2 (Well Actually 3) Ingredient Pumpkin Cookies

These yummy-looking cookies were posted Thursday on Cookiesand Cups.  Saw the photos and started drooling…

So here’s the SPH version…

1 box Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix
1-2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (to taste – I like mine good and spicy, so I use a full tablespoon of store bought, or a full batch of my own recipe - see below)
2 cups pumpkin, either 1 15-oz. can or frozen pumpkin that has been defrosted
1 can Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy Vanilla Frosting (if desired - not pictured)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine first three ingredients in a mixing bowl, and stir til smooth.  Drop by tablespoonfuls (I use my cookie scooper) onto lined cookie sheets, about 2” apart, and bake for about 13 -15 minutes.

Allow to cool a few minutes on cookie sheets.  While still warm, frost with frosting,  if desired.  Allow to finish cooling, then enjoy!

You can see in the photo that the warmth of the cookies is helping me frost them.  Also, if yours are too cool to turn frosting into drizzle, set them back in your oven for a few minutes - your oven is still plenty warm for a while after you are done baking, so take advantage!  The not-so-pretty cookies that aren't pictured went back in while I frosted these.  Guess what, in the end, they all turned out DELICIOUS - nice and cakey!

Some other ideas to try for these:

1. Add raisins.
2. Add sweetened dried cranberries.
3. Omit the frosting
4. Omit the pumpkin pie spice and add chocolate chips.  This is similar to a recipe my sister uses.

Now you’ll notice there’s no pumpkin pie spice in the photo of the ingredients…

I was out, so I made my own.

Here’s a recipe for that, too – it’s from the book, Make Your Own Groceries, by Daphne Metaxas Hartwig.  This was one of my mom’s books, and it’s become one of the best references in my kitchen.

So Daphne’s recipe is:
½ cup cinnamon
¼ cup ginger
2 tablespoons nutmeg
2 tablespoons ground cloves

This recipe makes a whole cup of pumpkin pie spice.  This is fine if you use a lot.  Be sure to store in an airtight jar, away from the light.  However, I don’t want or need 1 cup right now, and my spice jars are all running a bit low.  So how do you break this down into smaller quantities?

It’s a matter of proportions.  Let’s pick one part of the recipe to be a basic unit.  I usually start with the smallest amount, then convert up or down, whether from tablespoons to cups, or vice versa.   Our smallest number is 2 tablespoons (which is also 1/8 of a cup).  A half-cup is 8 tablespoons, which is 4 times 2.  We will need 4 units of cinnamon.  The quarter-cup of ginger is 4 tablespoons, so 2 units.  The nutmeg and cloves are both 1 unit.  So our proportion looks like this:

4:2:1:1

This means that no matter what unit of measure you use for making pumpkin pie spice, you will use 4 units of cinnamon, whether it’s teaspoons, ounces or pounds or boxcars.  You will use 2 units of ginger, and 1 unit each of cloves and nutmeg.

I love when math makes things simpler (and of course delicious, too!).

So to put this proportion to work in our recipe, let’s start with 1/2 teaspoons.  That’s a good, small, single recipe size.  Let’s make that our single unit for nutmeg and cloves.  That means our ginger is 2 units, which makes it 1 teaspoon.  Our cinnamon would then come out at 2 teaspoons.

Remember when I told you that I rarely meet a recipe I don’t tweak in some way?  This one is no different.  I’m not a huge fan of cloves, but I am a huge fan of cinnamon and nutmeg.  Feel free to play with these proportions to your taste.

The SPH recipe is as follows:

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves

Add this full recipe to your yellow cake mix, stir well to combine thoroughly,  and you will have spice cake.  Any time you’d like.  You can also use it to make apple pie spice, just add allspice to taste (I usually add about 1/2 teaspoon).

Oh, and did I tell you, that if you LOVE LOVE LOVE pumpkin spice coffee, add a whole SPH recipe to the grounds in your coffee maker, then make coffee as usual, you will have pumpkin spice coffee at a fraction of the cost as well as know what ingredients are in your cup.  This, by the way, is out-of-this-world yummy with a vanilla creamer.

Hope you all have a great weekend, and be sure to check back here on Sunday for the start of “The 9 Days of Knitting” tutorial and knit-along for Special Olympics.

