Pumpkin Cookies with Maple Icing

I had left over pumpkin from the Pie Pockets the other day so I needed to make something to use up the rest. I love how these turned out. I make sour cream cookies that should turn out the same consistency but they never do in the altitude. So now I am going to compare recipes so that I can figure if there is anything I can change in the sour cream cookies to make them more rounded and cakey like the pumpkin.


I got the recipe from Allrecipes.com - but made maple icing instead of the vanilla. These cookies will be great for the autumn or the holidays.

INGREDIENTS
* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 1/2 cups white sugar
* 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Maple Icing
* 2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 2 tablespoons half-n-half
* 2 tablespoon melted butter
* 1 1/2 teaspoons maple extract

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly. (I didn't flatten as I don't feel that often works good in higher altitude)

3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.

4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, half-n-half, 2 tablespoon melted butter, and maple extract. Add more half-n-half as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.




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From the Weekend Baker....Again...

The Weekend Baker cookbook just has so many wonderful recipes that I want to try. It is also has good tips and lists to help with baking.

In the book, these are called Half-Moon Pie Pockets but I realized after making a few circles that just cutting them into rectangles and making little square pockets would be much easier. This recipes is exactly how it is in the book. I will make notes at the bottom. I made some chocolate pie pockets and some pumpkin pie pockets.

Half-Moon Pie Pockets

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, 9-½ inches square each
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

For chocolate-nut filling:
1 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts or hazelnuts)

For the pumpkin-spice filling:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (9 ounces/ 255 grams) canned solid pack pumpkin (not seasoned pumpkin pie filling)
3 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg


1. Remove both sheets of frozen puff pastry from the box, set them on a lightly floured surface, and cover with plastic wrap. Do not unfold at this point. Let the covered puff pastry sit on the countertop until thawed and just pliable, about 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, position the oven rack on the middle rung. Heat the oven to 425 degrees (220 c). Line 2 half sheet pans with parchment or spray with cooking spray. Have ready the beaten egg and the 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar.

3. On a lightly floured work surface, carefully unfold the puff pastry. Dust the top of the pastry with a little flour. Roll out each sheet, lightly dusting with flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin and work surface, into a 12- inch (30.5cm) square. Using a 4-inch (10 cm) round cookie cutter (or the bottom of a 29- ounce tomato can as a guide), cut into 18 circles. Peel away the scraps and cover the rounds with plastic wrap while preparing the filling.

4. For the pumpkin spice filling, combine the ingredients in a medium bowl and stir until well blended.

5. Place about 1 tablespoon filling on the center of the round. Brush the edge of the dough with the egg. Fold half of the dough over the filling to form a half-moon. Using the tines of the fork, press the curved edge to seal tightly. Repeat with the remaining rounds. (At this point, the pie pockets can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 8 hours or frozen for up to 1 month before proceeding with the recipe.)

6. Arrange the pockets on the prepared sheet pans, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Brush the tops with the remaining egg and sprinkle evenly with the granulated sugar. Bake until pastry is puffed and browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the sheet pans to racks to cool. Serve warm.

Storage: You can bake the pie pockets up to 6 hours ahead and reheat them in a 300 degree (150 C) oven until warm. About 15 minutes.




NOTES
* I didn't make as much filling because I wanted to do two different kinds of filling. I think I cut each filling recipe in half. I didn't do nuts in the chocolate as Michael doesn't like nuts. I also used a mixture several types of chocolate chips - dark, semi-sweet and milk.

* As I said above I made some rounds and then the rest square. I just cut the dough in rectangles and then folded over to make square pockets.

* I didn't warm back up before serving. Just topped with some whipped cream and ate. Yum!

* I also think doing apple pie filling or cherry would be very good. And so easy.

* I think having some in the freezer and taking a few out when needing something fairly quickly would be great.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I turned 40 on the 18th of October. I tried to kind of ignore it so one thing I didn't want was a birthday cake. I actually am a person who doesn't like cake on my birthday but likes to have pie or cheesecake. So this year I didn't have cake, pie or cheesecake and was perfectly happy...until I came home. But I couldn't admit that I was going to make a cheesecake for my birthday so instead I made it for Halloween. And in the tradition of Halloween, I made a Pumpkin Cheesecake. It turned out simply wonderful.















Crust
1 1/2 cups ground gingersnap cookies
1 1/2 cups toasted pecans (about 6 ounces)
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
(**I ground more ginger snaps then needed so I made a little extra and crumbled on top of the cheesecake the last 5 minutes of cooking - it made it almost toffee like crunch on top)

Filling
4 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups canned solid pack pumpkin (1 can pumpkin)
2 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons half and half
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
4 large eggs


For Crust: Preheat oven to 350°F. Finely grind ground cookies, pecans and sugar in processor. Add melted butter and blend until combined. Press crust mixture onto bottom and up sides of 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides.

For Filling: Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until light. Add flour, pumpkin, 4 tablespoons half and half, ground cinnamon and ground allspice to mixture in large bowl and beat until well combined. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until combined. Pour filling into crust (filling will almost fill pan). Bake until cheesecake puffs, top browns and center moves only slightly when pan is shaken, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Transfer cheesecake to rack and cool 10 minutes. Run small sharp knife around cake pan sides to loosen cheesecake. Cool. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.

(I had never made pumpkin cheesecake. I combined a few recipes which is my usual taking things from each that I like and making my own. Something I didn't do with this cheesecake was putting a tray of water under it -- not a water bath but just a tray of water on the shelf below to create moisture in the oven. I didn't do that because frankly I forgot. I was just so excited to be making a pumpkin cheesecake that I didn't remember to do the tray and my weird timing thing I usually do which is turning the oven from 350 to 250 and well it turned out really good.)