Pumpkin Cookies = Addiction

This cookies were among the best cookies I have ever had. They were so good, I sent a dozen with Matt to school to share with his department and took the rest with me to work to share with my co-workers. I received three recipe requests for these cookies. They were that good. The cookies are cakey, which makes for a super moist cookie. The frosting is to die for and I had a lot of fun browning the butter. I told Matt how fun it was and he told me I was weird. Whatever. He wasn't there to see the butter turn brown! Too cool.

Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting

from What's Cooking in the Orange Kitchen, originally found in Betty Crocker's Fall Baking

2/3 c granulated sugar

2/3 c packed brown sugar

3/4 c butter or margarine, softened

1 t vanilla

1/2 c (from 15-oz can) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

2 eggs

2 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1 t baking soda

1 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t salt

Browned Butter Frosting

3 c powdered sugar

1 t vanilla

3 to 4 T milk

1/3 c butter (do not use margarine or spread; it will burn)

Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, beat granulated sugar, brown sugar, 3/4 cup butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until well blended. Beat in pumpkin and eggs until well mixed. On low speed, beat in flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

On ungreased cookie sheets, drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched in center. Immediately remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 45 minutes.

In medium bowl, place powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 3 tablespoons milk. In 1-quart saucepan, heat 1/3 cup butter over medium heat, stirring constantly, just until light brown.

Pour browned butter over powdered sugar mixture. Beat on low speed about 1 minute or until smooth. Gradually add just enough of the remaining 1 tablespoon milk to make frosting creamy and spreadable. Generously frost cooled cookies.

And the best wife in the world award goes to...

Me! This morning I woke up at 4:30 to make my world famous chocolate chip cookies for one of my husband's Physical Science classes. They actually all behaved during a fire drill so he wanted to try a little positive reinforcement. He was first going to do donuts, but then asked me to make some cookies.


Now, I don't mean to brag here (maybe I do), but it is generally accepted that I make the best chocolate chip cookies in the world (at least according to me, my husband, and a group of StuCo students from Farmington, MO who stayed with us a few days last semester). I cannot reveal the recipe, but let me say it is from my grandmother, Nestlé Tollhousé (anyone? anyone?).

While some say that it is the recipe that makes the cookie, I would have to completely disagree. The recipes don't usually vary all that much. One recipe is pretty much as good as the rest. And as we all learned from Monica Gellar and Phoebe Bouffet, the one on the back of the chocolate chips is pretty darn good.


What makes a good cookie is the technique, so rather than sharing a recipe, I will share my technique. I really do think these things make all the difference, but feel free to disagree! But remember, my cookies are the best. I now have another class of 15 year olds who agree (and asked for more!).



The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie
According to Linda




1. Always start with softened butter. Not solid. Not melted. Softened. Leave on the counter for about 30 minutes or so. It usually does the trick. The finger should just depress, just like testing doneness on a steak.

2. Beat the heck out of the butter and sugar before adding the vanilla. And I mean beat them. We're talking beating the crap out of them. There is a point at which the butter and sugar look fluffy- this is when they are creamed. If you're not sure, keep beating them. There's no such thing as over beating it, at least not in my book.

3. Mix in the vanilla after the butter and sugar are fluffy. Mix really well after the vanilla and after each egg.

4. SLOWLY mix in the flour mixture. I mix it in about a spoonful at a time. It really doesn't take that long and it makes less of a mess. I'm not sure if it does anything for the cookies, but this is the only way I don't end up with a cloud of flour flying all over my kitchen.

5. At this point, follow the recipe. I check my cookies really often to make sure they don't cross that fine line between perfect and crispy. I also try to get a few pans that aren't all the way done so we have some super soft ones.

This is what I have learned about chocolate chip cookie making. As long as I am totally tooting my own horn, I would also like to add that a very popular DJ in Columbia, MO raved about my cookies on air when he had them at an event held by the bookstore I helped open with a friend (and closed, unfortunately) in Columbia. People came to the bookstore just to try the cookies! Too bad they didn't buy more books.

White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

That's right. All those delicious words come together in one cookie. I've been wanting to bake, despite the heat, so I browsed some starred posts I had in my Google Reader. I ultimately decided on these cookies that I found in Annie's blog (you should check it out- she has so many baked goods!).

They were absolutely delicious! I loved them. Matt tried one that was cooling from the first batch and came into the kitchen and said, "These cookies are the worst ever. You better not eat any. I'll go ahead and them all for you so you don't have to suffer." That's when I knew they were good! We gave some away, but I think Matt put down 2 dozen of these cookies over the course of the weekend. Such a cookie monster!

White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

source Annie's Eats

3 eggs, well beaten

1 cup dried cranberries

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 ½ cup flour

½ tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp. baking soda

2 cups oatmeal

1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine eggs, dried cranberries and vanilla and let stand for 1 hour, covered with plastic wrap.Cream together butter and sugars. Add flour, salt, cinnamon and soda to sugar mixture. Mix well. Blend in egg-cranberry mixture and oatmeal. Dough will be stiff. Fold in the white chocolate chips. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto un-greased cookie sheet or roll in small balls and flatten slightly on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.