Xapa to the World

Author: xapatotheworld

  • Recipe: Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Sandwich Cookies

    What is happening to me?! I’m becoming a cooking/baking monster! I always loved baking though. And there’s nothing like baking something from scratch. It’s probably my favorite, when I have time for it. And I try to make time for it. With just me and the Huz, it’s not too hard to spend a couple hours in the kitchen, and the end result is normally satisfying.

    I really recommend baking from scratch for two reasons – 1) You know exactly what is going into your food. You know because you put it there. No silly obscure scientific names, just the basics: flour, sugar, milk, egg, vanilla, pumpkin. Yum. And 2) the end result is no longer whatever the recipe says it is. It’s now part of you. Your heart (not literally) went into making that and THAT is fulfilling. I have yet to truly get there with cooking, but I’ve had some successes recently with new recipes, so that is encouraging me a lot.

    I was about to finish up work yesterday with a growing need to making something pumpkinny. Did you know that you can’t always find pumpkin puree throughout the year? Reminds me of Japan with all the seasonal veggies/fruits. And that’s comforting to me. I enjoy using fresh pumpkin myself, but the process can be very messy and time-consuming. It has to be combined with roasting pumpkin seeds too. That’s just a given.

    So, I wanted something sweet and something pumpkinny. I have a Pinterest board exclusively for pumpkin things. It’s delectable. I found the quickest pumpkin dessert recipe on there. The original recipe calls for all things gluten-free. I am not encumbered by the dietary restriction, so I did not use anything specifically GF. If you are, feel free to run over to that website for the alterations. This post, however, will include all the gluten-full and probably not-too-healthy-for-you ingredients necessary. Here you go!

    Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Sandwich Cookies

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    makes 24 individual cookies (12 sandwiches)

    Prep:   30 mins      Total Time: 1:05

    Ingredients:

    Cookie

    2 cups flour
    1 tsp baking soda
    1 tsp pumpkin pie spice**
    1/2 tsp baking powder
    1/2 tsp salt
    1 cup packed brown sugar
    1/2 cup butter softened (unsalted)
    1/2 cup pumpkin (you can refrigerate the remaining pumpkin in the can for about a week)
    1/4 cup milk
    1 egg
    1 tsp vanilla

    Filling

    8-oz package of cream cheese softened
    2 tbs butter softened (unsalted)
    1 tsp ground cinnamon
    1 tsp vanilla
    4 cups powdered sugar

    extra powdered sugar

    Directions

    1. Preheat oven to 350*F

    2. Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, salt) in medium bowl and set aside.

    3. Combine brown sugar and 1/2 cup butter in large bowl and beat at medium-speed until creamy. Add pumpkin, milk, egg, and vanilla. Beat until well-mixed. It will not look very nice, but don’t worry. Add flour mixture and beat at low-speed until well-mixed. Now it looks like batter.

    4. Drop batter onto ungreased cookie sheets with a spoon. I cover my cookies sheets with aluminum foil because I don’t like having to wash my cookie sheets. I’m lazy. I was liberal with the amounts (about a large half-dollar size) and they turned out pretty consistent. Not smooth like the ones on the original website, but they do the job. I had enough batter for 12 cookies each on 2 pans. Bake 9-10 minutes or until until set and lightly brown on the edges. I had to go a little longer to bake all the way through (since mine were thicker). Cool on cookie sheets for about 2 minutes then set on cooling rack. Cool completely.

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    5. Combine all filling ingredients except for powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat at medium-speed until smooth. You’ll probably have to scrape the bowl a few times to get all the ingredients mixed in. Add powdered sugar to the mix, one cup at a time, mixing completely after each addition. This was my favorite part. Yum!

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    6. Spread a layer of filling between the flat sides of two cookies and press together. You can be very liberal with this. We had a LOT of filling left over after I put a pretty good amount of filling between our cookies. We had so much, in fact, that we cut up a Honey Crisp apple and used half of it for dip and put the rest on the fridge for later use. So good. Sprinkle tops of sandwiches with extra powdered sugar (I forgot this part, but it does make them look cuter).

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    7. This is up to you. Depending on when you are serving the cookies, it is best to pop them into the fridge for about 30 minutes so the filling will thicken a bit. If not, the cookies could slide off each other. We’ve made cookies that we called Gobs for years (chocolate cake cookies with super-rich cream cheese filling AND coated on outside) and this is how we set them up. You can just put them on a cookie sheet to cool, or, if you lack the space, wrap each sandwich in some Saran wrap and squeeze in wherever you can find a space. Makes it easy to pack into lunches for a treat, too, throughout the week. I sent one to work with the Huz so he could enjoy it later.

