Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Note: This is a re-post of a recipe I had posted a long time ago.

This recipe is part of my Hero Collection, and it represents my Dad. I chose this recipe because they are my Dad's favorite and he always asks me to make them and snitches them as soon as they are cool enough to touch!

Last fall and winter I made these cookies almost once a week! They always went so fast! And pumpkin is good for you, so don't feel bad for eating them.  They are very simple to make, and we usually have canned pumpkin in the pantry in the fall and winter.  

My Dad is a hero to me because he is funny, kind, loving, wonderful and caring. 

Instructions:

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the flour and chocolate chips, mix well with a wooden spoon.

Doesn't that look like a cranky pumpkin?!

Add in the flour and mix well.  Then add in the chocolate chips and mix until it is all mixed together.

Drop the batter onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment.  I use a large cookie scoop so the cookies are big.  Bake at 350' for 15 minutes.

Let them cool a little on the pan before you move them to a rack to finish cooling.  Then eat them or take some to your neighbors!  They make a great gift and they are perfect for fall!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Ivory Family Favorite Recipes

1 29-ounce can of pumpkin

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup olive oil (or a mixture of olive oil and melted coconut oil)

2 teaspoons nutmeg

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

5 cups flour

2 cups chocolate chips

In a large bowl combine pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, and oil, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, sugar and salt.  Stir in the flour and chocolate chips. Drop scoops of batter onto pans covered with parchment and bake at 350' for 15 minutes. Let them cool on the pan for a few minutes, then put them on wire racks to finish cooling. Enjoy!

Notes: If you use a large scoop only put about nine cookies on a pan. Also, since these cookies are actually the consistency of pumpkin bread, they don't stack well for storing or giving. Lay them in a single layer!

Yummy Focaccia

I love this bread because it is so crusty and oily and delicious.  When you are making it, your hands get all oily and messy.  It's fun!  It is also really good with a chicken and bacon salad, which I will post in the future.

Yummy focaccia with sea salt and half rosemary.

It is not hard, but I will explain the complicated part.  

You start out by mixing a pretty basic olive oil dough.  We use a Bosch.  Let it knead for about 5 minutes until it is very smooth.

Then let it rise.  After the first rise, you have to spread it into the pan.  

This is the oily and messy part!  You have to pour oil into the pan and then spread the dough out.  

This shows you how to stretch and spread your fingers to make the dough fit the pan.

While you are spreading, you separate your fingers and poke holes in the dough.  I know it sounds weird, but that is what gives the focaccia the right look.

This is the loaf after the second rise.  It has been sprinkled with coarse salt and rosemary (on half) and is ready to bake!

Yummy Focaccia

Adapted from Anne Burrell on foodnetwork.com

1 3/4 cups warm water

1 tablespoon yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

5 cups flour

1 tablespoon salt plus course sea salt for sprinkling

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided

Optional add-ons: rosemary, whole crushed garlic cloves, chopped kalamata olives

In mixer bowl combine salt, yeast, 1/2 cup olive oil, water, and sugar.

Turn on mixer and add flour until dough cleans the sides of the bowl.

Once the dough has come together, continue to knead for 5 to 6 minutes on medium speed until it becomes smooth and soft.

Coat the inside of a large bowl with olive oil and put dough into the bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap or a lid and put it in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, at least 1 hour.

Coat a jelly roll pan with the remaining 1/2 cup olive oil. 

(Chef's Note: This may seem excessive, but focaccia is a oily crusted bread. This is why it is soooooooooo delicious!) Put the dough onto the pan and flip it over to coat the other side. Then begin pressing it out to fit the size of the pan. As you are doing so, spread your fingers out and make finger holes all the way through the dough. 

(Chef's Note: Yes, this seems strange. But when the dough rises again, the holes will seal and the focaccia will have crags and creases and nooks and crannies. It you don't make the holes all the way through, the dough will “heal” too much and will end up smooth.)

Cover and rise again until the dough has doubled again, about 1 hour. While it is rising a second time, preheat the oven to 425'.

Liberally sprinkle the dough with coarse sea salt. (You can also add rosemary, whole smashed garlic cloves, chopped kalamata olives, if you like them, like my mom. But not me. I prefer it with just salt.) Bake until the top of the loaf is golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting and enjoying.

The Best Cornbread

This recipe came from a cook book that the ladies in our church made. It is our family's favorite because it is sooo good and sweet. Sometimes we jokingly call it “corn cake” because it has more sugar than cornmeal. We usually grind our own cornmeal from popcorn kernels. I think it also makes it taste really good! 

This recipe makes an 8” square pan. But we have a big family and we really like it. So we usually triple it and bake it in a huge 11 x 15” roasting pan for 40 minutes.

Sweet Cornbread

from Stefanie Gover

1/2 cup cornmeal

1 1/2 cup flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup oils (I usually use olive oil or a mix of olive and coconut oil)

2 eggs

3 tablespoons melted butter

1 1/4 cups milk

Grease an 8-inch pan.  Mix the dry ingredients.  Mix the wet ingredients.  Add the dry to the wet. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake at 350' for 35 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

Judi's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Our family got this recipe from our neighbor and friend in Las Vegas.  Since she only lived two doors down, she sometimes invited my older sister to come bake with her.  I was very young at the time!  But I do know that she was legendary for making really good treats.  

Judi's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

from Judi Brennan

3 soft sticks of butter

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

4 cups flour

3 cups chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 350'.

In a mixing bowl cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy, for about 3 minutes. Add vanilla, baking soda, salt, and eggs. Mix well.

Blend in flour. Once it is all mixed together, turn off mixer and add the chocolate chips. Stir them in with a wooden spoon.

Scoop balls of dough onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment.

Let them bake for 10-12 minutes, or until barely done. Then put them on a wire rack to cool. Enjoy!

Makes 8 dozen.

Notes: I used an extra 1/4 cup flour because we live at high altitude.

Judi always recommends that you add 1/4 – 1/2 cup extra flour to your cookie recipes (she's already done that for this one) and to always underbake the cookies; they are done when the cookies are just barely dry and the edges are starting to get golden. They will firm up after you take them out.