Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you cookies turn out FLAT, add flour.
Both these cookies came from the same batch of dough. But I added flour after I got these results.
I think I added over 1 cup EXTRA flour to get them to look like the first photo.
(And they taste SO good!)

1 cup (2 sticks) 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 (12-ounce bag) milk chocolate chips, not semisweet
Nonstick cooking spray or parchment paper

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick spray or line them with parchment paper.

Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the white and brown sugars, a little at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time, then mix in 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 in thirds. 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 also added 1/8 cup ground flax seed and I substituted 1 cup of flour with 1 cup of wheat flour.

Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

§  2 sticks Plus 2 Tablespoons Salted Butter, Softened

§  1 cup Sugar

§  2 cups All-purpose Flour

§  1 cup (scant) Corn Starch

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar together. Sift in flour and cornstarch and blend together using a pastry cutter until the ingredients all come together. (If mixture seems excessively dry, cut in 1 more tablespoon of butter—but only if you really need it.)

Form dough into a big ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate 20 minutes.

Roll onto a lightly floured surface and cut into rounds. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a baking mat. Bake for 20 minutes. Do not allow shortbread to brown; the edges should have the faintest golden tinge*.

Check your oven sooner if it runs hot.

*My cookies never got a golden tinge and I overcooked them, they were really hard. Don't over cook them. I am planning on eating them with the Sweet Cream sauce, so they should be ok still.

Senate Bean Soup

I altered this recipe that I found to fit with the way that I cook. (I didn't want to use dry beans and ham with the bone in.) The recipe below is listed the way I made it and turned out really yummy!

Ingredients

4 small/medium russet potatoes, peeled and diced

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 cans great northern beans

1/2 pound ham (diced)

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 large onion, diced

2 stalk celery, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Freshly ground pepper

Directions

Bring water (maybe 10 cups? I just guessed here) salt, and potatoes to a boil in a large pan over medium-high heat, then add beans, ham and milk and reduce the heat and simmer until the potato is fork-tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, garlic and parsley and cook until the vegetables are translucent, 7 to 10 minutes. Add the vegetable mixture to the soup, reduce the heat to low and cook, adding up to 2 more cups water if the soup is too thick. Season with salt and pepper.

Beef with Snow Peas

Ingredients

§  1-½ pound Flank Steak, Trimmed Of Fat And Sliced Very Thin Against The Grain

§  ½ cups Low Sodium Soy Sauce

§  3 Tablespoons Water

§  2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

§  2 Tablespoons Cornstarch

§  1 Tablespoon Minced Fresh Ginger

§  8 ounces, weight Fresh Snow Peas, Ends Trimmed

§  5 whole Scallions, Cut Into Haf-inch Pieces On The Diagonal

§  Salt As Needed (use Sparingly)

§  3 Tablespoons Peanut Or Olive Oil

§  Crushed Red Pepper, For Sprinkling

§  Jasmine Or Long Grain Rice, Cooked According To Package

Preparation Instructions

In a bowl, mix together soy sauce, water, brown sugar, cornstarch, and ginger. Add sliced meat to bowl and toss with hands. Set aside.

Heat oil in a heavy skillet (iron is best) or wok over high heat. Add snow peas and stir for 45 seconds. Remove to a separate plate. Set aside.

Allow pan to get very hot again. With tongs, add half the meat mixture, leaving most of the marinade still in the bowl.

Add half the scallions. Spread out meat as you add it to pan, but do not stir for a good minute. (You want the meat to get as brown as possible in as short amount a time as possible.) Turn meat to the other side and cook for another 30 seconds. Remove to a clean plate.

Repeat with other half of meat, allowing pan to get very hot again first. After turning it, add the first plateful of meat, the rest of the marinade, and the snow peas. Stir over high heat for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Check seasonings and add salt only if it needs it. Mixture will thicken as it sits.

Serve immediately over rice. Sprinkle crushed red pepper over the top to give it some spice.

