Another Little Addition to the Pumpkin Patch!

Hello Sweets,

Fall is in full swing in Ontario, which means bright and beautiful colored leaves.  I should probably take a picture so y'all can really understand my favorite part of colder weather.  The other thing I love about fall is all the fruits and veggies that become a staple on our dinner table, and we all know I have a not so secret love affair with pumpkin!

Do you know how many batches of pumpkin cupcakes I've made in the last two months?  I've made three batches, which is 72 cupcakes!  Crazy right?  Needless to say I felt the need to go outside of the box when I was left with extra pumpkin purée.  Last year I experimented with pumpkin pancakes, and they are the epitome of a fall breakfast food.  They are full of flavor, heavier than traditional pancakes so they're filling, and the spiciness is warm and reflection of fall.  However, that is not what I wanted to do, I wanted to bring y'all something new :)  I've been seeing a lot of pumpkin cookies popping up all over Facebook and Pinterest, but I hadn't seen one that really peaked my interest.  That is until last night, thank you insomnia lol finally a plus side!!

Spiced Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

Cookie:

2C flour

1 1/3C rolled oats (not quick!)

1 1/4tsp baking powder

1 1/2tsp cinnamon

1tsp ginger

1tsp salt

1/2tsp nutmeg

1/2tsp allspice, heaping

1C butter, room temperature

1C packed dark brown sugar

1C sugar 

1 large egg, room temperature 

1tsp vanilla

1 3/4C pumpkin purée

 

Icing:

1 1/2C icing sugar

3Tbs + 1tsp milk

2Tbs maple syrup

 

Directions:

1)  Preheat oven to 350F, arrange oven racks so it's split into thirds.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside. 

2)  Whisk flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg, and allspice in a medium bowl to aerate and break up any lumps; set aside. 

 

3)  Place the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer, fit with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about five minutes. 

 

4)  Add the egg and vanilla, beating until fully incorporated about thirty seconds. 

 

5)  On low speed, add half of the flour mixture and mix well. Add 1/2 the pumpkin purée and mix until just incorporated.  Repeat with the remain in flour and pumpkin.

 

6)  Drop 8 dough rounds per baking sheet 2" apart on prepared sheets.  Put remaining dough in the refrigerator. 

 

7)  Bake for 12 minutes, rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back until the cookies are golden brown on the bottom and sides, about 12 more minutes. 

8)  Cool on baking sheets for three minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.  Let baking sheets cool to room temperature before repeating with remaining cookie dough. Set cookies on parchment paper once cooled.

9)  Place all the glaze ingredients into a medium bowl and whisk until evenly combined.

 

 

10)  Dip fork in glaze and drizzle over cookies in a zigzag pattern. Let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes to allow the glaze to set before storing. 

 

These cookies are so delicious, full body flavor, spiciness, and soft chewy goodness.  I think from now on I'll make cupcakes and cookies, that should be a nice balance.  Might I dare even say these may be my new favorite cookie ;)  Ah who am I kidding, I'm a shortbread girl all the way lol!

 

 

Over the next few days I will be making some of my favorite cookies, so my posts will be shorter and random while recreating tried and true recipes.  I'll even be making a must have snack for Nathan ;)

I forgot to mention Nathan is coming to Canada this weekend!!!!!!!!!!  Can you tell I'm excited lol, I cannot wait to see him and be in his arms.  We have a jam packed couple of days, typical dinner/lunch with the grandparents.  Then on Sunday I am being baptized :) and I am very excited for all the important people in my life to be sharing that day with me, after we will all be heading out to one of my favorite restaurants, The Bungalow.  Ooooohhhh I am going to do a foodie review =)  Then we're hoping to spend some time with my mom and her husband before we jet off Monday back to my home in Texas!  I am a happy girl right now and nothing will take that away from me ;)  Until next time....

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

The Nutty Candy Man

Hello Sweets,

How are all my lovely readers today?  I am in a fantastic mood :), which is weird because I woke up with a migraine and that normally makes me grumpy all day.  I was lucky enough to spend a few hours with my nephew Miguel, and he is just the best little boy around.  I know I'm biased, but he's just so funny and inquisitive right now.  Today I showed him a video of Nathan and I flying around the Dallas area, he was in complete awe.  He couldn't believe what he was seeing, and at one point he thought we were in a helicopter because he saw the propeller.  Once I explained to him what the propeller was for he had this adorable little smile on his face :D  I asked him if he would want to go flying in the airplane when he comes visit Texas, and he excitedly said YES!  I know this will make Nathan very happy, as he wants to get to know him better (seeing as he'll be his uncle one day) but that's hard when we live in two different countries.  In the meantime Nathan is going to bring back an American Airlines plane on his next visit for him to start building their relationship, these two are the cutest!

