Pumpkin Cranberry Cookies

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving! I know I did. 

We spent Turkey Day this year at my aunt and uncle's house (which meant NO leftovers...sob...) and I put myself on dessert duty. One of the desserts I made were these yummy pumpkin cranberry cookies that my mom made when I was a kid. They're supposed to be jumbo cookies (hence the crazy amount of ingredients) but I just made several batches of regular sized globs of goodness. No joke - this recipe made about 5 dozen cookies!

So here you go:

Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour
• 2 cups uncooked oatmeal
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter (softened)
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups cooked pumpkin (I used canned instead. 2 cups is slightly more than one whole can)
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 tsp vanilla

Pampered Chef Tools Used:

• Classic Batter Bowl
• Easy read measuring cup
• Large mixing bowl (not pictured)
• Measuring Spoon Set
• Mini Nylon Serving Spatula
• Mix 'N Scraper
• Medium Bar Pan (I should have used the large because of the amount of cookies I made!)
• Medium Stainless Steel Scoop
• Stackable Cooling Rack Set (not pictured)
• Silicone Oven Mitts

Pampered Chef Kitchen Essentials

The tools I listed above really are essentials - things that every cook should have in his/her kitchen. The reason I love Pampered Chef is that their stuff lasts FOREVER. Seriously - I have a few tools (one being a batter bowl) that are almost ten years old. I've never had to replace anything unless I wanted to. So it is definitely safe to say that your money is well spent.

And can we please talk about stoneware? I mean, I'm a stoneware newbie but WOW! Talk about even cooking. I swear that everything I cook in or on my stoneware comes out perfectly. I have my eye on the Deep Covered Baker next ;)

Okay, back to the cookies! 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Combine oats, flour, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside
  
• Cream the butter. Gradually add sugars and beat until light and fluffy 
• Add egg and vanilla. Mix well (I ended up using an electric mixer here)
  
• Alternate additions of dry ingredients and pumpkin, mixing well after each addition. 
  
  
  
  
• Stir in cranberries. 
• Drop scoops onto the bar pan (they don't have to be spaced far apart since they don't expand much)
  
• Bake 20-25 minutes (I baked each batch for 22 minutes).

Enjoy!

Imagining my dream kitchen.

When I got married, one of the "warnings" I received from my mother-in-law was that my new husband was a notoriously picky eater. He didn't really stray from chicken cutlets or meatloaf. When I thought about it, I realized, Wow! He really did always order the same things when we went out to eat - chicken parmesan and caesar salad. How had I never noticed this? I responded by saying that  he'll either eat what I make or fend for himself. That first year of marriage, my husband ate a lot of Wendy's for dinner.

It wasn't because I was a bad cook. Actually, I'm pretty good at it. I happen to love cooking. I enjoy trying new recipes or altering others to make them my own. And when I get a new kitchen gadget or baking sheet, forget about it. I'm cooking up a storm. My husband just had an aversion to trying new things (one that he has since overcome).

As someone who loves cooking, one of the things I am most looking forward to in the next 1-2 years is building our new home. I cannot WAIT to build my dream kitchen. I already know that I don't want to go the traditional granite/stainless steel route, which is being phased out anyway. One of my friends just started her own interior design business and I have already given her the task of helping me design my new kitchen around this gorgeous jewel toned appliance from BlueStar. I mean, seriously, just LOOK at this stove! You can build yours here.

 From the BlueStar Jewel Tones Collection in Topaz

While searching for elements for my dream kitchen, I came across BlueStar's All Star Chefs and some of their favorite recipes. I decided to teach Baby J how to bake her daddy's favorite snack: Ryan Scott's chocolate chip cookies (actually, they're his mom's chocolate chip cookies). Yes, she's only 6 months old but why not? 

I want my daughter to be both adventurous and healthy in her eating habits, which is why I want to involve her in cooking at an early age. I believe that allowing her to be involved in the preparation of meals will encourage her to try new things and appreciate the work that goes into putting her meals on the table.

One of the last things I want her to be is a picky eater like her dad used to be. I have known so many picky eaters and I just can't imagine what a nightmare they must be to live with.

Ideally, I'd love to avoid the stereotypical kid food: pasta with butter, mac & cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza, PB&J, hot dogs, etc. Most of it is just gross (seriously, cheese should not come in powder form OR be neon orange. And what, exactly, goes into hot dogs?). And, as I said in an earlier post, I'd rather her eat home cooked meals and snacks as opposed to store bought which are LOADED with artificial ingredients. So we're starting early.

Even at 6 months, she was really into baking these cookies!

Baby J with some of her baking essentials

Chef J mixing her cookie dough

Here is the recipe:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup room temperature butter
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I upped this to a full teaspoon just because I love the extra flavor)
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate as opposed to semi-sweet)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 (I'm already pretending that I have my BlueStar Jewel Tone Stove)
2. Blend butter, sugars, egg and vanilla until creamy (this is why the butter must be at room temperature).
3. Add baking soda, salt, and flour, and blend (I add the flour mixture about 1/2 cup at a time and blend after each addition. I prefer to mix by hand so adding a little at a time makes it much easier to blend).
4. Add chocolate chips and blend by hand.
5. Scoop cookie dough onto baking sheet (I always bake on stoneware since it cooks so evenly).
6. Bake for 15 minutes and cool completely on a cooling rack.

And there you have it. An amazing batch of cookies from Ryan Scott; an All Star Chef with BlueStar. As J gets older, of course I'll have her do some more of the hands on work.

But for now, she was great company, helped mash some dough and nommed on the finished product.