Yams & Apples

Ingredients:

2-3 yams
5 apples
1 stick of butter/margarine
1 tsp cinnamon
Raisins (to sprinkle on top – whatever amount you desire)
Brown sugar (to sprinkle on top – whatever amount you desire)

Directions:

Peel and dice the yams and apples put in 9x13 pan
Melt the whole stick of butter
Mix 1 teaspoon of cinnamon with butter and pour evenly on top of yams & apples
Sprinkle raisins and brown sugar on top
Cover with aluminum foil & place in pre-heated oven

Bake at 450 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes (until yams are tender, should easily slide off of fork)

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Okay, so I have never cooked with yams before…I don’t particularly like them, but I made this for a Relief Society dinner.

I did try some and it wasn’t too bad, but if you like yams, then I am sure they are the most delicious yams ever!!!

I tried to send the yams through my awesome chopper, but it wasn’t so awesome…actually the yams were too hard. But I did send the apples through the chopper and that was fast! So, I diced the yams with a knife and it took a while (I made two 9x13 pans) and I found out later that I didn’t need to dice them that small :) So do bigger chunks!

Carmel Apple White Chocolate Cheesecake

For those who have had the privilege of trying this, it was SO GOOD!  I got this recipe from KSL’s Studio 5 here.  You can go watch the video with instructions or just use the recipe here.  It was super easy and Oh, So Good!  But of course I really love cheesecake, and white chocolate, and caramel apples, so maybe that’s why I liked it so much.  But I wasn’t the only one! 

I didn’t think to get a picture until we had eaten more than half of it!

Ingredients:

• For the crust:
• 1 1/4 cups crushed shortbread cookies or graham crackers
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• For the filling:
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• 3-4oz. good quality European white chocolate, chopped
• 3 8oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• For the topping:
• 1-2 small pink lady apples, or other apples of your choice, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• Caramel Sauce
• ½ cup Butter
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 cup Sour Cream

Method:

Melt butter over medium heat in a sauce pan. Add brown sugar and stir until sugar is light and bubbly. Remove from heat and whisk in Sour Cream until smooth.n 8 inch spring form pan with parchment paper, and set aside.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 inch spring form pan with parchment paper, and set aside.
In a small bowl, toss together cookie crumbs and sugar. Add melted butterand stir with a fork until well blended. Pour into prepared pan, and press crumbs onto the bottom of the pan.
Bake crust for 8-10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
While the crust is baking, heat cream in a small saucepan until almost a boil.
Add white chocolate. Remove from heat and let it rest for 2-3 minutes.
Stir until smooth. Cool to lukewarm.
In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy.
Add sugar and beat well, scraping down the sides occasionally.
Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Pour in the white chocolate mixture and vanilla. Beat until light and smooth.
Pour the filling into the cooled crust.
In a small bowl, stir together cinnamon and sugar. Arrange apples over the top of the filling in a circular pattern, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture. Bake for 55-60 minutes. Turn off the oven but leave the cake in with the door closed for 1 hour longer. Remove from oven and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight.
Dust with confectioners sugar before serving if desired.
Makes one 8-inch cake; serves 10

Baked Lemon Pasta

 Ingredients

§  1 pound Thin Spaghetti

§  4 Tablespoons Salted Butter

§  2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

§  2 cloves Garlic, Minced

§  1 whole Lemon, Juiced And Zested

§  2 cups Sour Cream

§  ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt, Or More To Taste

§  Plenty Of Grated Parmesan Cheese

§  Flat-leaf Parsley, Chopped

§  Extra Lemon Juice

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook spaghetti until al dente.

In a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over LOW HEAT. When butter is melted, add minced garlic. Squeeze lemon juice into the pan. Turn off heat.

Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary. Pour mixture over drained spaghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish.

Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the pasta will dry out.)

When you remove it from the oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top. Top generously with Parmesan cheese, then chopped parsley. Give it a final squeeze of lemon juice at the end.

Serve with crusty French bread and a simple green salad.