Celebrating Fall With Pumpkin-Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF FALL! I don’t know about you, but I personally wait for this season all year long – the crispness in the air, the breeze, the leaves, the apples and pumpkins, the excess of pumpkin flavored products and ability to wear scarves…I love it ALL (what can I say, I’m a bit of a “basic white girl” – and while I don’t love the term, I have to admit it’s shockingly accurate sometimes…)

…Not gonna lie, this would TOTALLY work on me.

But ok – seriously – now that it’s FALL and all things apple/pumpkin/autumn can OFFICIALLY commence, I thought the best thing to do would be to kick things off with a twist on a favorite cookie – Oatmeal Chocolate Chip – with PUMPKIN!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies are so great – it’s like the Chocolate Chip Cookie’s crunchier cousin (and slightly healthier cuz it has oats in it? maybe?) – and they are my husband’s favorite of all time – and so when I came across this fall-infused variation, I knew they would be the perfect way to kick off Autumn

Pumpkin-Oat Chocolate Chip Cookie
(Recipe Courtesy of Cooking Classy)

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups quick oats
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 cup unsalted butter , softened
1 1/3 cups packed light-brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin puree
1 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Instructions
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger for 30 seconds, set aside
-In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until creamy (occasionally stop and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl throughout entire mixing process). Blend in egg then blend in vanilla extract and pumpkin puree
-With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until combined. Mix in chocolate chips and pecans (if you want some chocolate to show through set some aside to press into tops before baking)

The Beauty that is raw cookie dough – just slightly more orange tinted thanks to the canned pumpkin

-Let batter rest 5 – 10 minutes (this just gives the oats some time to absorb the liquids so batter isn’t so sticky and cookies don’t spread so much)
-Scoop dough out 2 Tbsp at a time (I used a 1 1/2-inch cookie scoop, which I recommend using for evenly shaped cookies and fill it heaping), and drop onto Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheets, spacing cookies 2-inches apart
-Bake in preheated oven 12 – 14 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheet several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container

 

Cookies – pre and post oven

Couple of things that are great about these cookies – they stay super moist thanks to the pumpkin, and the combo of pumpkin and chocolate is pretty great. Also, even if you’re not a huge pumpkin fan, you’ll still like these – the pumpkin isn’t overpowering, and the cinnamon/nutmeg/ginger just lends a nice spice to them

Best of all – they are easy to make. Cookies generally are, and these are no exception (ease of creation is probably one of the reasons why I love baking cookies so much!)

(No – I don’t say Y’all – I am not Southern, not even a little – but I just love the saying “Happy Fall Y’all – so – whatever. It’s happening)

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Large Batch Cookie Bars – The Perfect Picnic Dessert

Last weekend I attended a family Labor Day picnic – which in itself was weird – like – how is summer OVER? Where did it GO? Well – I don’t know about you, but I spent my summer swimming, taking family walks, visiting the zoo, hanging out with friends, and playing on the playground with my son. It was a summer well spent for sure – and Labor Day is always the perfect long weekend to relax and soak up the last little bit of sun and fun! Since the weather here in Upstate NY sucked (aka I wouldn’t get to go swimming boo) I decided to concentrate my efforts elsewhere – in the KITCHEN of course, baking up a batch of these treats to take along to the last family picnic of the summer:

Large Batch Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
(Recipe Courtesy of Jamie Cooks It Up)

Ingredients
1 1/2 C butter
2 C brown sugar
1 C white sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
4 tsp vanilla
4 1/4 C flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 C milk chocolate chips
2 C M&Ms

Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
2. Place 1 1/2 C butter into a large glass bowl. Melt the butter in the microwave.
3. Add 2 C brown sugar and 1 C white sugar and stir to combine. Then add 2 eggs, 2 egg yolks and 4 tsp vanilla. Whisk it together until well combined.
4. In a separate bowl combine 4 1/4 C flour, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp baking soda.
5. Stir the dry mixture into the sugar mixture. Don’t mix it in all the way. The trick to making these bars nice and soft on the inside is not to over mix and not to over bake. So, at this stage…leave a bit of the flour showing. It will incorporate nicely for you as you stir in the chocolate.

