Quick and easy pumpkin cookies (edited)

This is a super simple and delicious recipe that calls for a total of 4 ingredients. You can even leave out 2 of them and it still tastes great. Best of all you can have 3 of them for one Weight Watchers point. (Or so I'm told...)

Ingredients:
1 box of spice cake mix
1 17 oz. can pumpkin
crystallized sugar
1 bag pumpkin spice Hershey Kisses

Directions:
1. Mix the spice cake mix and pumpkin together. 2. Scoop onto a greased pan about 2" apart.
3. Add a pinch of crystallized sugar on top of each cookie. Or not. It tastes great either way.
4. Cook for 11-13 minutes in a 350 degree oven. While it's cooking remove the wrappers from the Kisses. (TIP- I freeze mine so they hold together better while unwrapping them.)
5. When done remove sheet and put on Kiss on each cookie. Delicious and easy! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread

This is a sweet pumpkin bread. My kids love it and ask for it year-round. Enjoy!

3 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. salt
1 t. ground nutmeg
1 t. ground cinnamon
3 c. sugar
2 c. pumpkin puree
2/3 c. water
1 c. vegetable or canola oil
4 eggs
1/2 c. chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 loaf pans or 3 mini loaf pans.
Stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and spices in a large bowl. Add pumpkin, water, oil, eggs and nuts. Beat until well combined. Divide batter equally and place into prepared pans. Bake mini loaves for approximately 45 - 50 minutes or about 60 minutes for standard loaf pans.

Spiced Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

I can't claim the rights to this recipe. My friend Jenn D. passed this along to me. It's really good. It's not as sweet as most pumpkin breads... it's more spicy. Enjoy!

2 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 16 oz. can solid pack pumpkin
3 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. ground cloves
2 t. ground cinnamon
2 t. ground nutmeg
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking powder
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 9" x 5" x 3" loaf pans. Beat sugar and oil in large bowl to blend. Mix in eggs and pumpkin. Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda salt and baking powder into another large bowl. Add to pumpkin mixture in 2 additions. Mix in chocolate chips.

Divide batter equally between prepared pans. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes. Using sharp knife cut around edge of loaves. Turn loaves out onto racks and cool completely.

Pumpkin Roll Recipe

Beat 3 eggs on high speed for 5 minutes. Gradually beat in 1 c. sugar, 2/3 c. pumpkin and 1 t. lemon juice.

Mix together:
3/4 c. flour
1/2 t. salt
1 t. ginger
1 t. baking powder
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg

Mix both together and spread on a well greased and floured cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove from oven when top springs back when touched with finger. Turn out on dish towel covered with powdered sugar. Roll towel with cake inside and cool thoroughly in the refrigerator.

Meanwhile, make the frosting. Mix together:
1 c. powdered sugar
4 T. butter (or margarine)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 t. vanilla

Spread frosting on cooled roll. Re-roll on another towel with powdered sugar and chill in foil for 3-4 hours. Slice, serve and enjoy!

German Chocolate Cake

I got to make dessert for my dad's birthday. Because it's summer I had planned to make a nice, summery lemon poppy seed cake. But... at 1:00 a.m. if you don't have all of the ingredients you either make do with what you have (not possible this time) or you change your plans.
Growing up, I remember going to my dad's parents' house for a birthday dinner. The cake that my grandma served was the BEST CAKE EVER! My grandma can cook better than almost anyone else I know... no joke. I was in LOVE with that cake, and my mom made it for my birthday every year for several years after. Fast forward several years, and several store bought cakes or "homemade from a box and can of frosting" later I had lost my taste for it. Then I got a Hershey's cookbook for my birthday one year. I turned to the German Chocolate Cake recipe, and was ecstatic. I made it for a family birthday party, and everyone loved it. My mother-in-law's husband, whose family is German, raved over it, so I felt it passed the test. You can find the recipe on the Hershey's website under recipes. Search for German Chocolate Cake. (Sorry, it won't let me link it.)

Rainbow Cupcakes

I got this idea from one of my girlfriends who did this for her daughter's birthday. First make a white cake mix as directed. You may want to use two boxes. One only yielded 15 cupcakes for me. Divide the mix evenly to bowls. Drop in food coloring. About 6 drops per bowl. It looks best the brighter it is in my opinion.

Teaspoon the different colors into the baking cups. Fill only to about 2/3 full. And cook in oven as directed from cake box.

Frost the completely cooled cupcakes.

Pour sprinkles into bowl and after frosting each cupcakes, turn over cupcakes to collect sprinkles.
Voila - end product

Here is what the cupcakes that I made looked like inside. The kindergartners who had these said they were the best cupcakes ever.

Note - you can do this as a cake as well

Hawaiian and Chocolate Haystacks

Here's how to make Hawaiian Haystacks in a crock pot.

