Baking with Basil

Tis the season for all things fall.  Yesterday was our anniversary and nothing screams celebration like a bottle of wine PUMPKIN MILKSHAKE!!  Why haven’t I thought of that before?  As soon as I came across the recipe I knew what dessert would be.  Next time you have some left over pumpkin, try this out.  It’s delicious and pumpkin-y!  I didn’t measure out the ingredients but here is a list of what we used:

• Low fat ice cream
• Skim Milk
• Pumpkin Puree
• Nutmeg
• Cinnamon

The Pumpkin Milkshake was a bonus find while I was searching for a cookie recipe.  I came across this one from allrecipes and it got rave reviews……I can see why.  My house smelled soo wonderful while these were baking.  The cookies were soft and almost cake like.  Brent was in the kitchen after I put in my last batch.  I threw the spatula in the mixing bowl and put them in the sink to start cleaning up.  He looked in the bowl and about knocked me over because there was some batter left.  “What are you doing?  There is like a whole cookie left in there.” haha!!  Brent enjoys pumpkin about as much as I do….especially when it comes to pumpkin cookie batter.  Or any cookie batter for that matter.  Lucky for me he’s got a big sweet tooth.

After reading some of the reviews I altered the recipe a little.  The Allrecipe link will take you to the actual recipe and the one below is what I used.  Next time I’m going to try adding 1/4 cup applesauce for 1/4 cup the butter.  Enjoy!! 

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

Recipe by Allrecipes

Prep Time: 15-20min

Bake Time: 35min

COOKIES: 

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 – 15oz can pumpkin puree

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

FROSTING:

1/3 cup (3 ounces)  light cream cheese, softened

1 tbsp butter, softened

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt.  Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar.  Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla extract and beat until creamy.  Mix in dry ingredients.  Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet or silpat. 

Bake for 11-13 minutes.  Allow cookies to cool for about 2-3 mintues on cookie sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack.

To prepare frosting, combine cream cheese and butter in a large bowl.  Beat with a mixer at high speed until creamy.  Gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla, beating at low speed until smooth (do not overbeat).  

Chloe was waiting patiently for a morsel to drop during the photo session. haha!!