Recipes: Happy Halloween!

To me, a holiday of any sort, is simply a reason to BAKE! A reason to indulge in sugary, buttery goodness. I know that my last post was about consuming less sugar, but it's a holiday, People! Not eating sugar on Halloween is just not right.

So, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

In celebration, I made two pumpkin-themed recipes that I'd been wanting to make recently.

Pumpkin Sugar Cookies with Cinnamon Icing
Adapted from Minimalist Baker

I'm going to be honest. These are supposed to be vegan, but it is the end of the month, I was short on monetary funds, and I decided to use the non-vegan ingredients I already owned over buying more stuff. If you want the vegan recipe, you can click on the link, but I'm going to post my modified, non-vegan recipe. I also didn't use as much pumpkin and subbed cinnamon for pumpkin pie spice. In hindsight, I wish I had splurged on an extra can of pumpkin puree and the little shaker of pumpkin pie spice. Oh well. Still TASTY.

The Cookies

• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 1/2 cups + 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/2 Tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon milk

Basically, you just mix all these ingredients together in a mixer. Don't over mix. Then chill the dough in the freezer for 15 minutes. Make tablespoon-sized balls and flatten them a bit. Bake in a 350 degree over for 10-12 minutes. Let them cool and then ice them!

The Icing

• 1 stick butter
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1 Tablespoon milk

Mix it all together until it's whipped and looks like icing. Then spread it on the cookies and try not to eat it all. 

I stored my iced cookies in the refrigerator so that the icing would harden; it was pretty soft and messy at first. 

These next cookies are healthier...

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Adapted from Beachbody

• Nonstick spray
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans

Mix all the ingredients together (except the nonstick spray) and drop by large spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 14-15 minutes. Let cool completely. 

And here's me as a 2-year-old black cat for Halloween....

circa 1984