    Go, my baking friends! Go and bake up some October!

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    **You can also use 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg and 1/8 tsp ground cloves.

     

  • Recipe: Savory Autumn Scramble

    While I was sitting at the car shop getting my oil changed, I perused through the Better Homes & Gardens magazine. There are usually some great recipes in there and the October issue did not disappoint. I quickly snapped pictures of each one and am determined to try them out throughout the season. The first attempt was the Savory Egg and Sweet Potato Scramble. The original recipe is here, but if you’re anything like me and my husband, you need a bit more meat to make a dinner meal. I decided to add some good ole Bob Evans sausage, because nothing is more Ohio than Bob Evans. Yum.

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    Here’s the updated recipe:

    Start to Finish: 35 mins

    Ingredients:

    8 eggs
    1 lb package of sausage
    1/3 cup milk
    1/2 tsp cumin
    1/4 tsp salt
    1/4 tsp ground black pepper
    1 tbsp butter
    2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and thinly sliced
    2 green onions, sliced
    2 cups baby spinach
    bottled hot pepper sauce (optional)

    Directions:

    1.  Cook and crumble sausage in a skillet for 10-15 minutes until thoroughly cooked. Set aside.

    2.  In a medium bowl whisk together eggs, milk, cumin, salt, and pepper. Set aside.

    3.  Melt butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Toss in sweet potato and green onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are almost tender, about 8 minutes.  Add spinach. Cook until slightly wilted, about 1 minute.

    It is amazing how big spinach is until it’s cooked for a while. Unreal!

    4.  Mix sausage into the skillet. Pour egg mixture over potatoes. Let the egg cook and seep down to the bottom of the pan. At this point, I raised the heat to medium-high because the egg just wasn’t cooking fast enough. After the initial cook, begin mixing the cooked egg portion into the rest of the scramble, letting the uncooked part go to the bottom and cook. Continue this method until all egg is thoroughly cooked but still moist. This will take about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and serve right away. Makes 4-5 servings. Add hot sauce if desired. This will reheat (like for lunch the next day) but I wouldn’t recommend more than three days.

    And there you are. It was a pretty easy meal. We really liked it with the sausage added in. Hope you enjoy it as well!

  • Snap Shop Phoneography

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    I am finishing up my second week of a three-week online course for phoneography. I had never heard of phoneography before signing up, but it’s simply taking pictures with your phone. I have a fairly nice camera, but I never seem to have it in easy reach anymore. Even when I’ve got it in my purse, it’s too cumbersome to pull it out, turn it on, and set the features for the pic I want. My phone, however, is sadly always within reach. I love taking pictures, as you can see by my blog, but I feel like they’ve been missing just something.

    That’s what I’ve loved about this class! I’m learning tips and guidelines for great photo-taking, not just with my phone, but especially with my phone. I’ve been learning to recognize and define what it is that I’ve always liked about certain pictures and how to prepare myself for the shot that I want.

    The course is taught by Ashley at Under the Sycamore. She is fabulous and a beautiful person inside and out. I’ve been following her blog for a while now and love pretty much everything she puts out there. Not only is it great content, but the photos that accompany her entries are gorgeous! She has a whole slew of ready-models too, with their five kids and yard full of chickens. Talk about blog-envy. 🙂

    So, if you are interested in an easy-peasy intro guide to good phoneography, you can sign up on her website. She also offers an online DSLR course for those with fancy shmancy cameras.

    I think my favorite part of the course is the photo-sharing. This is done through Instagram. We use the hashtag #snapshopstudent and share the photos we are testing out and wanting some critique on. Not only does Ashley offer valuable advice, but the other students in the course do as well. Here are some of my photos for you (you can click on any of the images for a better look):

    yard 3 stacked
    Shots around our backyard and neighbor’s yard.
    suns 02 3st
    impatiens after the rain and a late blooming sunflower
    suns 01 3 st
    I love my sunflowers! These are growing from the seeds we gave out at our wedding. I was very late in planting them.
    outside 01 4sq
    beautiful sky shots, caterpillar and our shed
    out and in 01 4 sq
    vintage sugar bowl, painted to fit in with our kitchen; windmill at a local park; niece’s soccer match.
    life 2 st
    berries in the backyard and a blissful afternoon of 1 Peter and white chocolate pumpkin mocha from Cavu Cafe in West Chester.
    Huz 01 2 st
    The Huz working on our rain barrel set-up and the wedding quilt his grandmother hand-stitched us.
    house 02 2st
    Yes, sunflowers again. 🙂
    house 01 4 sq
    around The House; rain barrel, porch rocker and pavers.

    You can find me on Instagram at xapatotheworld. I look forward to seeing you there!