Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

Oh brownies, how I love to make you even better.  I'd given some of the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars to my in-laws and learned they lasted mere minutes in their house.  So when Dave and I went over for dinner later in the week, I knew a pumpkin flavored dessert was in order.  These are based on my Brownies recipe, and the pumpkin is a perfect match for the fudgy and moist brownies.  I love how they look, they taste magnificent and the balance of pumpkin to chocolate is ideal.  Dave loved how the pumpkin was clear and definitive without tasting like pumpkin pie.

Stumbling around the web for pumpkin flavored desserts, I saw the idea of these at Betty Crocker.  I used that recipe to create the filling, but the brownies come from my previously posted Brownies (rather than a box.  But by all means, use a box if that's what you want to do.)  If you're having a Halloween celebration, you can't miss with this recipe.  The colors and flavors are perfect, you get enough for a crowd and the colors work with the holiday theme as well.  I do note below that I would have made one change to the preparation of the filling (and I should have recognized to do that before I made the filling, but oops), but otherwise, these are perfect.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

We're nearing the end of apple season, but their is still a lot of fall flavors left out there.  So, in honor of fall, I'm bringing you a few recipes featuring pumpkin!  It pairs so nicely with different flavors like chocolate and cinnamon, and lends itself to many forms, like bars, bread and cookies.  These bars are fantastic: soft, delicious, sweetly pumpkiny with a bit of chocolate. They are a little cakey in texture, but that certainly isn't a detriment.  I made these when friends came over for dinner.  Dave literally used two hands to eat it, announcing it was fantastic and Cindy's son, Jake, noted, "this is delicious."

This recipe comes from Two Peas & Their Pod and they might be the most adorable bloggers ever.  Like I can't explain.  Just go visit their blog and oogle over all the yummy things they make and how sweet they are.  The recipe is perfect and I didn't change a thing.  It's fairly simple to pull together and you just might have all the ingredients on hand, except maybe the pumpkin.  Unless you're like me and bought five cans of it not knowing why but that you needed it.

German Chocolate Toffee Cookies

Personally, I've always found German chocolate to be a subtle flavor and the real essence of what we've come to know as German chocolate comes from the supporting players like nuts and coconut.  As you know I'm wary of cakes, but I like the idea of these flavors for a cookie, especially for the holidays.  The result is a cookie with a good texture and nuttiness, but without a cohesive flavor throughout.  Dave was a little disappointed the recipe didn't include coconut and thought the chocolate was far lighter than most German chocolate treats he's enjoyed.  Depending on your audience, this could be hit or miss as it.

I found this recipe posted from Jeannieskitchen on BetterRecipes.com, and it was originally a Taste of Home recipe submitted by Joyce Robb.  First off, I had to halve this recipe when I saw it made 13 dozen cookies!  I'm all for recipes that make a lot of cookies, but this was little much for my crowd.  Feel free to double up the quantities below and you'll have a great cookie exchange treat.  Second, I would add a little more than the 2 ounces of German chocolate (maybe 4 ounces), increase the toffee bits to at least a cup and add flaked coconut.  That was really the flavor that was lacking to give you that ultimate German chocolate taste. 

Tools of the Cookie Princess: Spices & Ingredients

Last year I posted about how I find good deals on the common ingredients I use to bake. While I still believe that many of your ingredients can be off-brand and you shouldn't be afraid to stock up when something you use goes on sale, I also believe in using the best quality ingredients you can afford for certain things.

While I don't shop the King Arthur Flour catalog regularly, I do know they carry high quality ingredients that often don't compare to the competitor. When I decided to buy the cinnamon oil last month that I used in my Apple Spice Bars, I did so because I knew I wouldn't find the a similar item of the same quality nearby. Splurging occasionally on the ingredients that make a difference to the flavor of a recipe is something that should be encouraged and I hope you treat yourself to something decadent every once and a while.

Candy Bar Cookie Pops

My nephew turned 8 this week.  Where does the time go?  Keeping with the birthday baking theme with my nieces this year (Stained-Glass Flower Lollipops and Colorful Cookie Pops), I wanted to create a similar treat for him too.  And, being that Halloween candy (in tiny fun sized portions) is plenty available this time of year, these were the perfect treat.  Plus they were easy to pull together from a prepackaged mix and five other ingredients, including the sprinkles.  This is a perfect recipe to make with kids if you want to get them involved in the kitchen. I made these with Milky Ways and the nougat and caramel really cut the super chocolately cookie. 

Researching kid-friendly recipes, I found this recipe at Betty Crocker and am totally pleased with it. You could use any candy bar that would yield to a popsicle stick.  The recipe calls for "milk chocolate covered candy bars with chewy caramel and crispy crunchies" but standing in the candy aisle at Target, I could not for the life of me figure out what those were.  Any guesses?  So, to the Milky Ways it was.  I must have made my cookies a little big because I only got 20 pops, not the 28 it calls for, but I was very concerned about the caramel leaking out.  Fun and cute, these are perfect birthday treats, for a bake sale, or just to use up leftover Halloween candy.