Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies

 

 

   These are Phil's favorite fall time cookie. I will admit that they are one of my favorites too. I've been thinking about making them for a few weeks now and as we are expecting a bit of snow later on this week I think I may have missed the mark on fall. Luckily it is still October, and pumpkin will be in vogue for at least 2 more months. These cookies are more cakey than say a chocolate chip. They are also pretty sweet,  but that can be adjusted by the amount of butterscotch chips that you add.

The recipe took some trial and error to perfect, but I couldn't be more proud of the fruit of my experimentation. The secret is in NOT over-mixing the dough.

Ingredients:

4oz      Butter

1 C      Sugar

1 C      Pumpkin Puree

1 tsp    Vanilla

2 C      All-Purpose Flour

1/4 tsp  Salt

1 tsp     Baking Soda

1 tsp     Baking Powder

1 tsp     Cinnamon

1/2 tsp  Nutmeg

1/4 tsp  Cloves

1/2 tsp  Ginger

1 1/2 C  Butterscotch  Chips

1/2 tsp   Pumpkin Pie Spice

Pumpkin Pie Spice (make this amount and save it in a small jar or just adjust the amounts for a single batch of cookies)

1/2 oz    Black Pepper

1/2 oz    Ginger

1/4 oz    Mace

1/4 oz    Nutmeg

Procedure:

- Preheat oven to 350 F. (bake time approx. 12 minutes)

  make sure racks are in the center of the oven

- Cream butter and sugar with electric mixer on Med. speed until light and fluffy

- Beat in pumpkin and vanilla

- In a separate bowl measure out the dry ingredients, sift them or use a dry whisk and stir it all together to make sure that the spices, salt and leavening are all evenly distributed

- Take the paddle or beaters out of the mixing bowl with the butter and pumpkin mixture (you will not need the mixer any more)

- In 3 additions, add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture by folding

- After the last addition, before all the dry has been completely mixed in, add the butterscotch chips

- Continue to fold together until all the flour has been mixed in and the chips are distributed evenly.

-Drop the dough on to cookie sheets in 1 1/2 oz portions (approx. 3Tbs)

  Really you can make them whatever size you want, but this is my standard home size

-Press each cookie down lightly with your fingers (these babies don't spread very much so they need a little help to flatten out)

- Bake for 9 minutes then check for doneness

- Flip pans around and bake for approx. 3 more minutes

 - The cookies should be very soft, matte in color, not glossy (glossy means doughy), if you bake these until they are golden on top they will be overdone

- Allow them to rest 3-5 min on the hot cookie sheets before moving them to a cooling rack

Operation Chocolate Cake, results

Success!

A perfect fall meal

Psalm 104:14
He makes grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate- bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart.


Some blessings are undeniable. I believe that a good meal is definitely one of those blessings.
I love being able to eat out, to taste foods i have never heard of , to stretch the culinary imaginations of my family and friends.  I have had the privilege to taste some of the worlds finest foods, and work with some of the freshest and best ingredients known to man. Still nothing is more exciting to me than being able to share my experiences with my family, I love being able to make a good meal at home.  To be completely honest this has not happened on a regular basis... ever. Phil and I don't eat poorly, i've come to grips with the fact that people just find meals that work for them, especially when life gets busy. Once in a while though, I get the itch, the undeniable desire to create something different (from our day to day). Aside from the recent strudel, there hasn't been much of a stretch of my culinary mind at home; though i do intend upon doing so little by little.
 Tonight's dinner was one of those  meals that just had to have a little something extra. There was nothing entirely special, or technical about it, but it was delicious, and in case anyone is searching for a perfect fall meal I am sharing this one with you.

Pan Fried Pork Chops with Apple Chutney, Asparagus and Wild Mushroom Risotto, Roasted Winter Squash, and a whole wheat roll 

(why yes that is a tiny plate for such a hardy meal... the picture was an after thought and i didn't feel like having to wash another large plate. Lazy, yes. Do I regret it, no not really.)
 First of all I did not make this all in one night. Lets just get that straight.
The Risotto is actually leftovers from the other night, but it was a perfect compliment to the pork. Personally, I think risotto is the perfect compliment to anything. This was Phil's 1st experience with it, and i am pleased to say that he really enjoyed it.


The Risotto is Alton Browns recipe. (we <3 AB)
recipe here


The Squash
was simply peeled like a potato (you will need a good sharp veggie peeler for this one),
seeds and yuck removed,
chopped into generous bite-sized pieces,
tossed in oil,
sprinkled with salt and pepper
spead out onto a cookie sheet and bake in 350 F oven for about 20 min (till softened)


The Chutney
recipe here
I made it without the orange peel.
the end result was a bit to vinegary for me so i stirred in about
1tsp honey


The Chops
for 4 chops, i mixed:
1/4 tsp ground corriander
1/4tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp celery salt
1/4 tsp ground mustard
salt and pepper
sprinkled this mix on both sides of the raw chops
 browned them on both sides in a pan with some veggie oil
finished them in the oven 350 F for about 10 minutes
(they turn from pink to a whitish gray color and their juices run clear when fully cooked)

So there you have it. A perfect fall meal.  It happened to be 85 F here in Raleigh today, but its fall in my heart.

Eat Happy!

Streudel

This is the little life journey of an apple strudel that  I made for Phil to take to school and share with his lab group. Rumor has it that they liked it o.k. I would like to apologize for the haphazardness of the structure of this blog, but then again I don't really feel all that bad because it took me at least 2 hours just to get the pictures in the right order. Enjoy!





 

Step 1 Lots of apples!







Apples... like this one.





So this is a few steps later,... apples are cooked and cooled, dough was made 4 hours before hand and now I am beginning to stretch it out.



Stretching the dough is a process...



a very tedious process

...



...

but the end result is pretty neat. that small chunk of dough covers the whole table!

the stretched dough must then be buttered, liberally

apple filling close up.

then the apples are placed      

Some graham cracker crumbs to absorb some of the apple juice as the streudel bakes.

all ready to roll up.

the careful rolling begins, its harder than it looks to not rip a hole in the dough.

the rest of the rolling process is fairly easy. You thought the table cloth was there just to for looks didn't you.

half way rolled

all the way rolled! Ready for the pan.



before

after



hungry? you should be that just took 5 1/2 hours!