Bready or Not: Pumpkin Pudding Snickerdoodle Cookies
The name of the recipe is somewhat misleading. These don’t actually include pumpkin. Instead, they use dry pumpkin pudding mix!
This important ingredient vexed me. I found this recipe for pumpkin streusel pudding cookies at Chef-in-Training two years ago and wanted to do my own remix as snickerdoodles last year. The pudding mix is a seasonal ingredient. Foolish me, I started looking for it at Walmart in September, which is when I really want autumnal food even though it’s still 110-degrees here. No luck. I looked at every grocery store around. Still no luck.
Finally, the first week of November, I happened to be in Walmart. Lo and behold, they had the pudding mix! I bought several and resisted the temptation to cackle and dash through the store.
Therefore, you see, the timing of this post is so you can be on the prowl, too. Grab’em while you can!
Pudding mix is awesome in baked goods. It makes the end result soft, moist, and tender, and it stays like that for days. The pumpkin pudding here tastes like real pumpkin, but it has a lot more endurance. (If you want a real pumpkin snickerdoodle recipe, I posted one last year!)
This recipe makes a lot, too. I ended up with about 50 cookies using my teaspoon scoop.
Bready or Not: Pumpkin Pudding Snickerdoodle Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie Dough:
- 3/4 cup butter softened
- 3/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 small box pumpkin spice instant pudding mix dry
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 1/4 cups flour
Topping:
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar.
- Add the dry pumpkin spice instant pudding mix and beat until well combined. Next, mix in the eggs and vanilla.
- In another bowl, combine the flour and baking soda. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mix.
- Prepare the snickerdoodle topping in another bowl.
- Form dough into small balls. Use a spoon to roll them around in the sugar and cinnamon. Place them on a greased or lined baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: (Pumpkin) Bread Pudding
When I visited home for the week of the 4th of July, I wanted to make something special for my 90-year-old grandma. Like me, her favorite dessert in the world is bread pudding. Therefore, I set out to make her the best possible bread pudding.
Complication: her diet is pretty restrictive these days. She can’t eat most fruits. Nor does she need super-sweet toppings that will mess with her blood sugar.
I found a recipe at Will Cook For Smiles that fulfilled a lot of my needs. It produced a small batch. It included pumpkin puree, but in a small amount that I figured could be omitted without destroying the recipe. I could switch in almond milk for my own taste-testing comfort.
I also loved that the base recipe used King’s Hawaiian Rolls, which are pretty much the only type of store-bought bread I will still eat. It’s awesome. However, because I was going to be in my hometown, that presented another option. Central California has a large Portuguese community, and there’s an amazing Portuguese bakery less than a mile from my parents’ house. Their sweet bread is one of the most divine things on the planet.
I took my trusty kitchen scale to California so I could measure exactly 12 ounces of sweet bread, the equivalent of a pack of Hawaiian rolls. That ended up being about 2/3 of a loaf.
I prepared the bread pudding, tucked it in the fridge, then baked it after lunch. It cooked in exactly 45 minutes. We let it cool awhile before we dug in. I thought it was just about perfect with a drizzle of maple syrup over the top. It was surprisingly light and spongy–not heavy at all like some bread puddings.
However, the most important thing was my grandma’s reaction. She declared this to be the best bread pudding she had ever had, and she’s tried quite a few bread puddings in her day. Grandma was thrilled to have this as a dessert and breakfast for a few days, and said it was even better cold straight from the fridge.
I declare this recipe a win.
Bready or Not: (Pumpkin) Bread Pudding
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups milk almond milk works
- 1/4 cup butter melted
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree optional
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 12 ounces sweet bread such as a pack of King's Hawaiian Rolls or partial loaf of Portuguese sweet bread
Instructions
- The day before, set the bread out to go stale, if desired. For a chewier result, use fresh bread.
- Preheat the oven at 350-degrees (if you're baking this promptly). Grease an 8x8 casserole dish. Cut the 12 ounces of bread into chunks. Melt the butter.
