Chocolate Pumpkin Mummy Cookies

In the spirit of Halloween on Friday, the kids and I thought that we’d whip up some mummy cookies!  I don’t get into the scary side of Halloween—I’m more of a pumpkin and Casper the Friendly Ghost sorta gal.  So, when I say mummy cookies, I mean “mummy” cookies…mummy pumpkins…mummy ghosts…mummy bears…and even mummy bunnies…two kinds of mummy bunnies.  We couldn’t help ourselves with the bunnies… 🙂

As we mixed all of our ingredients together, the kids kept asking what party we were going to or who was coming over.  Lucky for them, the cookies weren’t going anywhere or for anyone—other than them!  They were so excited and immediately began to dig through our giant box of cookie cutters, picking out the shapes that we would use.  I did have to put the kibosh on the Christmas cookie cutters (one holiday at time folks!).  After we mixed all of our ingredients and had a giant ball of dough, we had to work hard to roll the dough out.  Helping five little people take turns to roll out dough is no small feat.

“Roll the dough to 1/4” thickness guys!”

Blank stares.

“Okay, roll the dough out until it’s this thick!” (showing the thickness with my fingers)

Blank stares.

Sigh…”Okay, just roll out your dough so you can use the cookie cutter…”

Action!

We had rolling, pressing, and smashing.

We had thin cookies and we had thick cookies.

We had broken cookies and we had whole cookies.

But in the end, they all taste the same!  And in my world, mommy gets some of the thicker cookies, and the thicker cookies need more icing. 😉

***Disclaimer on my pictures–I know that the lighting isn’t great and that the pictures are a bit fuzzy.  I had to take my pictures in the kitchen, at night after dinner–while battling off 10 greedy little hands!!!  So, don’t judge!!!  🙂

Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies

• Difficulty: Medium
• Print

Cookie Ingredients:

• 1 cup Earth Balance butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 TBSP cornstarch
• 2 TBSP water
• 1 tsp caramel extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup melted and cooled 60% chocolate
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 2 ¾ cups flour
• ¼ cup wheat germ
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Icing Ingredients:

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 5-6 TBSP almond milk
• 1 tsp clear vanilla

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl or mug.

3. In mixer with bowl, beat butter and sugar

4. To the butter/sugar mixture, add the cornstarch mixture, caramel extract, vanilla extract, melted and cooled chocolate, cocoa and pumpkin spice, mix well.

5. Add in flour, wheat germ, baking powder, salt and blend until all combined.

6. Roll out cookies in between wax paper or lightly floured work surface to ¼ inch thick and cut with cookie cutter.

7. Place cookies onto parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 7-9 minutes or until edges are firm.

8. Remove cookies from baking sheets when they are cooled.

9. Once all of your cookies are cooled, prepare the icing. You don’t want to prepare this until you are ready to ice all of the cookies because the icing firms up over time.

10. Combine the powdered sugar, almond milk, and vanilla in a bowl. Mix well with a fork.  If the icing is too runny, add a bit more powdered sugar, and if it is too thick, add more almond milk, a teaspoon at a time.

11. To do the mummy lines, you can either drizzle the icing with a fork or put your icing in a piping bag with the tip of your choosing. Ice back and forth to create the mummy lines.

What scrumptious treats do you want to mummify?!?!?! 🙂

Cinnamon Pumpkin Scones

Its fall ya’ll!  Fall is hands-down my favorite season.  I love the crisp air, the falling leaves, and the I have been MIA from here for so long, and I don’t even have a good excuse!  I didn’t go on some fabulous vacation, disconnect from the internet, or win the lottery.  I got lazy—yep I’m admitting it!  I got lazy.  I got lazy with trying new recipes, I got lazy with converting old recipes, I got lazy with trying to make up recipes.  On top of getting lazy, I got frustrated with too many botched creations in the kitchen, so I gave up for awhile.

Lucky for me, Aaron and the kids re-energized me—gently coaxing, prodding, and then flat out telling me that they wanted me to whip something up!  Staring at five—really six—hungry, pleading faces does a wonder on your ability to say “No, not right now” and then get back in that kitchen.  So, over the last few weeks, I’ve been sauteing, whipping, and baking up a storm in the kitchen.  We’re back to the questions of “What did you do in here????” when Aaron walks into the kitchen and the gasps of surprise at the amount of dishes to wash…I’m totally spoiled…I cook and he cleans.  😉

Lucky for you (at least I hope it’s lucky for you!), I’ve been hard at work and have lots of scrumptious recipes to share!  We’ve got breakfast coming, we’ve got snacks coming, and of course, we’ve got desserts coming!

Since breakfast is how most of us start off the day, I thought that I’d start with some truly scrumptious breakfast treats!  We love sweet breakfasts, the kind that you want to have a big glass of milk with.  (In all actuality, I HAVE to drink mine with soda—the only time I’ll drink soda.  I mean sweet and sweet go together right?  Is that weird?!?!).

So…breakfast…a few weeks ago, the kids were asking for something warm, pumpkiny, and cinnamonny.  At first thought, you might think about oatmeal or muffins, but we opted for scones.

We like to feel sophisticated that way.

Together, five of us whipped up some glazed pumpkin scones.  I had measurers, pourers, stirrers, and rollers.  The great thing with four of the kids helping out is that I don’t have to do much—just monitor each step.  The not-so-great thing with four of the kids helping out is that that’s 8 little hands to monitor!   Even with all of the spilling, swiping, and sneaky taste-testing, we managed to put out some really, truly scrumptious scones!

Cinnamon Glazed Pumpkin Scones

• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Scone Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 7 TBSP sugar
• 1 TBSP baking powder
• 1/2 Tsp salt
• 1 Tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 Tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 Tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 Tsp ground ginger
• 6 TBSP Earth Balance
• 1/2 Cup canned pumpkin
• 3 TBSP almond milk
• 1 flax egg (1 TBSP ground flax meal mixed with 3 TBSP water, mixed)

Powdered Sugar Glaze Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Plus 1 TBSP powdered sugar
• 2 TBSP almond milk

Spiced Glaze Ingredients

• 1 ¼ Cup powdered sugar
• 2-3 TBSP almond milk
• 1/4 Tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 Tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 Pinch ground ginger
• 1 Pinch ground cloves

Instructions:

TO MAKE THE SCONES:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in the bowl of a food processor. Using a food processor, cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, almond milk, and flax egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Form the dough into a ball.
3. Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle.  Use a large knife to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions. Cut those three slices diagonally so that you have 6 triangular slices of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake for 14-16 minutes. Scones should begin to turn light brown. Place on wire rack to cool.

TO MAKE THE PLAIN GLAZE:

1. Mix the powdered sugar and 2 TBSP milk together until smooth.  If the glaze is too thick, add more milk, one teaspoon at a time.  If the glaze is too thick, add more powdered sugar, ¼ cup at a time.
2. While scones are cooling, use a brush to paint plain glaze over the top of each scone.

AS THAT WHITE GLAZE FIRMS UP, MAKE THE SPICED ICING:

1. Combine the ingredient for the spiced icing together. With a fork or spoon, drizzle this thicker icing over each scone and allow the icing to dry before serving.  

So, how about it?  Pumpkin scones and soda?  What do you like to drink with your sweet treat breakfasts?