I know it's summertime and technically the wrong season for pumpkin treats, but is it ever really a wrong season for delicious cookies? The answer is a resounding NO. These are the best pumpkin chocolate chip cookies ever. They are incredibly soft. I'm pretty sure they stay soft forever, but I can't be sure because after a few days they are always gone. So if you are tired of the heat and ready for a taste of fall, these cookies are calling to you, or I guess you can just hold into it until fall, but don't forget about them or you'll be sorry.

Ingredients:
1 C Shortening
1 C Sugar
1 Egg
1 C Pumpkin Puree
2 C Flour
1 t Baking Powder
1 t Baking Soda
1 t Cinnamon
1/2 t Salt
1-2 C Chocolate Chips

Cream the shortening and sugar together. Then mix in the egg. Add the pumpkin. Mix in the dry ingredients, and chocolate chips. Spoon onto cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. It makes about 3-4 dozen.

That's all there is to it. Easy and delicious!

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This weekend I celebrated my 29th birthday. I can't believe I am going to be 30 next year. Aaaah! No matter how old I get I still look forward to my birthday. I love planning fun things to do and lots of great food to eat. I don't really like cake very much. I mean if you give me a piece I'll eat it, because that's the kind of person I am, but I wouldn't pick it over other desserts. For awhile I had even switched over to birthday brownies instead of cake. Then my sister-in-law introduced me to the ultimate chocolate bunt cake. It is so delicious and moist and wonderful! So whether you love cake or not this cake is worth trying.

Here is what you need:
1 Yellow Cake Mix
1 4 oz.  Pkg. Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix
1 4 oz.  Pkg. Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix
4 Eggs
1/2 C Sugar
3/4 C Oil
1 1/2 C Water
6 oz. Chocolate Chips

1. Pour all ingredients in a  large mixing bowl and mix together well.

2. Spray a bunt pan with a LOT of nonstick cooking spray. Pour all batter into the pan and cook at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick come out clean.

3. Let the cake cool completely. Scrape the sides of the pan to try to get the cake out a little better. Turn over and dump the cake out.

Best of luck getting all of the cake out cleanly. I get it all out about 50% of the time. But even if it doesn't come out really clean, you can still piece it back together, and it tastes so good that people won't care how it looks. You can see that I had to piece mine back together a little bit.

This cake is delicious by itself and phenomenal with some vanilla ice cream. And it was pretty good as batter on the beaters.

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I've got to be honest, I do not like peach cobbler. I don't really like peaches, and I don't really like cooked peaches, but this peach cobbler makes me want to eat peaches, mostly so that I can get to the delicious cake topping. I got this recipe from Husband's brother. He and his wife are amazing cooks and used to make us the most delicious food before we moved away from them.

This recipe is very easy and oh so delicious. Here is what you need.

Ingredients:
1 Large Can of Peaches or 2 Small
1 Yellow Cake Mix
1/2 Cube Butter
1 Can Lemon Lime Soda
Cinnamon

1. Drain most of the liquid from the peaches and dump into an 8x8 pan. Try to even them out a little.

 

 2. Pour on the cake mix and smooth it out. If it's uneven it won't cook all the way through. Top with slices of butter and sprinkled cinnamon.

 

 3. Pour the entire can of soda on top. Pour slowly or it will overflow. Sometimes we don't get the entire can in, but it should be most of it.

 

 4. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes.

 

Doesn't this look delicious?!

5. Let it cool a bit so it doesn't destroy your mouth, and serve it with a scoop of ice cream. (This is a must!) We comfortably served 9 with this pan. You could do smaller scoops and serve a couple more.

When I eat this, I eat the peaches first to get them out of the way, and then savor the delicious cake crust.

I just love how simple this recipe is. There is almost no way to mess it up, so even if you don't cook, you could still make a yummy dessert.

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Ice cream and Oreos together in a pie. What more could anyone ask for? This pie is super easy and delicious, and I credit it for bringing my sister and her husband together. Who wouldn't want to marry someone who had an ice cream pie in their freezer?

Here is what you need:
1 Package Oreo cookies (I use the store brand and they work fine.)
1 Container Ice Cream (I made 2 pies, one with mint Oreo and one just plain Oreo.)
Cool Whip
3 T Butter

First, chop the cookies very finely. I used my food processor to break them down quickly. That food processor was such a good investment. Be sure to leave 4-5 cookies to go on top of the pie at the end.

While my back was turned grinding up the cookies, Sweet Girl, who was in her high chair helping me, reached over and stole a cookie. She is truly my daughter.

Back to the recipe. Melt the butter and mix it in with the cookies until they are combined.

 

Press the cookie mixture into a pan. I made one in a pie plate and one in an 8x8 cake pan. Place the crust in the freezer for a couple hours.

 

Pull the ice cream out of the freezer and let it soften. Once the ice cream has softened spread a nice thick layer over the crust. Don't worry how it looks, because it will be covered up. Put the pie back in the freezer until it rehardens. 

Top with cool whip and the remaining Oreos. I like to leave big chunks of cookies for the top. Place back in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before serving.

