Annie’s Eats

WOW. These cookies are every bit as good as the name might lead you to believe. It may not quite be fall just yet, but since fall is my favorite season and I love all things pumpkin, it is never too early to be getting into the fall spirit (if there is such a thing). These are really, really delicious and I feel that all pumpkin-lovers should give them a try. You won’t be disappointed!

The only change I made to this recipe was to omit the nuts, as usual. I just added extra raisins to make up for it (I ended up using about 1.5 cups total). The original recipe is below.

Iced Pumpkin Raisin Cookies
Ingredients:
For the cookies:
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
1 Tbs. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 ½ tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. salt
¾ cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
12 Tbs. (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter
¾ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup chopped toasted walnuts (optional)
1 cup raisins

For the glaze:
2 oz. cream cheese
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
½ tsp. vanilla extract
2 ½ tsp. milk, plus more as needed

Directions:
Have all ingredients at room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

To make the cookies, over a sheet of wax paper, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Set aside.

In a small bowl, stir together the pumpkin, egg and vanilla. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on medium-low speed until smooth, about 30 seconds. Add the brown and granulated sugars, increase the speed to medium and beat until slightly fluffy, about 1 minute, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the pumpkin mixture in two additions, beating well after each addition and stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Reduce the speed to low, gradually add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the walnuts and raisins.

Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the prepared pan, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart. Bake until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cookies cool on the pan, then transfer them to a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining dough.

To make the glaze, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-low speed until combined, about 2 minutes. Add the confectioners’ sugar and beat until smooth, adding more milk as needed. The glaze should be thick but pourable.

Set the rack over a sheet of waxed paper. Using a spoon, drizzle the glaze over the cookies. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour before serving. Makes 36 cookies.

Source: Williams Sonoma

I can’t believe my sweetheart is 25! It seems like just yesterday we were only two silly 16-year olds Of course, we still act that way a lot, so it’s okay Originally I was supposed to be on call tonight for OB/GYN, but thankfully another student wanted to switch call nights with me. I’m so happy that worked out because I was able to spend all evening with my wonderful hubby!

I did my best to make him a special dinner, and we both really loved all of it - especially dessert. We had baked apple and brie canapés as an appetizer, chicken stuffed with spinach and goat cheese as a main dish with baked garlic rice pilaf on the side, and molten chocolate cakes for dessert. All the recipes are below with my comments. I would highly recommend all of them!

Baked Apple and Brie Canapés
serves 6-10

Ingredients:
3 tart apples, cored and sliced into eighths
1 tbsp. melted butter
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 (400 gm) wheel Brie
24 baguette slices

Directions:
Toss apple slices with melted butter and brown sugar. Bake or microwave until tender. Arrange the Brie evenly over the bread slices and top with the apple slices. If desired, broil briefly to melt the cheese and brown the apples.

My comments: I made a third of the original recipe. I’m not sure how much brie I ended up using, but it was probably half as much as the recipe actually calls for. I zapped the apples in the microwave to make them tender and it worked great! It only took about 45 seconds. Then I just popped the assembled pieces in the oven at 375 for about 3 minutes to melt the cheese.

Source: Whole Foods

Baked Garlic Rice Pilaf

Source: Jessica’s blog
I made this exactly as she did in her blog, so I have nothing to add except that it is awesome!

Chicken Stuffed with Spinach and Goat Cheese
Ingredients:
1/3 cup goat cheese, softened
1/3 cup frozen spinach, thawed
1 tbsp. chopped basil
1 tbsp. Italian seasoning
1 tbsp. minced garlic
salt and pepper, to taste
3 chicken breasts
milk
bread crumbs

Directions:
In a small bowl, combine goat cheese, spinach, basil, Italian seasoning, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Butterfly the chicken breasts. Evenly divide the spinach mixture between the chicken breasts and stuff between the two halves. One by one, dip each chicken breast in the milk and then bread crumbs. Let sit for 5 minutes to help bread crumbs stick. Use toothpicks to secure the open edges of the chicken breasts.

Bake at 375° for 35-38 minutes.

My comments: The recipe above is with my modifications. The only real changes I made were to bread the chicken, and butterfly to stuff, rather than roll the chicken. I also changed the dimensions slightly because I wanted a little more stuffing in each chicken breast. This is absolutely delicous.

Source: unknown Nestie from the What’s Cooking? board on The Nest (tell me who you are and I will credit you!)

Molten Chocolate Cakes
yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. cake flour

Directions:
Melt butter and chocolate in double boiler. Whip eggs, yolks, sugar and vanilla with a mixer for about 10 minutes on high speed. Fold melted chocolate and butter into the egg mixture. Fold in flour until just combined. Butter and sugar four 6-oz. ramekins, then spoon the mixture into the ramekins. Bake at 450° F for 9-10 minutes. The center will be quite soft, but the top and sides will be set. Let sit out of the oven for about 5 minutes, then unmold onto a plate. Serve with a few raspberries and whipped cream.

My comments: Go buy the ingredients, and make these NOW! This recipe is easily halved so I made two cakes instead of four. I think this may be a recipe where a stand mixer is essential - it definitely came in handy.

Source: Ghirardelli