I was lucky enough to have a tiny adorable helper who was willing to assist me with getting these together!

6. Add 2 C milk chocolate chips and 2 C of M and M’s (almost all of a medium sized bag). You can use any kind of chocolate chips.
7. Stir the chocolate in to combine.

Someone insisted we make a couple Mickey shaped ones – luckily there was still plenty afterwards to fill the pan with dough!

8. Spray a large cookie sheet with cooking spray (mine is 12 x 17). Press the dough evenly into the pan.

Golden brown perfection

9. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until the outside is slightly golden. You want to be sure not to over bake. They are much better if the inside is nice and soft.
10. Allow them to cool for about 10 minutes then slice into bars and enjoy!

And enjoy them we did!

These were super easy to make – didn’t even need to get out the hand mixer – since the butter is melted, it’s pretty easy to mix together by hand

This makes a TON of cookie bars – which makes sense because it is called “large batch chocolate chip cookie bars” ha – but seriously it made way more than enough for my picnic, and it would be the perfect thing to make for like a kid’s birthday party or something – as the cookies are not too messy and can be cut up pretty small for little hands to easily handle.

And you can mix up what you put in them too – different colored M&M’s for different holidays, or different flavor chocolate chips – I personally used a combo of peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, and mini M & M’s – which turned out great! I love the chewiness factor to them too – and the fact that they use a hefty amount of brown sugar gives them a nice caramel-y color and quality too

They were a hit at the picnic – with those of all ages from 2 to 85! Will make again for sure – just as soon as those Halloween colored M&M’s are released!

Peanut Butter Cup Earthquake Cake (Happy Birthday to ME!)

I just celebrated my 33rd birthday – and as I am sure most of you adults (and moms!) out there can attest to – birthdays aren’t exactly a big deal anymore, but one thing that I do especially enjoy about birthdays is the FOOD! When you’re a kid, it’s all about sheet cake full of sugar and pizza and candy – and I would like to say that as an adult my tastes have evolved and I enjoy a fancy meal in an upscale restaurant for my birthday – but that’s just not me ha. I still love pizza and frosting and candy – but I have evolved a bit past the sheet cake, to this magical creation called the “Earthquake Cake”. It’s full of peanut butter and chocolate-y goodness, and it is a MUST try for those of you who love the PB/chocolate combo as much as I do!

PEANUT BUTTER CUP EARTHQUAKE CAKE
(Recipe Courtesy of Lamberts Lately)

INGREDIENTS
1 Box of yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups peanut butter
2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature
chocolate syrup
¼ cup milk
2 cups powdered sugar
30 chopped peanut butter cups

INSTRUCTIONS
-In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 cup of peanut butter, and 1 stick of butter. Spread mixture in a greased 9×13″ baking dish.
-In a mixer, mix together 1 stick butter, 1 cup peanut butter, and ¼ cup milk. Slowly add in powdered sugar until frosting is mixed well.
-Spoon half of the frosting mixture on top of the cake mix. Add 6-8 large squirts of chocolate syrup.Very gently swirl frosting and syrup into the cake mix. Don’t completely mix. Make sure you get swirls into the edge of the cake pan.
-Gently press in half of the chopped peanut butter cups.
-Bake cake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees
-Once cooled, Top cake with remaining frosting, more chocolate syrup, and remaining chopped peanut butter cups.

A boxed yellow cake mix gets a healthy dose of peanut butter

Half the frosting is actually used INSIDE the cake – keeps it moist and EXTRA peanut butter-y

A Swirl and some PB cups and this guy is ready for the oven

The name “Earthquake” is no joke – it got so big while baking it erupted over the side of the pan!

The finished product is so rich and dense – and FULL of peanut butter – SO GOOD!

The only thing I really changed about the recipe is that I bought a big bag of the mini “unwrapped” reeses’s cups instead of using chopped ones. Truth be told I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to bother unwrapping a ton of candies and then chopping them – the unwrapped ones worked really well! Half went in the cake, half went on top. Easy.

