Frosted Pumpkin Cookies

I have had this recipe saved to my Pinterest dessert board for quite awhile.  It comes from the Parent Pretty blog – check out the original recipe here.  I made a few modifications, most notably, I cut the recipe in half.  I wasn’t ready to have 5 dozen cookies staring me in the face and testing my self-control!  2 and 1/2 dozen seemed like a much more reasonable amount for me to make.

Servings: 2 ½ dozen (or 30) cookies

Size:  1 cookie

Points Plus: 4pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time:  10-12 minutes per cookie sheet

Rating: 4 stars –  Very good

 

Ingredient List:

Cookies:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

½ 15 oz. can pumpkin

2 cups flour

Frosting:

¼ cup butter

¼ cup packed brown sugar

2 or 3 tsp. milk

½ tsp. vanilla

2 to 3 cups powdered sugar (depending on frosting thickness/consistency)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Using a mixer, beat the butter for 30 seconds.  Add in sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and beat until well combined.  Add the egg and vanilla, mix well.  Next, beat in the pumpkin.  Finally, add in the flour in multiple steps, not all at once.  On an ungreased cookie sheet, drop heaping teaspoons of cookie dough a few inches between each cookie.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Cool on a wire cooling rack.

To make the frosting, heat the butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan on the stove.  Make sure the mixture is well combined and smooth.  Transfer the butter/sugar into a bowl, whisk in the 2 tsp. milk and vanilla.  Beat in powdered sugar, add more until frosting is to your desired level of thickness vs. more of a glaze.   You may need to add additional milk to acheive the frosting thickness you prefer as well.  Once the cookies have completely cooled, spread frosting on top.

Tip:

I can't stress enough the importance of waiting until your cookies have cooled before you add the frosting to the tops.  I was impatient and my cookies although started out looking great (see picture above), but I quickly watched my frosting droop and melt off the top and setlle into small pools at the edges of each cookie. :(

XOXO Megan

Pumpkin Cheese Fondue

Pumpkin fondue?!?  What a delicious combination of spices, cheeses and of course PUMPKIN!  Fondue is a very fun appetizer to serve when entertaining!  This recipe has a new twist on the tradtional cheese fondue by incorporating pumpkin into it.  Check it out and see what you think.

Servings:  16

Size: 3 Tbsp. (total recipe makes about 3 cups) 

Points Plus: 2pp

Level of Difficulty:  Medium

Prep Time: 10 minutes (if you need to grate the cheese)

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Rating: 4 stars - Very Good

Ingredient List:

1 clove garlic, smashed

1 ¾ cup hard apple cider

¾ cup pumpkin puree

¼ tsp. dry mustard powder

¼ tsp. ground cayenne pepper

¼ tsp. homemade pumpkin pie spice

½ tsp. sea salt

2 Tbsp. flour

2 oz. grated cheddar cheese

1 oz. grated Gruyere cheese

3 oz. Brie cheese (remove the rind)

1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Combine all ingredients listed above through the sea salt in a medium saucepan.  Whisk the mixture until well combined; cook over medium heat brining it just to a boil.  Immediately reduce the heat to low.  While the saucepan mixture is heating up, combine the flour with the three cheeses, tossing to coat evenly.  Add the cheeses to the pumpkin mixture in three separate batches, whisking constantly until the cheese in melted before you add the next batch.  Finally, whisk in the lemon juice and pour into a fondue pot that has already been warmed.

Serve the pumpkin cheese fondue with apple slices, cubed multi-grain bread or veggies.

Tip:

In order to stay in control, it would be best to serve this fondue with only apples and veggies and forgo the bread cubes so you are only using points for the fondue and not the dipping pieces.  Although bread is delicious, you can save points for other foods OR eat another serving of the fondue! :)

XOXO Megan

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cakes

These are DELICIOUS, indulgent little cakes!  I served these at a family brunch recently and they were very popular.  Adding in chocolate chips is a perfect pairing with pumpkin!  And mini chocolate chips are just so cute. :)

This recipe comes from Skinnytaste.  The original recipe has these made into mini-muffins which would make 28 mini muffins or 14 regular sized muffins if you wanted to try a different variation for less points (see all pp values listed below).

