Tag: dessert

Categories
Food

Pumpkin Cookies

I wasn’t bringing anything down to OIB for Thanksgiving. That seemed weird to me~ I tend to bake & bring at least something. Then the girls at work decided to have a snack day tomorrow, so I thought perfect! I’ll make cookies for both!

I’d seen these pumpkin cookies on A Wedding Story about a month ago and I’d remembered how great they looked & sounded. I had all the ingredients on hand. They were easy to make. And Husband {not the dessert fan, I know weird right?!} even gave them his stamp of approval!! I doubled her recipe {listed below are my amounts} and 1.5x her glaze recipe {I posted her amounts} with a lot left over. After seeing her photo again, I realized I topped mine with a lot less glaze than she did.
Ingredients
5 c flour {I used 1 c white flour & 4 c whole wheat flour b/c I was out off all purpose}
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp salt
3 c sugar
2 sticks butter, softened
1 c Libby’s pumpkin
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

for glaze:
2 c sifted powdered sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.

Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, & salt together in a medium bowl.
In large stand mixer, cream sugar & butter. Add in the pumpkin, eggs, & vanilla until all mixed.
Slowly add the dry into the wet ingredients. Bake 15 mins. As per instructions, I let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes before placing them on wire cooling racks.

While the cookies were cooling, I sifted the sugar then mixed all the ingredients together. I placed cookies in close single layer in 9×13 pan then spooned glaze over the cookies. Enjoy!

Categories
Food Travel

Jenny’s Shower

My friend Jenny is having triplets!! ::pause to let that sink in:: Now squeal with excitement & go check out her blog, jennandtonica.

This past Saturday four of her great friends (Beth Anne, Laura, Sarah (aka @gassmama) & Jen (aka speedglenn)) threw her a shower in Charlotte. Alethea & I left Raleigh around 9 am. We arrived in Charlotte around 11:30a. My parents happened to be in Charlotte last weekend so Alethea & I stopped by my grandmother’s nursing home to say hi. I also used that time to put on make-up. 🙂

We met up with Sara, Katherine & her husband Shon, and Alena her husband Cody & their precious little one Sophia at Brixx. The company & artichoke pizza A & I split was awesome. The heat & my resulting sweatiness, not so much! A & I (mostly me) overheated my car while attempting to dry sweat/cool off on the way to the shower. LOL. Sadly I don’t think we took any photos here.

I’m waiting on some photos of people from the shower, but for now I’ve borrowed a few from BA of Jenny & the fabulous food! Jenny looked amazing! It was so wonderful to meet & hang out with her friends. She was showered with fabulous gifts too including crib, stroller, & lots of cloth diapers (remember she’ll be going through around 40/day!).

The hostesses made such yummy food for us. My favorites: Jen’s caramel aka sex bars. Here’s where she orginially got her receipe, but she eliminates the espresso.
I don’t have a photo of these, but Jen’s Pumpkin Gooey Bars were amazing! It’s a Paula Dean recipe, so you’ll have to ignore the fattiness or just eat a little bit. They would be perfect to take to a fall potluck (especially if you have skinny coworkers/friends! ha!).


Jenny & friends have been calling the triplets PB&J. In honor of that, BA made felt PB&J’s for all the guests which is jsut too cute. They were attached to a box filled with her Oreo Truffles. I saved the truffles until dessert Sunday. Jason & I both LOVED them. They will be made soon.

Alethea & I were having so much fun hanging out with all the women after the shower we kind of forgot to leave! It was almost midnight when we realized it! So as the others were off to bed, we got a second wind thanks to diet coke & one of those pumpkin bars and headed back to Raleigh. I got in bed at 3:30a ~ most definitely the latest in years! I slept til 12 and chilled all day Sunday. Saturday was such a great day! Thanks for including me Jenny!

