Pumpkin spice biscotti

September is now underway and that only means one thing. The start of fall! It is by far my favorite time of year, not only for all the amazing weather and boot wearing that goes on, but for the array of delicious recipes that I can now use pumpkin in! I’m sure all of you love pumpkin just as much as I do and as a way to kick off this awesome time of year, here is the very first pumpkin recipe for you all.

Ingredients

3 1/2 cup flour (I used AP but whole wheat would work fine here, not sure about GF flours though)
1 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2/3 cup canned pumpkin puree (fresh works fine too)
2 lage eggs
1 Tbls. vanilla extract
2 Tbl butter, melted
White chocolate chips, optional

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice. In another bowl, whisk together pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, and butter. Carefully pour wet mixture into dry and mix. This mixture will be extremely crumbly and will look really dry. Just keep mixing. It will come together.

Pour mixture out onto a floured surface and bring together into a ball. Cut in half and form into logs (this should be done on the baking sheet). Each log should be about 2-3 inches wide and 10 inches long (mine were a little on the larger side).

Bake on a lightly greased baking sheet for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. With a sharp knife, cut 1/2 inch slices out of each log and place cut side down back onto the baking sheet. Bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the cookies have dried out. Remove from tray and cool on a cooling wrack. Dip or drizzle melted white chocolate over top.

Enjoy!

Skinny oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

We are in the middle of a tropical storm and since we have all been stuck inside the house for two days now, a batch of cookies seemed to be in order. If I’m gonna be trying to not get blown away (and by trying I mean watching the weather channel and browsing Pinterest all day), I might as well be enjoying homemade cookies while I do it.

I love chocolate chip cookies, but like most of you know – cookies usually contain an obscene about of butter in them. This in turn makes them extremely fattening and diet UNfriendly. Two of these cookies only add up to about 190 calories and contain just 6 grams of fat.

Ingredients
Adapted from Skinnytaste

1 cup flour (whole wheat, white, whatever..)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbl butter, at room temp
1/2 cup sugar (granulated, Stevia, raw)
1/2 cup brown sugar, unpacked
1 egg
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups quick cooking oats
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Once combined, mix in egg, applesauce and vanilla.

Combine flour mixture with oats and carefully add the dry ingredients into the wet. Mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Bake for 10-13 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack once removed from the oven.

Enjoy!

For all of you who are curious as to what kind of weather this storm brought us in Naples, here is a glimpse into what we dealt with.

Looks scary right? False. Not scary at all. Actually, it barely even rained.

Luckily we didn’t get anything bad at all. Hopefully Isaac doesn’t bring too much destruction to New Orleans or any other states.

Chocolate peanut butter cookies with dark chocolate chips

So, I have a problem.

Normally, I would use a little restraint when eating sweets. I try to really limit the amount of refined sugar I eat, and whenever possible I eat whole grains. But, oh man. These cookies. You literally cannot have just one. This is where my problem is. It’s not only that I can’t eat just one. I don’t want to eat just one. I have little to no self control when it comes to these cookies.

They are super soft (I tend to under bake them just a little) and gooey – just the way I like my cookies. And, how can you not love peanut butter and chocolate together? It’s like a sin if you don’t love it.

Ingredients
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup Whole Wheat flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cup peanut butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 Tbl milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat together butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Mix in both sugars and beat until combined. Add egg, milk, and vanilla and beat until all ingredients are combined.

Gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Once flour mixture is well incorporated, fold in chocolate chips.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper and with an ice cream scoop, scoop dough onto the baking sheets. Leave about two inches of space between each cookie.

Back for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Lemon poppyseed cookies

My sister is visiting me in Charlotte this weekend and as a way to kick off our Easter vacation, we made some lemon cookies. Lemon always reminds me of spring and summer because it is such a fresh, bright scent/flavor. I don’t use lemon in too much of my recipes, but when I do its the centerpiece of the dish.

These cookies are so good! They have a really bright lemon flavor in them with hints of flavor from the poppyseeds. The lemon glaze that is drizzled over them adds just enough sweetness to really compliment the lemon.

If you are needing something for your Easter table, this should be it! Head on over to Annie’s Eats to find the recipe. These are so easy to make and bake up in no time!

Dried cherry dark chocolate chip cookies

Over the past couple of years, Charlotte has gotten a few food trucks that can be seen around town at various times of the day. We have a really great pizza truck and even one that sells cupcakes. Periodically, they will park on the street that our school is on, and we always have to stop and get something from them. Well, today Mike came home and told me that there is an ice cream truck out there now. It is so hot (and if you know me, you know I NEVER pass up ice cream) so Mike, Bruin, and I took a walk up there and got some cones. They were awesome and just what I needed to brighten my day. 🙂 Then I came home and ate a cookie.

These cookies are sooo good. They are soft and chewy and have the strong flavor from the dark chocolate and then the tart sweetness from the cherries which is the perfect mix. Because I can’t resist, I tried to make these as healthy as a cookie can be. But trust me – there do not taste healthy (and who can resist a warm, freshly baked cookie anyways – even if it is healthy).

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 flax meal
1/4 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1/3 cup butter (I used flax butter)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 T speculoos cookie butter
1 egg
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried cherries

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl combine flour, oats, flax meal, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat butter until it is light and fluffy. Add in both sugars and cookie butter and beat until combined. Once well combined, add in the egg, vanilla extract and canola oil and beat until all ingredients are well incorporated.

Slowly add your dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir to combine – be careful not to over mix.

Add in chocolate chips and cherries and mix throughout cookie dough.

Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes -or until cookies are golden brown. Make sure to rotate your baking sheet halfway through baking. Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for five minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.

Enjoy!!