Bready or Not: Buttery Pumpkin Cookies
It’s October! That means Bready or Not resumes its traditional month of pumpkin recipes, starting with these Buttery Pumpkin Cookies.
These cookies are a dream come true for pumpkin lovers. They are soft and tender, like handheld cake, really.
But of course, the cookies are better with a little extra sweetness. These babies need ICING–a brown sugar icing that comes together quickly on the stovetop.
This is a recipe to make to share: the end result is about 70 tablespoon-sized cookies!
Modified from Fall Baking 2016 from Better Homes & Gardens.
There are more pumpkin recipes to look forward to this month! Here’s the full schedule:
Buttery Pumpkin Cookies (today)
Chocolate Swirl Pumpkin Bars
Pumpkin Raisin Cookies
Pumpkin Chocolate Cake
Pumpkin-Ginger Coffee Cake
Bready or Not: Buttery Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, room temperature
- 2 cups white sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 15 oz can pumpkin puree
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
Brown sugar icing
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup milk or half & half
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups confectioners' sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Mix in the white sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Beat until fluffy, scraping bowl as needed. Add the eggs and vanilla, followed by the pumpkin. Mix in the flour until just combined.
- Use a tablespoon scoop to dole out dough onto the cookie sheet, spacing out to allow for expansion. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until tops are set and edges golden. Cool on wire rack.
- Once cookies are completely cool, make the icing. In a small saucepan, cook the butter and brown sugar, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved. Stir in the milk and vanilla. Mix in the confectioners' sugar until smooth, adding more if necessary to reach a spreadable consistency. Use the back of a spoon to spread the icing onto the cookies. If the icing in the pot begins to harden, stir in a few drops of hot water to make it pliable again.
- Store cookies in a sealed container, with waxed paper or parchment between the layers.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Easy Blueberry Pie Bars
These Easy Blueberry Pie Bars taste like blueberry cobbler in a tidier, more compact form. They are DELICIOUS.
Yeah, yeah, I share a lot of good recipes on here, but these are seriously amazing.
The recipe is pretty straightforward, too. Make the shortbread crust. Press it down. Bake. Mix up the middle ingredients, folding in the blueberries last. Sprinkle reserved crust on top. Bake. Enjoy.
I like that this recipe only requires a pint of blueberries, too. During the summer, I can often find a little 12 ounce clamshell container on sale for under a buck!
These bars keep well for as long as three days, maybe longer, in a sealed container in the fridge. They make for a great dessert, but they’d be great for breakfast, too.
Bready or Not Original: Easy Blueberry Pie Bars
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks
Filling
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup sour cream or plain or vanilla Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pint fresh blueberries 12 ounces
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees.Line a 9x13 pan with foil and apply nonstick spray.
- Place flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter, and use a knife and fork to chop it into crumbles. Measure out 1 cup of this crumb mixture; set aside.
- Place the rest of the crust mix into the baking dish. Distribute evenly, then compress into a thin layer; a piece of wax paper and a heavy glass work well for this.
- Bake for 15 minutes. In the meantime, make the filling.
- Beat eggs, then add in the sugar, flour, salt, sour cream/yogurt, and vanilla. Gently fold in the blueberries.
- Pour the filling over the prebaked crust. Spread out evenly. Sprinkle the reserved crust mixture over the top.
- Bake 55 to 60 minutes, until top is golden brown and passes the toothpick test.
- Cool at room temperature, then chill in fridge to set more firmly. Use foil to lift onto a cutting board to slice into bars. Store in sealed container in fridge with waxed paper or parchment paper between layers. Keeps for at least 3 days.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Coconut Bars
These Coconut Bars are easy to make and absolutely delicious!
I say that, and I don’t typically like coconut. As a kid, I hated all candy bars with coconut. To me, the texture was the problem. It was chewy and dry in a horrible way.
In contrast, these bars are chewy in a fantastic way. The shortbread base pairs well with the coconut top.
They even look pretty, don’t they? That’s because the recipe holds back a quarter of the coconut to go on top. That way it ends up crisping up in a lovely way.
I modified this recipe from Taste of Home Magazine, December 2015, where the original notes describe it as an American take on the Filipino coconut cake called bibingka. I don’t think I’ve ever tried that–if I have, it was like 20 years ago–so I can’t vouch as to how close it is.
But what I can say is that this is a fantastic recipe by its own merits. This is the kind of recipe that would be bright and pleasant at the holidays, and also perfect for a summer cook-out.
Bready or Not: Coconut Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter melted
Filling:
- 3 large eggs
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk can
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups flaked coconut divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a 13x9 pan with foil and apply nonstick spray.