Categories
Food

Homemade Banana Pudding

My coworker friend Kim is from Mississippi. That means when it comes to southern food, she & her mom are going to have the best recipes. My work made banana pudding one day & I mentioned it was my favorite dessert. A couple of weeks later she made her family banana pudding recipe & brought a little sample in for me! I brought it home & Jason & I LOVED it!
Luckily for us (& you!!), she shared the recipe with me.
I made it tonight to take to the NCSU Chi O house for their skit preview party tomorrow night. It makes so much that I made a smaller container for us.


Kim’s Homemade Banana Pudding
Ingredients
1 large pkg instant vanilla pudding
2 c cold milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 container Cool Whip, slightly thawed
4-5 bananas. sliced thin
1 box Nilla Wafers

Directions
Make pudding as directed on package: Using wire wisk, mix pudding into cold milk for 2 minutes in large bowl.
Continuing whisking while pouring in condensed milk then Cool Whip.
In 2+ qt container, place layer of wafers, then thinly sliced bananas. Top that with pudding mixture. Continue to layer until all gone. Enjoy!
I used a 1 1/2 qt container & a 1 qt container & almost filled both. I did add some extra Cool Whip that I had left over from when I made the Chilly Pomegranate Pie.


Jason & I couldn’t resist & had some tonight. I crushed up my wafers in the cup. It was so good!!

Categories
Food

Chilly Cherry Pomegranate Pie

I’ve never made a pie before & I was a little nervous. But I found this recipe on Kraft Foods & thought it sounded good & easy. I decided to change it up a little bit. I’ll post it the way I did it, but also the way on the original recipe. I was thinking of trying to incorporate Elissa’s blueberry pie in this also, but I decided that was too much on my first try. I meant to take a photo of the whole pie, but we ate it too quick. Here’s the last bit of the last piece!


Chilly Cherry Pomegranate Pie (originally Kraft Foods)
Ingredients
1/2 c boiling water
1 pkg (3 oz) Cherry flavored Jello
1 c Pomegranate juice (I used Minute Maid Blueberry Pomegranate juice)
1 c Cool Whip, thawed
1 pie crust (I used graham cracker crust. Kraft suggests Oreo crust)

Directions
Add boiling water to Jello mix & stir two minutes or until dissolved. Stir in pomegranate juice. Refrigerate 25-30 minutes, or until slightly thickened.
Whisk in 1 c Cool Whip until well blended. Pour into pie crust. Place in freezer.
Freeze 4 hours or until firm. Can top with more Cool Whip (& Oreo cookies if use Oreo crust). I served with blueberries. Enjoy!
Categories
Food

White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

I’m interrupting my “scheduled” post of photos from last weekend to post the cookie recipe I made last night. This weekend 2 of my favorite current coworkers & I are going to the beach! We’re crashing at my grandparents & we’re so excited for this girl’s weekend. We’d hoped there would be six of us, but due to child care issues & busy weekends, it’ll just be the three of us. Brooke, Holly & Kim, you’ll be missed! We’ll have a drink (or two) for you!

Eileen isn’t a fan of craisins so I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and thought it would work. After I’d put 16 or so cookies on the cookie sheet, I decided craisins would be yummy in the rest so I mixed those in. I tried a craisin-less cookie last night & it was delicious. Husband had a couple with craisins & said they were awesome too.

White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
1 c butter, I softened first
1 c sugar
1 c light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 c oats
2 c white chocolate chips
1/2 c craisins
Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease cookie sheets or use baking mats.
In Kitchenaid mixer, cream butter & sugars until smooth. In separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, & baking powder & add in the cinnamon (my addition).
Stir in the vanilla & eggs to the sugar. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until combined. Stir in the oats, white chocolate chips & craisins (also pecans if you wish). Spoon out tablespoon sized cookies on to the sheets.
Bake for 10-12 minutes (took a little more like 13 for me). Cool on wire racks.
Tip from another baker: Cookies best when lightly brown, so set your timer & do not over cook. Someone else said you could use butterscotch chips instead of white chocolate which I think I might try next time as a fun change.