- In a medium bowl, combine the milk, eggs, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin puree (if using) and vanilla. Whisk until all ingredients are combined.
- Spread the bread evenly within the dish. Pour the milk mixture over it. Press the bread in lightly to make sure nothing is dry. (If you're making this ahead of time, cover with foil and set in fridge for several hours.)
- Bake for 45-55 minutes, until the knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Serve hot, at room temperature, or straight from the fridge! Top with maple or agave syrup, nuts, whipped cream, caramel sauce, or fruit or nut butter. Anything is good. Plus, leftovers can be chopped into serving-size squares and frozen.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Maple Energy Bars and Bites
Confession: I’m classifying this as a fall recipe because of the maple, but I make these all year long.
I know, I know. If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know how I love maple. I like to make my own breakfast food, too.
Larabars are found in the energy bar section of retailers. They are delicious but are also awfully expensive–if you’re lucky, you might get a bar for a buck on sale. Me? I’m cheap. I make my own versions. I have a chocolate chip cookie dough recipe that I really need to share at some point, but today is about the maple variety that I created on my own.
To make any homemade Larabar facsimile, you really need two base ingredients: dates and nuts. You switch out the nuts to your taste or based on sales, then change out seasonings to make things fresh and tasty. With the maple flavor, I like using a combo of cashews and pecans, but I’ve also done all cashews. Feel free to do almonds, peanuts, or whatever else you have handy, or combine them all!
I usually make these into a ball shape using my tablespoon scoop, but this time around I made bars. They are a bit more photogenic, I think. And man, do they taste good.
Bready or Not: Maple Energy Bars and Bites
Ingredients
- 1 cup medjool dates chopped
- 1/2 cup cashews
- 1/2 cup pecans or combine other nuts to equal 1 cup
- 1-2 teaspoons candied ginger diced (optional, but tasty)
- sprinkle cinnamon
- 1/2-3/4 teaspoon maple flavor
- water if needed
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients but the water. Pour 1/3 or 1/2 the mix into a high-powered food processor or blender. Pulse. Stir it with a spoon or spatula--it will be thick and gum up the machine. Pour the blended mix out, then add in more of the nut-date blend until everything is mostly blended. It's okay to have some chunks.
- Squeeze the mash between your fingers. If it doesn't want to stick together, dribble in water by 1/2 teaspoon until it's cohesive.
- You can shape them in two ways. Use a tablespoon scoop to form a ball, then compress them with your hands to tighten. Or, make bars. Place a sling of parchment paper in a bread pan. Pour the mash in. Compress as tightly as you can. Remove using the sling and cut to preferred size.
- Keep stored in covered dish or closed baggie in fridge. Makes about 9 tablespoon-sized balls or 7 bars. Will keep for upward of 2 weeks.
OM NOM NOM!
Bonus Bready or Not: Candy-Stuffed Cookie Cups
I could accurately name these Salted Browned Butter Candy-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups but that’s a royal pain to even type out, much less say.
These are what I made for my book release at Changing Hands. My book has almost been out a month (!!!) so I figure it was about time I shared this recipe, as promised.
I wanted something cookie-like but more durable so that I could make it a few weeks ahead and freeze in a gallon freezer bag.
I thought, hey! Mini muffin pan cookies would be great! I already had a few such recipes pinned, so I combined them to create something new.
It was important to me that the candy be inside the cup. Since my event was in September in Arizona, I already knew I’d need to transport food in a cooler. Even so, I didn’t want lots of chocolate on the surface where it could melt.
In my first attempt at this recipe, I used the tablespoon amount called for in one of the base recipes. They baked into these overflowing mushroom shapes. Taste-wise, the combo worked, but they were HUGE.
Therefore, I knew on my next attempt that I wanted to use about a teaspoon of dough for each cup. That’s enough for it to gently round, not overflow.
I also added corn starch to the recipe, which is what I use in my Soft Batch-like recipe. I prefer cookies chewy rather than crispy, and these would get crispy fast.
