My Favorite Sugar Cookies

Thanksgiving will soon be upon us and it can't get here fast enough for me!  It's my absolute favorite holiday.  Food, Family, Food, Football, Food, Parades, and did I mention Food?  I love to cook and I love to eat (and I love to count my blessings) so Thanksgiving is the best day.  It is also the unofficial start to the holiday season when it becomes socially acceptable for me to blast Christmas music while baking sugar cookies.  Here is a simple, delicious recipe that you can bake while blasting Christmas music (the music is important to the recipe ;)

MY FAVORITE SUGAR COOKIES

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
holiday sprinkles or colored sugars
a little powdered sugar


Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until very well blended.  (If you don't have a mixer, just whip it with a whisk really, really well until fluffy).

Scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally.

Next, add the egg and vanilla.  Mix well.

Then, stir in the flour until fully incorporated.

Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes or so.  This helps the cookies keep their shape.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pinch off a heaping tablespoon of dough (more or less) and roll it into a ball (I use a small scoop so they are all the same size, but you can use a spoon).

Place some sprinkles (or colored sugar) into a small bowl and dip the ball of dough into the sprinkles.

Place it onto a cookie sheet.  Leave a few inches between them because you're going to press them flat later.

Put a little bit of powdered sugar in a bowl.  Rub a little butter on the bottom of a glass (I use the wrapper from the softened butter I used in the cookies) then dip the bottom of the glass into the powdered sugar.

Flatten the dough with the glass.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are light golden brown.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

These cookies are simple but they're a holiday favorite for a reason.  Buttery, sweet and delicious!  They make a great gift and are so pretty on a cookie platter at a party.  You'll want to make these every year.

Cherry Pineapple Dump Cake

I've been off sugar.  Me.  Off sugar.  But, I've been having a lot of trouble with inflammation in my ankles and sugar makes inflammation worse so, you gotta do what you gotta do.  It's been helping a little bit.  However, I've been going nuts.  I needed a cheat day.  If I kept it up cold turkey I would have went on a bender and devoured all the left over Halloween candy (which is a lot because we only had 4 trick-or-treaters this year).  I searched the pantry to see what I could make.  This cake has very few ingredients and it's super easy.  The reason it's called a dump cake (a word that my kids think is hilarious, btw) is because you just dump everything in a baking dish (no mixing bowl to dirty!).  It tastes pretty darn good, too.

CHERRY PINEAPPLE DUMP CAKE

1 (21oz) can cherry pie filling
1 (20oz) can crushed pineapple (in juice)
1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 stick butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour the pie filling and pineapple (with the juice) into a 9x13 baking dish and mix together.

Sprinkle the dry cake mix over the top.

Spread the cake mix evenly and gently pat it down.

Sprinkle the coconut evenly over the cake mix.

Cut the butter into thin pats and place them evenly on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown on top.  Mine took 35 minutes.

Let it cool 5 - 10 minutes before serving.  I like to spoon it into bowls and serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.  

Store left overs in the fridge.  It's even better the next day (according to my Mama and she's a cake aficionado).

So, the cherry pineapple dump cake definitely satisfied my sweet tooth without being overly sweet.  It tasted kind of like a cobbler.  The cherry and pineapple marry into a magical flavor and the toasted coconut gives it a great texture.  It was was so easy to make and uses so few ingredients that it could be a great go to recipe.  Plus, you can change it up easily.  Use whatever flavors you like.  Apple pie filling, canned pears, spice cake mix and walnuts instead of coconut would be delicious!  Blueberry pie filling, canned peaches, white cake mix and pecans instead of coconut.  Double cherry pie filling and chocolate cake mix would be like a black forest cake.  The possibilities are endless.      

Pumpkin Sweet Potato Crunch Cake

Even though there has been record heat here in South Louisiana, it is still Fall.  And I still need my Fall flavors.  Sweet potatoes are a mainstay in Louisiana cooking, especially this time of year.  This delicious cake combines them with pumpkin and has an incredible crunch topping.  The interesting part of the recipe is that the topping goes on the bottom of the pan, so when you turn the cake out it's on the top. It's kind of like a pineapple upside down cake.  But, instead of a fruit topping, it's a buttery, sugary, nutty, crunchy mixture.  Delicious!  Also, it uses a boxed cake mix, so it's easy!