Ok now, I know what you might be wondering – Did she make her OWN birthday cake??? And the answer is technically no – as my husband purchased my cake of choice – cookie cake with extra frosting (you can pay like $2 extra and they will cover the whole thing in frosting – best add on EVER!), but I knew we were having some people over last weekend and while cookie cake is great – it’s not everyone’s favorite – so I decided to make the Earthquake cake in addition to the cookie cake – because who doesn’t love multiple dessert choices, right?

My husband says I only made the Earthquake cake so that people wouldn’t eat as much cookie cake and I could have more of it to myself – which is actually NOT true – I hadn’t thought of that ahead of time – but he might be onto something there…hmm. Either way – the earthquake cake is the ultimate indulgence for the peanut butter/chocolate lovers in your life – it’s easy to make and delicious to eat!

Chocolate + Peanut Butter = Amazing Cupcakes

When your BFF (Best Friend Forever – or at least for the past 15+years anyway) has a birthday, you go all out – especially when it comes to the dessert. Previous years have seen me making Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes and Rainbow Cake, but this year I had to go for her main love – PEANUT BUTTER. And what pairs better with it than CHOCOLATE? Nothing – the answer is nothing. It’s a match made in baking heaven

I decided on Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes because we were going to one of those painting places (where you can bring wine, too!) and I knew I would want something easy to serve and that didn’t require cutting, or plates and forks. Oh – and I picked this recipe specifically because it featured Peanut Butter Cups INSIDE the cake – what a perfectly delicious surprise, right?

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cupcakes
(Recipe Courtesy Of Tastes Better From Scratch)

Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cupcakes
• 1 box chocolate cake mix
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 heaping Tbsp Greek yogurt
• 30 mini Reese’s cups , divided

Instructions
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
-Line 2 regular muffin tins with cupcake liners
-Mix together the cake mix, milk, eggs, oil and Greek yogurt until smooth
-Spoon batter into cupcake pans, filling the liners 1/2 full
-Place a Reese’s PB cup into the center of the batter in each cup and gently press it down a little
-Bake cupcakes for 16-20 minutes or until done. Allow to cool completely before frosting

Some action shots of the baking process:

The peanut butter cups completely disappeared once baked – making them truly a surprise!

So this came with an accompanying frosting recipe – but – I admit, I was completely UNsuccessful in getting it to work – which is why I didn’t include it here with my post. Seemed simple enough – peanut butter, powdered sugar, butter, milk – so, I made it, and was wondering why it was so soupy/oily…then I tried to put it on the cupcakes and it just basically melted off – so I knew something had to be wrong. I followed the given amounts, but maybe I screwed something up along the way?? I was pretty confused – but luckily my husband was kind enough to give it a second go for me, and unfortunately, his results were even worse than mine!

The super oily (and unusable) result of the frosting recipe provided with the cupcake recipe in the original link

Followed exactly, the frosting recipe provided in the above link just DOES NOT work – AT ALL. If you can get it to somehow come together and stay on the cake and not be gross – then kudos to you! But – since I was unable to get it together – literally – so I ended up googling peanut butter frosting recipes – and using the very first hit:

Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting
(Recipe Courtesy of All Recipes)
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons milk, or as needed
2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Directions
Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer. Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy

Luckily – this one worked great on the first try (thank goodness – as I was running low on peanut butter at this point!) – and turned out exactly as promised – fluffy and smooth, sweet and amazing! I didn’t have time to pipe it on (since the extra batches put me just a bit behind schedule – oops!), so I slapped it on with my trusty offset spatula, and decided each one could do with another peanut butter cup – because – why not?

The overall taste was great – cake was moist and combined with the frosting was just perfect. Then the surprise of the peanut butter cup inside was great, too. A winner all around (once I found a better frosting recipe!), and my BFF loved it, too!

4th Of July Sweets (Because It’s Not A Holiday Without Desserts!)