Hawaiian Haystacks
Prep work: (Do the night before.) Defrost 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chop veggies.
2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cans cream of chicken soup
milk
Put all ingredients into the crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. When it's done cooking take the lid off and use 2 forks to shred the chicken. Add enough milk to make the soup creamy like gravy.
About 30 minutes before your chicken is done cook enough rice for your family, and flash fry your veggies.
I used white onions (I would use green onions if I did it again... my kids couldn't see these, though!), green pepper, red pepper, carrots, bean sprouts, water chestnuts and sugar snap peas. You can also use celery, tomatoes, (whatever other vegetables you like). Add a little soy sauce to taste for flavor. I've heard of people using cheese, almonds and pine nuts. The other ingredients I added (did not cook) were pineapple tidbits and chow mein noodles.
To serve rice first, then chicken and gravy mixture and veggies on top. Chocolate Haystacks
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c. butterscotch chips
2 c. mini marshmallows
2 c. chow mein noodles
1/2 c. salted peanuts
In a microwave safe bowl add the chips and melt for 2-3 minutes on high. Remove from microwave ans stir. Cook an additional 1 1/2 minutes (time may vary depending on your microwave), and remove. Stir, add marshmallows and stir until coated. Add the noodles and peanuts. Place by spoonful on wax paper. You can refrigerate for approximately 1 hour or let them sit until they set up.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am always looking for a good recipe, and since my kids always have friends over (most of whom are hungry boys) I need to have things that are quick, easy and inexpensive. And if it makes a lot it's even better! After a recent visit with my grandparents my kids wanted to have the same chocolate chip pumpkin cookies. The cookies were store bought so I had to go online to find a recipe that would work. After eliminating many recipes, this is the one I selected, and they are perfect! They are super-soft and so yummy. The recipe made a TON of cookies, and even though it's the middle of summer they are quickly disappearing.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe George Duran
Prep Time: 15 min
Inactive Prep Time: 2 min
Cook Time: 15 min
Serves: 60 cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups milk chocolate chips, not semisweet
Nonstick cooking spray

Directions:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick spray.
Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the batter. Stir in the chips. Scoop the cookie dough by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let them rest for 2 minutes. Take the cookies off with a spatula and cool them on wire racks.

* I used semi-sweet chocolate chips, and my all-time favorite ingredient ,Mexican vanilla.

Yummy Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls

I love cinnamon rolls, and while I can bake just about anything, bread eludes me. I have recently found that I can actually make breads if I use my bread machine, and I decided to try to stretch myself and use the Dough function and see if I could make something that way. I found a recipe with good reviews and got started.

Here's my favorite tip I learned years ago when making rolls of any kind. Get a long string of unflavored floss and wiggle it under your dough then slice it. It makes perfect cuts without squishing your dough down. The above picture is how it looks during the cut.

This is how it looks immediately after you cut it. Quick and easy!

There were 2 different variations that I wanted to try. After polling my family my husband and I were the only ones who wanted nuts or raisins in our rolls. I didn't want to try to figure out which was which after so I just did these 2 variations. The pan on the right has cinnamon and regular white sugar. The pan on the left has cinnamon and brown sugar. The white sugar rolls tasted like typical cinnamon rolls while the ones with the brown sugar were moister and gooey-er.

This is the pans after I baked and frosted them. My kids prefer the pan on the left (white sugar) while my hubby and I prefer the brown sugar cinnamon rolls. Yummy! Those got bigger when they were rising for some reason. (As I stated before I'm not a bread baker so I don't know if there's a reason for this.)

Here's my plate. I had to try both kinds so I put them both on my plate.

The next time I make them I'm going to add a lot more butter and cinnamon to the rolls with white sugar. I think it might make them tastier.

Cinco de Mayo Recipes

We love Cinco de Mayo. It gives us an excuse to make a great Mexican meal.

The one thing my kids always request is my homemade salsa.

Homemade Salsa

Ingredients:

5-6 firm roma tomatoes, de-seeded

2-3 jalapenos

1/2 - 1 large white onion (can substitute 5-6 green onions)

1 t. salt

1 t. black pepper

1- 14 1/2 oz. can diced tomatoes

1/2 bunch cilantro, washed with stems removed

Wash all produce. Pick leaves off cilantro and place in food processor bowl. Cut up 1/2 - 1 large white onion, diced. Carefully cut and deseed the jalapenos, then dice and add to bowl. Deseed the tomatoes, dice and add to the bowl. Add the salt and pepper, then pour the canned tomatoes on top. Put on food processor and run until everything is well mixed.

Taste and make sure you like the flavor. Add more salt to taste if needed. (If you want it to be hotter add more jalapenos. Or add hotter peppers- habanero or serrano peppers will make it significantly hotter.) Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

To make guacamole- Add 2 c. of the salsa to 5 mashed avocados mixed with the juice from 2-3 limes. Refrigerate.

For dessert I made Mexican Wedding Cookies. These are quick and easy. They will disappear almost as fast as you can make them!

Mexican Wedding Cookies

(Makes about 48)
1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 cup butter, softened (Do not substitute margarine! It won't set up or taste as good.)

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup finely chopped almonds or pecans

1/4 teaspoon salt (omit if your butter is salted)

Bowl of powdered sugar

Pre-heat oven to 325 F. In a large bowl combine the powdered sugar, butter and vanilla. Blend well. Stir in flour, nuts and salt. Shape into 1-inch balls. (I used my small Pampered Chef scooper. It made them perfectly round and the perfect size.) Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes until set but not brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets. Cool for 2-3 minutes, then roll in powdered sugar. Cool completely and reroll in powdered sugar... if they last that long.

Here's the whole spread for our Cinco de Mayo dinner! Tortilla chips, watermelon, Spanish rice, refried beans with cheese, taco meat, homemade salsa, freshly made tortillas and the Mexican wedding cookies.