 

Be sure to refrigerate any left over cake.  It will spoil if left out.  Believe me, you don't want to waste a bite!

 

PUMPKIN SWEET POTATO CRUNCH CAKE

1 medium sweet potato, baked, peeled and smashed

1/2 cup pumpkin

1 box yellow cake mix

1 1/3 cups water

1/3 cup oil

4 eggs

1 TBS cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 TBS vanilla extract

Crunch Topping:

1 stick butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup shredded coconut

*Note:  This is a great use for a leftover baked sweet potato.  If you're not sure how to bake them, it's easy.  Place cleaned sweet potato on a greased baking dish and bake in a 400 degree oven until very soft.  For a medium sized potato that's about 45 minutes or so.  Let cool, Peel and mash.  You can do this ahead of time and keep it in the fridge if you'd like.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a Bundt pan well.  I use shortening but you can use cooking spray.  Just be sure to grease generously or it will stick.

Mix cake mix, oil, water and eggs with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, then medium speed for 2 minutes.  (If you don't have a mixer, just use a whisk and beat the devil out of it.)

Then, add the pumpkin, mashed sweet potato, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla extract.  Mix well.

Now mix up the crunch topping by stirring together the softened butter, brown sugar, pecans and coconut until well incorporated.

Spread the crunch topping mixture evenly into the bottom of the greased Bundt pan.

Then, add the cake batter to the pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Mine took 40 minutes in my convection oven.

*Note:  Don't freak out if the cake rises REALLY high.  I laughed out loud when I took this cake out of the oven but as it cools, it sinks and relaxes.  

See, it calms down :)

Let the cake cool COMPLETELY before turning it out.  If you turn it out while it's still warm, the topping will stay in the pan instead of on the cake.  (But don't worry, even if it does stick you can always just scoop it out and spoon it back onto the cake.  No one will be the wiser.)

The cake is moist and not too sweet, but you get the sweet from the crunch topping.  It's got a wonderfully spiced flavor that just yells Fall.  I absolutely love this cake and so did my daughter.  She said "Mama, that was awesome!  I want you to make that for my birthday cake."  That's high praise in my book.

Pumpkin Coconut Bread

If you read this blog, you know I love anything and everything about Fall.  Sweaters, boots, pretty leaves, pumpkins, what's not to love?  Over the years I've posted about a bazillion recipes using pumpkin (slight exaggeration).  Point is, I like to cook with pumpkin, it's good and good for you.  I've made a lot of pumpkin bread in my life, but this recipe, that I ran across in an old Southern Living cookbook, is the best I've ever tasted.  Seriously, it's moist and flavorful and tastes like Fall.  It uses coconut cream pudding mix in the batter, which is what makes it so moist.  It's almost like cake.  Yum!  Trust me, it's good.

*Note:  If you don't dig coconut (or are allergic) you can use vanilla flavored pudding mix instead.

  

PUMPKIN COCONUT BREAD

2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup oil (canola or vegetable)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 small box coconut cream instant pudding
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl slightly beat eggs.

Add the sugar and oil and beat with a mixer on medium speed until well combined.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pudding mix, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon,  I like to use a whisk to combine them well.

Alternately add the flour mixture and the pumpkin to the egg mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, mixing well after each addition.

Stir in the chopped pecans.

Grease a loaf pan.  You can use cooking spray but I like to use shortening.

Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan and spread evenly.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes then turn it out and let it cool completely on a rack.

This bread is just plain delicious.  It's moist and flavorful from the spices.  The coconut pudding mix gives it a little something extra.  It's awesome with a cup of coffee on a cool morning!  

You will definitely want to make this pumpkin coconut bread.  Invite a friend over for coffee and share this yummy treat (or save it all for yourself, I don't judge).