Meet Goddess

Our old dishwasher didn't wash dishes very well.  Like ever.  Like from Day One.  She earned the sarcastic nickname of "Princess" - not to be confused with our daughter of the same nickname.  She also earned several other nicknames which I won't share - this is a family show.

We've tolerated her idiosyncrasies for 11 years.  Yes, we are a patient and tolerant group.  About 6-8 weeks ago, Princess the Dishwasher decided that she would only sort of clean the dishes on the bottom shelf.  She would only clean dishes on the top shelf if they had been rinsed completely clean, and then the shelf could only be  half-loaded.  About 10 days-2 weeks ago, she decided that doing dishes on the bottom shelf too was too much for her delicate disposition.  Now, I'm sorry, but if I have to wash the dishes before the dishwasher will wash them, we've crossed the line.

So, Bubba (whom I'll pay later for this) was out running errands with Hubs one fine day, and he mentioned to Hubs that with my birthday, our anniversary and Christmas are just around the corner.  "Maybe you should get Mom a new dishwasher."  Like I said - I'll pay him later.

So, Goddess came to her new adopted home last night from Home Depot.  She was installed this morning by our dear friend and all around good guy, Mr. Plumber.

Isn't she beautiful?  Can you hear her running?  NEITHER CAN WE!  We have an open floor plan, and vaulted ceilings (aka a great room area that acts like a cave and makes even pin drops echo).  She is QUIETLY WASHING DISHES!

So the test load of dishes is inside, and we are anxiously awaiting the results.  She is currently washing a few items that Princess (now renamed HOMELESS PILE OF SHEET METAL) refused to touch yesterday, including the bowl from the pizza dough I made yesterday that had some dough bits still stuck on the side of the mixer bowl, a pan that we popped popcorn in, and bowls from the chili we had for lunch (and no I didn't rinse them).

Waiting and washing somewhat-patiently...

T-shirt Yarn Tutorial - Part 2 - So What Do I Do with the Leftovers?

So once you've made your yarn, your left with this:

 Use it to make sweeper covers!  You will get 2 of them from your leftovers.

Fold it in half, and remove the sleeves...

...and the neck. 

Next, measure your duster/sweeper.  Mine is 10" long by about 4" wide.  I added 2" to each side to be able to wrap the t-shirt material up and over, and to then be able to tuck it into the little holes.

 I cut mine 6" wide...

 ...by 14" long.

Here it is, all tucked in.  It does work this way; however, I would actually add another inch or 2 to each measurement the next time.  Then, I could tuck the edges up and over as well.  Maybe even stitch it together to put on my sweeper like a sock.

Also, there were a few pieces (little strips from hem and leftovers of main rectangles, collar) that I could not use.  I went ahead and pitched these in the trash.  I left the sleeves whole, and can use them for cleaning mirrors and windows instead of paper towels (I use one wet, and then go over everything with the other dry).

Happy t-shirting!

T-Shirt Yarn Tutorial

My favorite online forum is Mary Jane's Farmgirl Connection.  It's for gals like me who do "farmwife" stuff, whether we live on a farm or just dream about living on a farm.

One of the posts today was about repurposing clothing, with a specific question about t-shirt yarn.  So, I thought I'd share the process with all of you.  This is a fantastic way to reuse shirts that may not be suitable for charity donation because of stains, holes, stretching - you know the ones I'm talking about.  By cutting them into strips, you can eliminate the holey or stained sections and still use what is good.

Materials:
T-shirt(s)
Cutting mat, quilt ruler and rotary cutter OR
Yardstick, 1-foot ruler, marking utensil (tailor's chalk, pencil) and scissors

Hubs generously donated this t-shirt for the tutorial.  Kind of appropriate, doncha think?

Start by folding your t-shirt in half, and laying it flat and smooth.  Be sure to smoothe out as many wrinkles as you possibly can.

Start cutting from the hem end.  Cut the hem off, and make the lower edge straight.  From here on, for the cutting, if you are using the yardstick method, use the smaller ruler and mark lightly on both edges, every 1/2".  Then carefully line up your yardstick to match each mark.  Cut with scissors.  Repeat the lining up and cutting.

My photos show how to do it with the rotary cutter.

Removing the hem

Continue cutting all the way up to the base of the sleeves (aka the armpits - can you say that on a blog?).  You will have a bunch of long loops.  I got 29 out of a size medium shirt.  If you don't mind some shorter segments in your finished product, you can repeat either process with the sleeves (without folding them in half first).

