Eat a Whoopie Pie

I rather like chocolate. And pumpkin. I couldn't get the lovely couple out of my head so I decided to give these pumpkin whoopie pies of Miss Martha Stewart a try. I quite liked them. They are supposed to be mini, but you can see from the picture I got a little carried away with the chocolate cookie part and they are not, in fact, mini.

I did have the thought though, that there was too much chocolate to pumpkin ratio, so next time I will either make smaller cookies, or make extra filling. I will probably make extra filling, because if you are going to eat a whoopie pie, you should eat a whoopie pie.

Below is the recipe with a few slight changes.


For the Cookies


Ingredients:

1 3/4 C. white whole wheat flour
3/4 C. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. coarse salt
1 T. unsalted butter, softened
1/4 C. vegetable shortening
1/2 C. pure cane sugar
1/2 C. packed brown sugar
1 large cage-free egg
1 C. whole milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Method:

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
-Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into medium bowl; set aside.
-Place butter, shortening, and sugars into the bowl and beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. Add egg; mix until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in half of flour mixture, then add milk and vanilla. Mix in remaining flour mixture.
-Drop about two tsp. dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, about 2 inches apart. Bake 12-14 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks and let cool 10 min. Place cookies directly on wire rack and cool completely.

For the Filling

Ingredients:

4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 C. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 C. 10 x sugar (confectioners)
1/4 C. pumpkin puree
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg

Method:

-Using electric mixer, blend together cream cheese, butter, and 10 x sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg; whip until smooth.

-Arrange cookies by placing desired amount of filling on flat side of cookie, top with another cookie

Enjoy!

I would say these aren't a great option for making ahead as I wouldn't want to leave them sitting out too long with the cream cheese filling, and putting them in the fridge makes the cookie part a little hard. You could make everything ahead of time and plan to arrange them shortly before serving. Don't worry about putting leftovers in the fridge, there won't be any left over.

summer veggies

On the heels of my last post, we have had an abundance of summer veggies over here that we have been loving. One of our favorite meals came accidentally last night when I threw a whole bunch of veggies into a bowl and added a little ranch. I also realized it was high time to start using some of the summer squash (his friend, the zucchini, was long gone and happily abiding in our zucchini bread).

For the salad, (I'm sharing this because I love salads but often have a mental block about what to add to them):

 Start with a spinach, and red leaf lettuce mix (or whatever suits your fancy)
Add: tomatoes, cucumbers (peeled, chopped into small cubes), banana peppers, fresh corn, dried cranberries, grilled chicken, and feta. Um... YUM!

For the summer squash ( I can't believe I used to consider summer squash my least favorite vegetables. Rutabaga, cabbage and mustard greens now each top that list. Not everything in our vegetable box is deletable- I'm just happy I discovered that you can add beets to chocolate cake :). Oh sorry, the squash:

Cut squash lengthwise, put cut side down on lightly greased tinfoil. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Add some fresh herbs if you have them (parsley, oregano or basil would work). Place on preheated grill for 25 minutes. Open foil and top with some feta.

I know what you're thinking, "It's not fair to put feta on the dishes and call them great, feta makes everything taste amazing." Well, that's true. I used the feta because we had it, but these dishes would still be fabulous without it!

Post Script- Add the feta.

Egg-Free Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

Went searching for an egg-free sugar cookie recipe the other day. Not because we dislike eggs, are vegan, or are intolerant,  we just didn't have any. We had been visited by the neighborhood hob goblin the night before, who left us a mickey mouse shaped cookie cutter (the kit also included orange and black icing, although we omitted that because of the dangers of food coloring, read more here). And Mitchell wanted to use the cookie cutter something fierce, so we decided to try out the following recipe adapted from one found on Mamapedia:


2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar (I used a little less than this, but they are "sugar cookies" so I didn't half the sugar as I usually do) 
1/2 cup sour cream 
2 tablespoons pureed pumpkin (because I can't not use pumpkin lately)


Method: 
Combine the flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon. Cream the butter and sugar. Blend in the sour cream; and then the dry ingredients. Chill for 1 to 2 hours. Roll out the dough until it is 1/2" thick on a floured smooth surface (you may need to add extra flour at this point). Cut with cookie cutter and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.


The verdict: success!

it's a keeper

And you thought I wasn't a part of the blogging world anymore, HA! I am, albeit sporadically, still here. The following post is meant serve as a bow around my finger.
Every once in a while I will make a stellar dinner. Is that OK to say? After eating every last bite, Jason and I will look at each other and know that the particular meal was a keeper. BUT, when I go to menu plan, I tend to forget any meal I've ever made. It's a mental block really, perhaps just so this little post would be written.


Below is a list of my favorite meals to prepare, with a bit of side information. I'll continue to add to it periodically, so that I can glance back when I'm off to the grocery store and have forgotten my faves. So here it goes:

• Turkey Tacos: fresh corn from the cob, avocados, and tomatoes. Note, hard shells are making a comeback.
• Salad with Marinated Chicken: fresh spinach and romaine, tomatoes, grapes, feta, grilled chicken (marinade: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, onion, garlic, basil). Note, cornbread is fantastic with this meal. 
• Pasta Fagiole & Wheat Ciabatta: large pasta shells, homemade sauce, pinto beans, Uncle Tony's recipe (enough said).
• Turkey Burgers & Sweet Potato Fries: made with ground turkey, cooked spinach, sautéed onions and garlic. Note, if there is someone out there that doesn't like sweet potato fries, I want to meet them. Also, this burger topped with caramelized onions is phenomenal. Anything with caramelized onions is phenomenal.
• Grilled Pizza: LOVE!!!! whole wheat pizza dough, whatever toppings are on hand (new fave: hummus, feta, kalamata olives, chicken- thanks Ang!) Brush dough with evoo, grill each side 3 min. add toppings, grill to perfection.
• Shepard's Pie: Ground Turkey with shredded carrots, onions, allspice, corn, mashed potatoes Note, it took seven years to make a good mashed potato, still haven't perfected it. Don't forget the whole berry cranberry sauce.
• BBQ Chicken Chili: Shredded Chicken, BBQ Sauce, grated carrots, onions, chili powder, salt, pepper, tomato paste. Served on a roll- fabulous. With homemade mac and cheese- even better.

Wowza, I love this list and hope to keep adding to it. Maybe you can help, what's your favorite meal to prepare??