Hope everyone had a great time celebrating our Nation and all that makes it great yesterday! 4th of July is the perfect holiday for grilling, hanging with friends, and having fun – which is exactly what we did! We went over to a friends house have a little cookout – and I brought the desserts. Yes – desserts plural. I made 3 desserts and I am not ashamed of it – I just couldn’t narrow it down to one, and besides, doesn’t everyone like to have choices? I know I do!

I made Red White and Blue Cheesecake bars, red white and blue strawberries, and cannoli dip

Read On For The Details:

Red White And Blue Cheesecake Bars
(Recipe Courtesy of Inside Bru Crew Life)

Ingredients
For the Crust
30 Oreo cookies
4 Tablespoons butter, melted
For the Cheesecake
3 – 8 ounce packages cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup flour
3 eggs
red & blue gel food colors

Instructions
-Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9×13 pan with foil.
-Place the cookies (cream included) in a food processor. Pulse until the cookies become crumbs.
-Stir in the butter until mixed in. Press the mixture evenly in the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and cool.
-Place a large baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven. Fill it halfway with water. Let the oven preheat again.
-Beat the cream cheese and sugar until creamy. Add the sour cream, vanilla, and flour and beat again.
-Add the eggs and beat until they are mixed in. Divide the batter evenly into 3 bowls. Use the food coloring to tint two of the bowls red and blue.
-Spoon the mixture evenly over the crust, alternating the colors. Drag a butter knife through the batter going up and down and back and forth until you get a good swirl pattern. Do not over mix.
-Place the pan on the oven rack above the pan of water. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven immediately and place on a wire rack. Let the cheesecake cool on the counter for 1 hour, then refrigerate for 4-6 hours. Cut into squares and serve with Cool Whip and sprinkles, if desired.

Crust? Check!

Colored fillings swirled prettily? Check!

Patriotic and delicious cheesecake bars? CHECK!

I am normally not a huge cheesecake fan – but when i came across these I knew I wanted to try them – for two reasons. The first being that it had an OREO crust (yum), and the second being the fact that it was red white and blue had me sucked in upon viewing the very first picture! They were easy to make, and turned out really nicely – creamy and delicious – and since its a 9 by 13 pan, it can easily be cut into smaller piece to bring along to a big family picnic or potluck

Ok – so – one down, two to go. On to the “healthy” dessert (stated as such since it’s base is fruit…kinda healthy, right?

Red White And Blue Strawberries
(Recipe courtesy of The Spruce)

Ingredients
-White Chocolate Candy Melts
-Strawberries
-Blue Sprinkles

Instructions
-Melt White Chocolate in microwave until smooth
-Dip Strawberries 2/3 of the way into the white chocolate
-Roll bottom 1/3 of strawberries into blue sprinkles
-Lay on wax paper covered sheet tray to dry, chill until ready to serve

TIPS:
*Do NOT use white chocolate chips – they tend to melt weirdly and clumpily, and I personally have always had better luck with melting chocolate or candy melts
*Make sure your strawberries are clean and DRY when you start this – and when I say dry I don’t mean just air dried – I mean like patted down each individually with a paper towel kind of dry

Taking the time to dip each individual berry is kind of a pain – but they are so pretty that it makes it worth it!

And on to the final dessert in the trifecta – Cannoli Dip!

Cannoli Dip
(Recipe Courtesy of Homemade Hooplah)

Ingredients
1 cup ricotta
8 oz cream cheese room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips
waffle cones broken

Instructions
-Using a stand mixer (or hand mixer + large bowl), whisk together ricotta, cream cheese, and powdered sugar on medium-high speed until smooth, about 3-5 minutes. Add in vanilla extract and whip for another 30 seconds
-Taste test the dip – if you’d like it sweeter, add more powdered sugar 2 tablespoons at a time. You can safely add another 1/2 cup of powdered sugar (8 tablespoons) without negatively impacting consistency
-Fold in mini chocolate chips, reserving some to sprinkle on top for decoration if desired
-Serve dip immediately with broken waffle cones for dipping

Easy, tasty, no baking required!