Now this is the part I could not explain in words only, so follow the photos if the directions seem confusing...

To make these loops into yarn, you are going to connect them with larkshead knots (thank you, Bubba - I knew there was a reason we have you in Boy Scouts!).  Take 2 loops.  Open one of them up.  This will be Loop A.  Insert Loop B as shown.

Now take the "tail" of Loop B and insert it THROUGH the front of itself, going over the end of Loop A.

Pull tight to make the knot.

Continue with all the loops until you have joined the last one.  Be sure to attach at the ends of each loop -  not in the middle or you will have "saggy" sections and tight sections (don't ask me how I know this - I will plead the 5th!)  Wind carefully into a ball.  This "yarn" has a lot of stretch to it, and you don't want to overstrectch it.

Make as little or as much as you want.  Make lots of colors - when following a pattern, joining Color A to Color B is as simple as another larkshead knot.  You can make a variegated (aka multi-color) using loops from different shirts, or mixing sleeve loops from one shirt with big loops from another.  Make rugs, bags, baskets, scarves - anything that would take a bulky or rug weight yarn - whatever your imagination wants to try!

Give it a go the next time you have a pile of old t-shirts!

Gluten Free Samoa-type Cookies

Ok, these are my absolute FAVORITE OF ALL TIME Girl Scout cookie!  I was actually a girl scout when they were entered into the cookie lineup, and I've drooled and dreamt over them ever since.  Which of course came to a screeching halt with the discovery of the gluten issues.

Last week, this wonderful recipe came from Gluten Free Easily.  My mouth started watering, my heart started pounding, and my mind was sending secret signals to my oven to preheat itself to 350.

As I went through the list of ingredients, though, some of them aren't always that easy to find.  In fact, I have no almond flour or coconut flour on hand at the moment.  So I started deconstructing the recipe, looking at the photos for guidance.  This is the conversation I had with myself:

I have a Betty Crocker Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix box on hand - check.  I have coconut flakes on hand - check.  But what adds that caramel-iciousness?  My guess has to be that 1/4 cup of brown sugar.  I have that on hand - check.  Maybe do the mix, add the toasted coconut and extra cup of brown sugar.  Ooh - and some Heath Bits for more caramel!  That should work!

So here's the re-done SPH recipe:

(ingredients waiting to be baked into deliciousness)

(remember fractions from school?  Two 1/4's = 1/2)

1 box Betty Crocker (brand) Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix
1 stick butter, softened (and use butter - it's worth it!)
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (I use either McCormick or Simply Organic brands)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup coconut (sweetened or unsweetened both work - I used sweetened because it was on sale)
1/2 cup Heath (brand) Bit o Brickle pieces (they're in the baking aisle by the chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet (with sides) with parchment paper.  The sides are important because flaked coconut has a mind of its own, and its a wandering mind!  Also, the parchment helps keep the coconut flakes from sticking to the sheet, especially if the coconut is sweetened.  Spread the coconut flakes on the baking sheet in a nice, even layer.

Place the baking sheet in the oven, and let them toast for 5 minutes. Take them out and stir.  Put them back in the oven, checking every minute or 2, til they reach the desired toastiness.  You'll know when they are starting to "go too far" when you can start to smell the coconut.  Remove from oven and stir again. That will redistribute any of the residual heat from the pan to any untoasted flakes.  Allow to cool.

In a mixer bowl, empty contents of cookie mix box.  Follow package directions for adding the egg, vanilla and butter, and add the extra brown sugar.  Stir in coconut and brickle pieces.  The dough will be very thick, so you may have to stir by hand.  Roll dough into walnut-sized balls (or use a cookie scoop).  Place on parchment lined cookie sheets.  Bake for about 8-10 minutes, til edges are starting to brown.  Allow to cool on tray for at least 5 minutes before removing (I wait 2-3 minutes, then slide the parchment paper - cookies and all - onto brown paper to finish cooling).

FINAL VERDICT:  Very sweet, definitely got an undertone of caramel, but the coconut flavor seemed to get lost.  I'm thinking next time I'll add some homemade coconut extract (Alton Brown, Food Network) along with the vanilla.  Both kiddos agreed.  Also, one neat thing about Samoas is that you get chocolate in every bite.  That isn't necessarily the case with these.  I may also sift out the chips, then use them to make a drizzle for the cookies.  Something to think about...

In the meantime, I'll just be sitting here, eating these delicious cookies!