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I have a major sweet tooth. I love just about anything with chocolate in it. If there is no chocolate in a dessert, then I don't really see the point in eating it, but I do make an occasional exception. I've never been a really big cake person though. There are only a few cakes that I really like, I am more of a brownie girl. Growing up my mom made blond brownies a lot. They are basically chocolate chip cookie bars, and they are delicious.
This recipe is from my sister-in-law, Maree, and I have not had anything from Maree that didn't taste phenomenal.
By the way, this recipe makes enough to fill a 9x13 inch pan. In my pictures I was halving the recipe, because a whole pan of brownies sitting in my kitchen does not do good things for my post baby belly that's still hanging on.

Ingredients:
1 Cube + 3 T Margarine
2 C Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
2 C Flour
1 t Baking Powder
1 t Salt
1/4 t Baking Soda
Chocolate Chips

1. Melt the margarine and mix with the brown sugar. (Don't forget to weigh your brown sugar rather than scooping it. So much easier. 1 C = 7 oz.) Mix in the eggs and set the mixture aside.



2. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Then add to the sugar mixture and mix until combined. Now you have a decision to make. The recipe calls for the chocolate chips to be sprinkled on top, which is how Husband likes it. I prefer them to be mixed in, and since I was making them, they got mixed in.

3. Spread the mixture into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

 

Check them with a toothpick to see if they are done in the middle. Mine always need more than 20 minutes, and they are still deliciously gooey in the middle.

 

I had planned to take another picture of the brownie with a scoop of ice cream, but when it came down to it, I really just wanted to get eating. there was not time for pictures, and I stand by that decision.

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You're One Smart Cookie!

 I am so proud of my mom. After putting her education on hold to raise eight children, she finally graduated with her Associates degree. To celebrate her graduation I made her these cute little graduation cookies. I was inspired by an amazing room mother at my elementary school last year who made these graduation hats for her daughter's kindergarten class. They were super easy to make, and I was excited about how they turned out.

The most important part is the cookies base. These are the same cookies that I posted about yesterday from Our Best Bites. I let them cool for awhile to make sure that they wouldn't melt the chocolate hats.

To make the hat you need the following:
Square chocolates- As you can see I used Ghirardellis. I got them at Walmart for $3.38 for 10 squares. You don't have to use this brand. Anything square and flat would probably work.
Peanut Butter Cups- $2.88 at Walmart. You could use the store brand, but I don't think they taste as good.
Cookie Icing Pouch- I liked this because it came with the tip right on it. All I had to do was squish it around for a few seconds and it was good to go. $2.98 at Walmart. They had a bunch of colors so you can match the tassel to your school's colors.
M&Ms- I had a small fun size bag left over from Halloween.

First I stuck together the base of the hat with the top with a dab of the icing between them. I had put the chocolates in the fridge before hand so they wouldn't melt in my hands while I was putting them together. I also tried to handle them as little as possible.

Next I put another dot of icing on the top and stuck the M&M on. Then I just made a line down the side of the hat to make the tassel. I put the hats back into the fridge on a small cookies sheet to set up until we were ready to go deliver them.

Finally I squeezed a bit more frosting onto the bottom of the hat to attach it to the cookie.

And of course don't forget the card to go with it. Congratulations Mom!

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I have to admit I am so tired of seeing pins all over pinterest claiming to be the best chocolate chip cookies. They can't all be the best, especially because I actually have the best recipe right here in front of me. That's right, I hold in my hands the best recipe for chocolate chip cookies known to man. They are phenomenal. The original recipe comes from Our Best Bites. I have loved almost every single thing I have made using their recipes, but these cookies are, in my opinion, their masterpiece, and maybe also their pizza crust, but that's a post for a different day.
For the most part I like to stick to a recipe. I am not an amazing chef, but I can follow directions really well. The main thing I changed about this recipe was to half the amount of butter and margarine. I have found that by halving the butter I get  more of a puffy shaped cookie instead of a flat cookie. Growing up my mom always made very flat cookies, and while they tasted great and I love my mom, I always wanted the puffy cookies that my friend Cami made. So, half the butter if you want a puffy cookies. I can't tell a difference in taste, and in my mind, it makes eating these cookies almost as healthy as eating an apple.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 C Butter (I used 1/4 C)
1/2 C Margarine (I used 1/4 C)
3/4 C White Sugar
1 C Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 t Vanilla
3 C Flour
3/4 t Salt
3/4 t Baking Soda
12 oz. Chocolate Chips (I usually half this too.)

Cream the butter, margarine, sugars, eggs and vanilla together. In another bowl mix together flour, salt and baking soda, then add to creamed ingredients. Mix together and add chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Let them sit on the pan for just a minute or two after taking them out of the oven, then cool on a wire rack. I usually get about 3 dozen cookies out of this recipe.

*Side note- I have read on several blogs and heard from friends who are much better cooks than I am, that you should use a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients to get more accurate measurements. I'm a little lazy, so I don't often do this. But, I hate measuring our brown sugar and packing it into the cup. I just hate it. So when I am using brown sugar I pull out my kitchen scale, set my mixing bowl on top, tare off the weight of my mixing bowl and then just pour the brown sugar in straight from the bag. 1 Cup Brown Sugar = 7 oz. It is so much easier.

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