Pumpkin Bacon Cookies

Because of course this had to happen. How could I not combine my two favorite things to bake with - pumpkin and bacon?

I was baking a few things for a Halloween party (yes, I am super behind on posts, I don't need you to remind me!) and wanted to do something a little fun and different (and delicious).

Speaking of the Halloween party, check out the awesome pumpkins we carved. Can you guess which one is mine?

I have two types of pumpkin cookie recipe that I could use for a base: Frosted Pumpkin and Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Chip. The former is more cake-like and I really wanted to make cookies so I decided to modify the latter (random side note: I actually remember learning about "former" and "latter" when I was in elementary school and I remember thinking the concept was so cool. God I was such a nerd).

These cookies turned out really well. You could taste the bacon, but it wasn't overwhelmingly bacony (yes, that's a word).

Pumpkin Bacon Cookies

1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/4 teaspoon ginger
2/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup cooked, chopped bacon

Preheat oven to 375.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove and ginger.

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugars. Beat in eggs, vanilla and pumpkin. Add flour mixture slowly, mixing thoroughly with each addition. Add milk and mix completely. Stir in bacon.

Roll into 1-inch size balls and place 1 1/2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 1-2 minutes and then place onto wax paper or wire rack until complete cooled.

Frosted Pumpkin Cookies

This is totally unrelated to my recipe, but I read an article about a woman who baked her neighbor cupcakes to distract him so that she could steal his car. I mean, how awesome of a tactic is that? Sure, she could have just bought the cupcakes, but what's the fun in that? This woman actually took the time to make the
cupcakes beforehand. She obviously must have been hatching this plan for some time. "How can I get into this man's house so I can get access to his keys? I know! I'll make him a delicious treat that he can't resist, make my way into his home and steal his car keys while he's distracted." Brilliant.

On a side note, don't be frightened if I come to your home with baked goods. I promise I'm not trying to steal anything...or am I?

Anyway, these cookies were one of the first things I ventured to bake when I moved to Denver...more than 6 months after I arrived. I was terrified of baking in high altitude and was afraid to even make an attempt, even with a high altitude recipe at the ready.

I am super glad I decided to take a chance a try baking, because these cookies are delicious and still, after a whole year of baking, are my husband's favorite. The cookies are soft and a bit cake-like and the frosting is sweet but not in the oh-god-this-is-way-too-sweet kind of way. They are more-so sweet in the oh-my-god-these-are-awesome kind of way.


Frosted Pumpkin Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. In a mixer, beat butter, sugar, egg and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Mix in dry ingredients, a little at a time. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour for easier handling.

Preheat oven to 350.

Shape the cookie dough into 1-inch balls and place them on a cookie sheet. Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until set. Let the cookies stand on the cookie sheets for 1 minute. Remove the cookies to cookie racks or wax paper and let cool completely before frosting with the Pumpkin Frosting (ingredients and directions below).

Frosting

1 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sifted powdered sugar, divided
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons milk, divided

In a small bowl, sift together the powdered sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg together. In a mixer, beat the shortening and the vanilla for 30 seconds, or until light and creamy. Gradually beat in about 1 cup of the spiced and sifted powdered sugar until well combined. Add 1 tablespoon of milk, beating until well combined.

Gradually beat in the remaining spiced powdered sugar and the milk. Continue beating until well combined.

Spread the frosting on the completely cooled cookies.

They only lasted long enough for me to get a shot of this one cookie.

Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

It is my favorite time of year! Football is back on (go Tigers!), the ridiculous heat is subsiding and it is no longer weird for me to bake with my favorite ingredient, pumpkin. There's just something about pumpkin and all of the rich spices that are used with it that just make me so happy.

My husband's coworker started calling them Clemson cookies. I actually had the same thought while I was making them since they are orange. And from another of hubby's coworkers: "Your wife must be a wizard because these cookies are magical." Much akin to a cheesy pick-up line, but I figured it was worth mentioning, at least for the cheese factor.

Another alternative is to use raisins instead of chocolate chips. They are equally as delicious =)

Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/4 teaspoon ginger
2/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup milk
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or raisins)


Preheat oven to 375.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove and ginger.

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugars. Beat in eggs, vanilla and pumpkin. Add flour mixture slowly, mixing thoroughly with each addition. Add milk and mix completely. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

Roll into 1-inch size balls and place 1 1/2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 1-2 minutes and then place onto wax paper or wire rack until complete cooled.

Caesar Chicken

I mentioned before how one of my favorite ways to prepare chicken is to marinate it in dressing. This recipe is probably one of the easiest and it one of my absolute favorites. The chicken and Caesar dressing really compliment each other and the cheese on top just adds a little bit of awesome.

No, this post was NOT sponsored by Kraft

 

Caesar Chicken

2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup Caesar dressing
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

Cut fat off of the chicken. Place in a large zip locking bag with dressing. Shake until chicken is completely covered with dressing. Let sit in fridge for 30-45 minutes (or longer).

Preheat oven to 350.

