients in one mixing bowl; the rest in another. Stir the two together, spoon into greased muffin tin. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Oatmeal Coconut and Goodies Galore

( aka “Coconut Chewies”)

I won’t take credit for the origin of this, I got the idea and the foundation of the recipe from an old school chum, Debbie Black Iverson.  I’m torn over which is better – the texture or the taste – both are most excellent.

Ingredients
Wet:
1 cup butter, softened (option: 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup shortening)
2 cups brown sugar (option: 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup white sugar)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. coconut extract

Dry:
2 cups flour
2 cups oats
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix-ins:
1/2 cup coconut
½ cup raisins (optional)
1 cup semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips or M&Ms (optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Directions
In one bowl combine everything wet; blend well.  In another bowl, combine everything dry.  Combine the two, mix in the mix-ins. (Careful to not break your spoon, dough is very stiff.)  Drop by tablespoons (or small scoop); flatten slightly with backside of spatula or bottom of a glass before baking.  Bake at 375 degrees for 9 minutes or until light brown.  Cool slightly on cookie sheet before removing to foil-lined counter to cool completely.  Store in airtight container.

Grape Nuts Cookies

This is a fun cookie.  The Grape Nuts almost feel like toffee bits when you’re crunching through them in the chewy cookie.  There’s nothing interesting about how they look though, so no picture.

Ingredients:
1 Cup butter, softened (or 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup shortening)
1 Cup brown sugar, packed
1 Cup white sugar
1/3 Cup honey
4 eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla
2 Cups flour
2 Cups Grape Nuts cereal
2 Cups rolled oats
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350º.  In a large bowl, combine (with an electric mixer) the first six (wet) ingredients, in another bowl, combine the next five (dry).  Stir together with a stout wooden spoon; will be too stiff to use a mixer.  Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet; not too closely, they spread.  Bake for 8 – 11 minutes, allow to set a few before removing to counter to cool completely.

Oh Henry Bars

First time I had these, I thought they were another “Rice Krispie treat”, but there are quite a few differences.  I just did a Google search on Oh Henry Bars and there are a LOT of variations out there.  I got this one from friend and neighbor LuAnn Scott, who is such a good cook I knew it would be good.

Ingredients:
1 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 Cups creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 Cups corn syrup
9 Cups Rice Krispies
1 – 12 oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 – 12 oz. pkg. butterscotch chips

Directions:
Mix sugar, peanut butter and corn syrup in a heavy, medium saucepan, until no more sugar crystals can be heard/felt. Measure Rice Krispies into a very large bowl, like a big popcorn bowl. Pour the syrup over the Rice Krispies, and stir gently until completely coated. Pour out and press into the bottom of a greased (spray is fine) 10X14 inch pan. (I like this little bigger pan than the typical 9X13, as the bars aren’t as thick this way.) Melt the chips in a microwave – safe bowl, stir until smooth, spread over bars. Cool in the fridge a few hours to set, then bring back up to almost room temperature to cut into bars.

Soft Gingersnaps

This is one of my favorite cookies.  I’ve always liked gingersnaps, but this one has plusses; it’s soft and chewy (if “soft” and ginger”snap” aren’t too much an oxymoron), the spices are mild, and (wait for it …) its b-u-t-t-e-r-y!  Oh, yeah.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions:
Cream butter; add sugar gradually.  Beat until fluffy.  Add egg and molasses; blend.  Stir together flour, soda, salt and spices; blend into butter mixture.  Roll small portions of dough into balls the size of walnuts  I use a melon baller – they sell tiny little ice cream lookin’ scoops just for the purpose in the specialty cooking stores, but I’m cheap.  Roll in granulated sugar, place on lightly greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.  Bake at 350º 8 to 10 minutes or until they have melted and puffed.  For crisper cookies, bake until they have flattened.  Cookies bake down to form perfect rounds with traditional gingersnap cracks on top.  Careful not to over-bake them, or they won’t be soft and chewy.

Cake Mix Oreos

 

I plowed through the web for this recipe and found several versions, this one being one of the simplest – and the results are great.  Three ingredients, I love it.  Be patient when combining the ingredients, the batter is *very* stiff. (Don’t break your spoon!)  Like the instructions say below, I use a melon baller to dig out small, uniform cookies. A daughter of mine uses a scoop made for cookies that is a little larger, and those are good too.  As for how “done” to cook them, the daughter and I differ slightly. She likes them a little softer than me.  The cookies in these pictures have orange-colored frosting; we gave them away for Halloween.  Feel free to experiment with the colors; I think red and green would be fun for Christmas, pastels for Easter, or regular ol’ white any ol’ time.

Ingredients:
2 (18.25 ounce) packages dark chocolate cake mix
4 eggs
2/3 cup vegetable oil
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 to 3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°  . Lightly grease cookie sheets.  In medium bowl, mix together cake mixes, eggs and oil until well blended.  Dough will be very stiff – don’t break the spoon!  Roll dough into 1 – 2 inch balls (a melon baller works well) and place onto prepared cookie sheets.  Make them as uniform as possible, so they’ll match up top and bottom.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes until semi-firm.  Let set up a few minutes on sheet before removing.  To make filling, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar together until smooth.  Start with 2 cups, and add up to 1 more cup to achieve desired consistency, food color optional.  Spread between two cooled cookies.