- In a big bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, and salt, followed by the melted butter. Sprinkle into the prepared pan and compress it to form an uneven layer. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until light brown. Cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 325-degrees.
- In a big bowl, whisk together the eggs, sweetened condensed milk, flour, brown sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and salt. Stir in 3 cups of coconut. Pour atop the crust. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup coconut over the top.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the coconut is turning golden brown.
- Cool completely at room temperature. Lift onto cutting board using foil; slice contents into bars.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Cookies and Milk Quick Fudge
Old-fashioned stovetop fudge is great. It’s also fussy, sometimes refusing to set or turning out gritty, and makes the cook babysit a hot pot to stir and stir. I’m all about quick fudges, especially during the Arizona summer. This Cookies and Milk Quick Fudge is especially nice because it has endless variations!
Choose a crisp, crunchy cookie from the store. Maybe on a good sale. In my case, I used Keebler’s Deluxe Grahams. A lot of Keebler’s cookies would work here–just don’t use the soft-baked ones.
Prep the cookies by chopping up a cup and a half. Freeze those bits; it won’t take long. From there, it takes just a few minutes to mix up the fudge.
The hardest part is waiting for the fudge to set for the next few hours.
This recipe makes a lot of fudge, but it’s easy to portion out. Slice it small, and keep it sealed and stored in the fridge!
Make this recipe time and again with different cookies. It could even be customized for the holidays or sporting events with the addition of differently colored sprinkles on top. Have fun with it!
Bready or Not Original: Cookies and Milk Quick Fudge
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups chopped store-bought cookies frozen
- 3 cups white chocolate chips
- 14 ounce sweetened condensed milk can
- 3 Tablespoons mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Line an 8x8 or 9x9 pan with foil and apply nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, heat the white chocolate and sweetened condensed milk in 30 second increments, stirring well after each bout, until it is melted and smoothed. Watch it closely!
- Quickly stir in the frozen cookies and pour into the prepared pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top and tap them into place. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. Use foil to lift fudge onto a cutting board to slice into small squares. Store in a sealed container in the fridge.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Double Chocolate-Candied Ginger Cookies
Let’s go hardcore chocolaty with these Double Chocolate-Candied Ginger Cookies.
Candied ginger with bittersweet chocolate, you say? Why, yes! The combination is extraordinary. These are grown-up cookies, with heady chocolate and ginger mingling in a great way.
I was surprised at how much the cookies dough hardened during its chill time. I still recommend chilling the dough, though, because aging the flour mix does age the dough and deepen flavors.
Just soften the dough at room temperature for a bit, if needed. My cookies didn’t spread much, either. They ended up as fat. luscious little chocolate bombs!
These are cookies to bludgeon off the lingering foulness of a bad day. Indulge!
Modified from Saveur Magazine.
Bready or Not: Double Chocolate-Candied Ginger Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup plus 1 Tb unsweetened cocoa powder sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar packed
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate heaping, coarsely chopped or in chips
- 1/2 cup candied ginger chopped
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a big bowl, beat together the butter, coconut oil, both sugars, and salt, until pale and fluffy. Add the egg, scraping the bowl as needed. Stir in the flour mixture. Fold in the bittersweet chocolate and candied ginger.
- Wrap cookie dough in plastic wrap and chill for a few hours.
- Preheat oven at 375-degrees. Pull out cookie dough; if it fairly hard, let sit out a few minutes to soften some. Use a spoon to shape and form small dough balls. Space out on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake 9 to 11 minutes. Let sit on cookie sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling. Store in a sealed container at room temperature.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Moose Farts
Tomorrow might be America’s Independence Day, but let’s go rebellious and Canadian with a tasty no-bake treat called Moose Farts.
That’s right, MOOSE FARTS. With a name like that, you know it has to be good.
These are apparently a Newfoundland treat. They bear some similarities to “magic cookie bars,” but these are in a distinct ball shape.
I think they’re perfect for a hot Arizona summer. No need to turn on the oven or use tons of fussy ingredients! Moose Farts are something kids and adults can enjoy. The moose… not so much.
Modified from Rock Recipes.
Bready or Not: Moose Farts
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk can
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups dried coconut shreds or flakes
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips milk or semi-sweet
- extra graham cracker crumbs to roll balls
Instructions
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter. Stir in the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract, then follow up with the coconut flakes, graham cracker crumbs, and chocolate chips. Once they are combined, stash the bowl in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Use a teaspoon or teaspoon scoop to form a small ball. Roll in extra graham cracker crumbs. Place in a container. Repeat with more balls, with waxed paper placed between the layers. Recipe makes about 51 ball using a scoop.
- Store balls in sealed container in the fridge.
- OM NOM NOM!
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