Place chicken in a glass dish. Top with desired amount of Parmesan cheese. Place in oven and cook for 20-40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken.

Pizza Chicken

This is a super easy and totally customizable dinner option. I've made it simply with just sauce and cheese and it was great. In this version I decided to add some vegetables (because they were in my fridge and I didn't want them to go bad).

I decided to make this recently because I didn't feel like going to the store and didn't want to order out. Also, I've been trying really hard to cook at home more often. Also, I hate wasting food so I wanted to use the leftovers in our fridge. I call it "re-purposing" and it's quite possibly my favorite thing to do (hey, when you are fearful of cooking you gotta try to take the edge off by making it "fun"). 

What I found: marinara sauce left over from cheesy bread we had ordered, half a tomato, 8 stalks (plus or minus 2) of cooked asparagus and mozzarella cheese.

Pizza Chicken

2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup marinara or pizza / tomato sauce
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
vegetables (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

Wash chicken and cut off fat. Place into a glass dish. Cover with desired amount of sauce. Add vegetables (if you want). Covered with the desired amount of cheese. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breast.

Asian Toasted Sesame Chicken

One of my favorite and probably the most simple ways to spruce up chicken is to simply marinate it in salad dressing. Sometimes I'll top it with cheese, sometimes I won't. There are a ton of variations that I've tried and will try that I'll surely share with you in the future.

This variation came about as I was just walking through the aisle at the supermarket looking at the dressings. I saw the whatever dressing and was thought it sounded good and different from what I usually make (which usually leans towards Irish or Italian). That and stir frying is quite terrifying of a concept to me as well as ridiculously time-consuming.

While I was getting ready to prepare the chicken I was like, "dang (okay, let's be serious, I probably did not use the word 'dang' in my head), it would be really awesome if I had sesame seeds. I should have gotten some!" Then in a stroke of brilliance I realized I should check my spice rack (I usually only use the cinnamon, garlic, basil and garlic salt) and lo and behold, I actually did have some. If you don't have any, I'm sure your chicken will be just as good. I don't think it added any flavor, it was just a nice touch, but I could be totally wrong cause I really don't know anything about cooking, which I mentioned previously.

Asian Toasted Sesame Chicken

2 chicken breasts

1/4 cup Asian Toasted Seasame (or something similar) dressing

1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds

Wash the chicken and remove any excess fat. Pour dressing into a large plastic zip locking bag. Place chicken in bag, shake a bunch until the chicken is covered and then let it sit in the fridge for 30-45 minutes (or longer, it doesn't matter). 

Preheat oven to 350. 

Remove chicken from bag and place into a glass baking dish. Top with sesame seeds. Bake for 20-40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breasts.

Apple Mustard Pork Chops

Although I enjoy baking, I am not much of a fan of actual cooking. I'm actually pretty terrified of it, if I'm being honest. What, I thought we were in the trust tree in the nest, were we not?

But, since you really can't healthfully live on baked goods and eating out every night gets expensive, I do the bare minimum. If a meal requires more than 5 ingredients, it's not happening.

I've started experimenting and trying different stuff together and so far nobody has died so I thought maybe I'd start sharing some of my creations. They are all super simple and easy and are usually the end result of me just looking through my fridge and pantry to see what I have.

To reiterate, I do not consider myself to be a cook and I actually have quite a fear of cooking. So who better than to show the world that maybe cooking might not be so scary than the girl who is afraid?

I figured I might as well start with what I cooked this week. I'm not typically in the habit of taking pictures while I'm cooking and didn't want to post a recipe without them. I came up with this concoction on the fly and it ended up being quite tasty.

The apple butter and the dijon mustard I used for these pork chops really compliment each other quite nicely and the mixture makes it so that neither overwhelms the other. If you prefer the taste of one over the other you can change the ratio of the apple butter to dijon mustard (50/50 in this version). I'll offer some variations I've tried in the past at the end of the post.


Apple Mustard Pork Chops
2 pork chops
1 1/2 tablespoons apple butter
1 1/2 tablespoons dijon mustard
Planko Japanese style breadcrumbs

Mix together apple butter and mustard in a medium-sized bowl (alternately you can mix them in a large zip lock bag). Dip pork chops into the mixture, one at a time, until fully covered. Place in a large zip lock bag and let sit in the fridge for 30 - 60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400.

Place breadcrumbs into a medium sized bowl. Dip pork chops into the breadcrumbs until completely covered. Place into a glass dish. Bake in the over 30-40 minutes until thoroughly cooked (depending on the size of the pork chops).

Alternate versions:
Apple Butter Pork Chops:
2 pork chops
3 tablespoons of apple butter
with or without Planko Japanese style breadcrumbs or  regular style breadcrumbs (like Shake 'n Bake)

Cook as directed above.

or

Dijon Mustard Pork Chops:
2 pork chops
3 tablespoons of dijon mustard
with or without Planko Japanese style breadcrumbs or  regular style breadcrumbs (like Shake 'n Bake)

Cook as directed above.