Servings:  6

Size:  1 mini bundt cake

Points Plus: 8pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time:  25-28 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very Good

*PP value for 1 regular muffin would be 4pp, 1 mini muffin would be 2pp

Ingredient List:

½ cup whole wheat flour

¾ cup all purpose flour

¾ cup sugar

¾ tsp. baking soda

1 ¾ tsp. pumpkin pie spice

¼ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. salt

1 ½ cup canned pumpkin (equal to 1 15 oz. can)

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

2 egg whites

2 tsp. vanilla

2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray the mini bundt pan with cooking spray.  In a large bowl, combine the two types of flour, sugar, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and salt; mix well.  In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, oil, egg and vanilla – beat until well combined, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl.  Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture in multiple steps.  Do not over mix.  Fold in the mini chocolate chips with a spatula.  Using a spoon, drop spoonfuls of batter into each mini bundt mold.  Bake for 25-28 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let your mini bundt cakes cool before serving.

Tip:

An easy way to get your mini bundt cakes out of the pan is to flip your cooling rack upside down and place on top of the bundt pan.  Flip both the pan and rack upside down so the cooling rack is right side up (set on your counter) and the bundt pan is upside down. Your mini bundt cakes should pop right out of the pan and be perfectly placed to cool!

XOXO Megan

Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice

Has this ever happened to you??  You start a recipe and realize you forgot to pick up one ingredient?  Or you realize you just used up the last bit of a spice that your recipe calls for? 

Well… this little recipe shows you how to make your own pumpkin pie spice!  Pumpkin pie spice is a delicious blend of fall flavors.  You might be surprised that your spice cupboard is already stocked with all the ingredients you need to make your own blend!

Servings:  Depends on your recipe needs

Size:  Total recipe makes about 5 Tbsp.

Points Plus: 0pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time:  n/a

Rating: 3 stars – Good

Ingredient List:

3 Tbsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. ground ginger

2 tsp. nutmeg

1 ½ tsp. allspice

1 ½ tsp. ground cloves

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients until well combined.  Store your homemade spice blend in an air-tight container.  Keep on hand for delicious pumpkin recipes!

Tip:

Making your own spices is fun and easy!  There are lots of other options out there to try out –taco seasoning, chili powder, popcorn seasonings and other spices and rubs for chicken or beef.

Keep this recipe handy since it will be used in another pumpkin recipe later this week on the blog!

XOXO Megan

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

We are excited to bring you PUMPKIN WEEK!!!

Fall, autumn weather always gets me in the mood for something pumpkin.  You are in luck this week as Katie and I bring you lots of delicious pumpkin recipes to try out and add to your fall recipe list.   

I love finding new ways to bake with pumpkin.  This is a modification from my original cherry cheesecake recipe, but with pumpkin instead of cherry pie filling.  Enjoy!!

Servings: 20
Size: 1 mini cheesecake
Points Plus: 3pp
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Rating: 3 stars – Good 

Ingredient List:

Gingersnap cookies

2 8 oz pacakges of reduced fat cream cheese

¾ cup white sugar

1 cup pumpkin, canned

2 eggs

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Pecan halves

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Line a regular muffin tin with paper or tin liners. Place one gingersnap at the bottom of each liner; this will act as the ‘crust’ for your cheesecakes. Cream together the cream cheese, sugar first until fluffy.  Add in the pumpkin, mix well.  Next add the eggs, one at a time, and the cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.  Fill each muffin liner with the cheesecake mixture, about ¾ full.  Bake for 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack.  Top each mini cheesecake with a pecan half.  Refrigerate before serving.

Tip:

One piece of candy corn would also be a cute topping for each cheesecake.  Unfortunately, I made my batch of these the week after Halloween so all the shelves had been cleared of candy corn.  Pecan halves worked great as a substitution though!

XOXO Megan

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

This recipe is actually for Pumpkin Spice CAKE, but since I have little self control when it comes to desserts I used the old standby portion trick and turned them into cupcakes! This recipe is so simple and very low in points for a delish pumpkin dessert.  Enjoy!

Servings: 15
Servings Size: 1 cupcake
Points Plus: 3pp
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Rating: 4 - Very Good

Ingredients
1 box of spice cake
1/2 cup water
15 oz canned pumpkin
Fat-free cool whip*
Cupcake liners

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350.  Mix spice cake, water and pumpkin in a bowl.  Scoop cake mixture into cupcake tins and bake for about 30 minutes.  Let cool and top with cool whip.

Tip
Let's face it, fat-free cool whip is not the most 'natural' food out there.  Let's face it, it is 0pp so I don't really care! (I believe that anything is fine in moderation) I also like cool whip on pudding for another low point snack. Also - these freeze good and would make a tasty breakfast with a banana on the side!  And finally!!!! I used my Pampered Chef cookie scoop to put the batter in the muffin tins, it helped them be equal sizes!

XOXO - Katie