Stuff these cups with whatever you want. I used Rolos and mini Milky Ways. Any bite size chocolate candy would work, or caramels or Snak Sak Oreos. Go crazy. Go delicious.
My recipe is a combination of Rolo Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups at Crazy for Crust and Salted Caramel Browned Butter Cookie Cups at Buns in my Oven.
Bonus Bready or Not: Candy-Stuffed Cookie Cups
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter browned on stove
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 teaspoons corn starch
- 1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips
- about 50-60 candies or mini cookies Rolos, Kisses, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, mini Oreos, etc
- sea salt to sprinkle on top
Instructions
- Melt butter in saucepan at medium heat. Whisk until it turns deep golden brown, about 5 minutes. Let it cool a few minutes.
- Prep the mini muffin pan(s) by generously buttering or using a non-stick spray like Pam. If desired, use mini baking cup liners and spray them.
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and corn starch.
- In a large bowl, pour in the white and brown sugar. Add the still-mildly-warm browned butter and mix. Add eggs one at a time followed by vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients until just combined. Stir in mini chocolate chips.
- Have your candy unwrapped or ready at hand. Use a teaspoon scoop to dole out dough. Press a candy inside the dough ball and cover completely. Place in mini muffin pan hole. Once the pan is full, sprinkle sea salt on top.
- Bake cookie cups for about 11 minutes. Tops should be golden brown and gently rounded. Let cool in pan for an extended time before removing (especially if they overflow with a mushroom-like effect).
- Cookies will keep in the freezer for weeks, or for several days in a covered container at room temperature. Makes about 50-60
OM NOM NOM.
Fall Recipes
It’s pumpkin time! And squash and apple time! Plus, it’s legitimately maple time. Last year I gathered my past fall recipes. Now that my recipe content is split between BethCato.com and LiveJournal, I really wanted to post those recipes again. The list now includes the 2013 posts, too.
Mini Pumpkin Donuts with Maple Glaze
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Pumpkin-Molasses Freezer Pie with Ginger Snap Crust
Maple Spritz Cookies
Pumpkin Pie Bars
Maple Fudge Bites
Pumpkin Gnocchi
Pumpkin Poppers
Overnight Crock Pot Apple Butter
Butternut Squash & Chickpea Salad with Almond Butter Dressing
Pumpkin chocolate chip brownies
Pumpkin-applesauce bundt cake
Candy corn cookies
Halloween party bundt cake (cake mix)
Pumpkin pie
Pumpkin cranberry breakfast cookies
Pumpkin roll bars
Pumpkin spice smoothie
Also, on Pinterest I have a wide array of boards including a Bready or Not board and a pumpkin board where I try to list the amount of puree each recipe calls for. It probably won’t surprise you that I have a devoted space for maple recipes, too.
Read MoreLinks of the Week
I’m still wandering about the internet, though not in the frantic style I was a few weeks ago (thank goodness!). I’ve actually been working on FICTION again. It feels good! These past few days, I tore apart a story I wrote back in August, one I mentally worked on for months because the subject matter intimidated me. That makes me feel even more accomplished now that it’s coming together.
I wrote another new story at the end of September, too. That one is being critiqued right now. I hope to start work on those edits soon. I love this later stage of revisions… once I figure out what I’m doing.
New poetry publications:
– “Grandfather and Granddaughter (Age 5),” Devilfish Review
– “Nisei” and “Seeds” (reprinted), Mythic Delirium Anthology; available in all formats
Socializing in happily geeky ways:
– SF Signal: Words We Learned From Genre Fiction
FOOOOOOOD:
– Over at the Holy Taco Church, I amp up the pumpkin spice goodness with Pumpkin Cheesecake Sopapillas, which use fast ingredients from the store.
Guest blogging about the book:
– “Romance in the Clockwork Dagger” at Reading Between the Wines
Really nice mentions of the book:
– Tor.com: Sleeps With Monsters: Books, Redux by Liz Bourke with a lovely mini review