One of the best parts about summer holidays like the 4th of July is the chance to get to try out some new recipes at BBQ’s, picnics, and family reunions – and when you’re indecisive like me, you end up trying multiple things at a time, and this time I have to say I am glad I did – as they are truly all winners!

Using Cake Batter For Cookies – A (Deliciously) Lazy Shortcut

It’s not secret that an amazing shortcut for making cookies involves utilizing Cake mix as the base – I have done it before myself many many times – and the cookies always turn out fantastic!

So being a big fan of cookies, and chocolate, and shortcuts – I knew that these Lazy Cookie Bars would be right up my alley. Easy, fast, and I had everything on hand already. Boom. Done.

Lazy Cookie Bars
(Recipe Courtesy of The Country Cook)

Ingredients
1 box yellow cake mix
2 eggs beaten
5 tbsp salted butter melted
1 12 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions
-Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
-Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
-In your mixing bowl, combine dry cake mix with melted butter and beaten eggs.
*This is easier if you have an electric or stand mixer because batter will be very thick.
-Stir in bag of chocolate chips.
-Spread batter into greased baking dish.
-Once it is evenly spread out, put in the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes.
-It will puff up as it is cooking and be golden brown around the edges when it is done.

Allow to cool.

Devour.

These turned out perfectly – what a foolproof and easy dessert you can make last minute, and it would be easy to mix it up too – use different flavor cake mixes or different add ins – I am thinking next time I will try a chocolate cake mix with peanut butter chips (yum!)

These S’more Cookie Bars Have Me Saying “Gimme S’more!”

Ok, I know – the title is a ridiculously bad pun – but I just couldn’t help myself – it was so punny!!!! Ok. Done now – for real. But what’s no joke is how deliciously easy these bars are – I mean, basically you take a chocolate chip cookie, and add marshmallow creme and graham cracker – what’s not to love about that?

Truth be told – I already have a S’more’s Bar Recipe that I love – but I am all about trying new things, and these looked easy (translation – I already had most of the items on hand – which is really the big seller for any recipe in my book, cuz, well… #lazy)

Ok – time to get down to it:

S’more Cookie Bars
(Recipe courtesy of Something Swanky)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cups All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup fine graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup marshmallow cream
1/2 cup chocolate semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

-Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper or foil.
-Beat together the butter and sugar. Mix in the egg and vanilla.
-Mix in the baking soda, salt, flour, and graham cracker crumbs until dough forms.
-Press 3/4 of the dough into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Spread the marshmallow cream over top. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the cream.
-Press the remaining cookie dough over top of the chocolate chips. Bake for 20 minutes.
Let cool before cutting and serving.

Some “Work In Progress” Photos:

Basically cookie dough with graham cracker crumbs in it (YUM).

Oh and I doubled the recipe because – well – why not?

My thought process was “oh maybe the marshmallow cream will be easier to spread with my hands than the spatula!” It wasn’t. At all. Take my word for it – use the spatula – and you can even coat it in non-stick spray before attempting to spread the creme around. This is the hardest part of the whole recipe – stickiest stuff ever!

I am not sure why – but that dough just looks so goodddddd – and I love that you can see each “s’more” component in the pan

Oh – hello lovelies. Boy am I glad I made two pans of you!

So – the original recipe says to cut the pan into 9 squares – but – I cut mine into WAY more than that (mostly so I can eat a bunch of them but not feel guilty because “they were tiny!” HA)

They were an instant hit with the husband – kid took a minute but also declared his love for these cookie bars soon after his initial taste test!

These are perfect for those moments when you’re craving a s’more but the weather isn’t cooperating so you can’t have a bonfire (which – here in Upstate NY is like most of the time, since we spend over half the year with snow on the ground!)

As for their comparison to my original beloved S’mores Bars – overall – they are pretty similar in taste, with the main difference being ease of eating – in that these cookie bars are much easier to pick up and eat without making a mess (the original ones have a thicker chocolate layer which makes them a bit trickier to eat). These would be really great to make for a picnic or BBQ – especially if you do like me and cut them up small (and make a double batch – because – who doesn’t need S’more of these?!)