So today's post is a short one, mostly because the recipe is short but also because the website is almost ready to go live and I'm hoping to finish that up tonight so I can share it with y'all tomorrow.  Okay maybe there is one more tiny reason, Criminal Minds starts back up tonight and my roomie and I watch it together lol (I know, silly).  Today's post is the first in a three part series, these recipes were part of my "first delivery" which was for a party my mom was threw.  It was actually her husbands birthday, so I decided to make a cupcake geared towards his favorite things.  This sweet little treat was the finishing touch, and lets just say "someone" may have eaten one without eating the cupcake just so they could have one lol ;)

Canuckette's Candied Pecans

Ingredients

1/3C sugar

1/3C brown sugar

1tsp cinnamon, heaping

1 egg white

1Tbs water

1 2/3C pecans

splash of vanilla

tiny pinch of salt

 

(vanilla not show as it was a last minute addition)

Directions:

1)  Preheat oven to 250F.  Mix sugars, cinnamon, and salt together in a small bowl, set aside.

 

2)  Whisk egg white, vanilla, and water together in a separate bowl until frothy.  Toss pecans in egg wash.

 

3)  Mix pecans in the sugar mix until they are evenly coated.  Spread onto a baking sheet.  Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes until pecans are evenly brown.

 

4)  Allow to cool on parchment paper and enjoy!

 

Don't they look yummy :)

They are the perfect blend of salty and sweet, not to mention it's the best nut around!  Obviously I ended up with leftovers, but I'm sure I can figure out something to do with them ;) lol.  These are so much better than the pre made ones you can get at a local baking supply store, but the pan needs to be cleaned right away as it is a sticky mess.  Also, I wouldn't use a good baking sheet because you will need to scrub it clean.  

So like I said earlier, I am hoping to roll out the website either tonight or tomorrow.  As soon as I do I'll share it with y'all, and just like my blog I always love hearing feedback :)  But right now I'm going to go make some more of my now famous Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes, because I don't want the pumpkin puree I already have open to spoil.  And maybe because I didn't keep many for myself from the last batch lol, and damn they're good.  Until next time............

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

Belmont Haunted Corn Maze

Good evening Sweets!

I hope you all had a fantastic Friday :) I know I have, mostly because my other half was here to keep me all smiles!  So tonight after a lovely dinner with my grandparents, I decided to take Nathan to a Halloween tradition of mine...the Belmont Haunted corn maze!!  Now for those of you who don't know my love is from Texas, so venturing out the open country in a corn field after dark in Canada had him a little weary.  I reassured him it would be fun and I obviously needed someone to protect me from the ghoulish creatures that would be hiding within the corn ;)

My love and I all bundled up and ready to go!

Since I had gone before with my girlfriends, I thought to myself I would not be as easily scared as before.  Boy was I wrong lol the two things that has always scared were of course there but I didn't think they would be there or at the very least I wouldn't be as jumpy.  So what were the two things that scared me you ask?  A) the chainsaw guy, he always chases me and if you keep running so does he lol you'd think I'd learn but no.  B) the scary clown, now I would not say that I'm deathly afraid of clowns but I watched "It" as a child and they scary ones freak me out lol.  Since Nathan was a scout in the Army nothing phased him, actually he said that he quite enjoyed watching me jump, scream, and even run.

Shot of me and the corn maze (no cameras or flashlights allowed or you would have pics of me running lol)

Obviously we both made it out unscathed and very chilly, so of course the first thing you want besides the warmth of the car is hot chocolate!!  So we headed to the nearest Tim Horton's and ordered some hot chocolate, white for me and regular for him.  Good things Nathan likes coffee because they did not give him hot chocolate at all but just regular coffee with cream.

Enjoying our yummy warm beverages

Needless to say it was a fantastic evening of good old Canadian fun, full of smiles, giggles, and screams.  Plus it was a great way to get in some exercise, since it's in the dark, uneven terrain, and a little of running too ;)  Did any of you guys do something fun tonight?  Or maybe something this weekend? Until next time....

Stay sweet!

Jennifer xoxoxo