Peanut Butter Maple Cookies

I was still on a peanut butter kick, and I was so happy when I came across this recipe. The cool thing about these, is that when they bake they smell like fresh off the griddle pancakes. Seriously, my house smelled like IHOP for most of the day. They spread out quite a bit, so they tend to be a bit crisp, but they are flavorful and a nice twist on your average peanut butter cookies. Enjoy!

P.S. I made 1 substitution with my cookies. Instead of using 2 tsp. of vanilla, I used 2 tsp. of maple flavoring. 

INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp. maple syrup

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup quick-cooking oats

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 package (10 oz.) peanut butter chips

1) In a large bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in syrup and vanilla. Combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in peanut butter chips. 

2) Drop by heaping tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 325 F. for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire racks to finish cooling.

Honey-Peanut Butter Cookies

If you were to ask me what some of my favorite flavors are, I would say that most of my favorites are flavor-combinations. PB & Chocolate, Banana & PB, Orange & Chocolate, and Honey & PB. I was late to the BB&H sandwich, something I discovered from a roommate in college. It's such fantastic combo too; the creamy saltiness of the peanut butter with the spicy sweetness of honey, it's really delicious. 


I was looking for something fall-like to make, and I was so happy I happened to have just enough PB&H to make these bad boys. They are a little time consuming, but they are so worth it; the night I made these I ate about five. I couldn't help it, all you need with these bad boys is some milk and you are set. These were so good, these might make an appearance in my Christmas gift trays. So yeah, go ahead and give these a try!

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup honey

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1) In a large bowl, beat shortening, peanut butter, and honey. Add eggs; mix well. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, add to peanut butter mixture and mix well.

2) Roll into 1-1 1/2 inch balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten with a fork dipped in flour. Bake at 350 F. for 8-10 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool. 

(before going into the oven)

Pumpkin Bread

What do you do when you have leftover pumpkin sitting in the fridge? You make some bread. It's been almost three years since I've made some pumpkin bread, and last time I used a recipe from Bread & Honey: A Food Blog, but this time I wanted to try something different, preferably one for just a single loaf of bread.


The recipe I used is from Simply Recipes, and it is AMAZEBALLS I tell you. The pumpkin keeps the bread nice and moist, and the trio of cinnamon, clove & nutmeg gives this amazing depth in the flavor department. A quick note on this recipe; it calls for allspice but I had none on hand which is why I used nutmeg instead. Also, whether you are making pumpkin bread, muffins or cookies, when you use strong spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, allspice, etc. simply add pumpkin pie spice into the recipe. It helps to keep the pumpkin flavor from getting lost.


Alright, that's it from me today folks. Time to go watch some college football! (GO SUNDEVILS!)

INGREDIENTS:

recipe taken from Simply Recipes

• 1 1/2 cups (210g) flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup (200 g) sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup (240 ml) pumpkin purée*
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) olive oil
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) chopped walnuts

1 Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda.

2 Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup of water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly. Stir in the nuts.

3 Pour into a well-buttered 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes until a thin skewer poked in the very center of the loaf comes out clean. Turn out of the pan and let cool on a rack.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

 

Fall is hands down my favorite time of the year, the weather gets cooler, it signals the beginning of college football, and it means that everyone starts to add pumpkin to everything. Seriously, a couple of weeks ago I bought a bag of pumpkin spice marshmallows. I seriously love fall.

This recipe is from AllRecipes.com, and it's a site that I highly recommend. I love the adjuster on the website because you can tailor the recipe to fit the quantity you need. I didn't want these festering in my fridge, so I only made a half-dozen. I still have quite a bit of canned pumpkin left, so I'm probably going to have to make some pumpkin bread this weekend.

These muffins are super delicious. They're dense and moist, and the chocolate chips give this a really nice richness. The recipe below are the listed ingredients, but I also added some pumpkin pie spice to the batter so the pumpkin flavor wouldn't get lost. I can't wait to have one of these bad boys for breakfast tomorrow!

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup & 2 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 egg

1/4 cup & 2 tbsp. canned pumpkin

2 tbsp. water

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/4 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.
2. Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.
3. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.  

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hello everyone! We are officially in my favorite time of year (yay Fall!), but I still wasn't ready to let the flavors of summer go. I made these last week, and they were a cinch to throw together. I must admit, I'm a little sad they didn't taste more like coconut, but next time I whip these up I'm going to add extra coconut extract and flaked coconut in the batter. These were also supposed to make 2 dozen, but by making them into bite-size morsels I squeezed about 4 dozen out of the batter. They got nice and toasty on the outside, but were gooey and soft on the inside. Not a bad way to say goodbye to Summer at all!

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon of coconut extract

1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup (6 oz) chocolate chips

1/2 cup flaked coconut

1) In a small bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and coconut extract; mix well. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and coconut.

2) Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 F. for 11-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.