Pumpkin Crinkle Cookies

Pumpkin Maple Crinkle Cookies

I am so happy it is pumpkin pie spice season AKA fall. My new favorite thing for the fall season is baking with maple extract and pumpkin as this flavor combination is divine. These cookies taste so great and have a cake-like texture. They are soft and fluffy and the pumpkin spice, pumpkin and maple extract result in a cookie that is the essence of the season. Your kitchen will smell amazing while they are baking. Instead of granulated sugar, I tried the new Golden Sugar from Domino and love the results. I plan to use this sugar in many recipes. Golden Sugar is less-processed sugar and works cup-for-cup just like white granulated sugar and dissolves just the same. It also has a hint of molasses flavor. No mixer is required for this recipe and it is super easy to make. One thing to note is the dough is super sticky so I chilled it for 1 hour. If you use unsalted butter instead of salted, add 1 teaspoon of coarse salt. Click here for my pumpkin pie spice recipe. Enjoy Pumpkin Maple Crinkle Cookies with a cup of milk, tea or coffee. It is a perfect choice for a cool, crisp day when you are home relaxing. When I showed my hubby Allen our cookie jar filled with these cookies he said, "There is nothing better than a full cookie jar." I couldn't agree more so go ahead and make some. See recipe and instructions below. Have a wonderful fall season.

Pumpkin Crinkle Cookies

Close-up of Pumpkin Crinkle Cookies

Yield: 2 Dozen Cookies

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda

3 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 1/2 cups Domino Golden Sugar (or Granulated Sugar)

4 tablespoons Salted Butter

1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree

3 Large Eggs

1 teaspoon Maple Extract

1/2 cup Powdered Sugar for rolling

Allen was happy to see a full cookie jar again!

Pumpkin Crinkle Cookies

Directions
Heat oven to 325°F.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, add powdered sugar; set aside.

Melt butter and set aside to cool.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice; set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, pumpkin puree and maple extract.

Fluffy cakey cookies

Cookies cooling on wire racks

Fold in the flour mixture using a spatula until combined.

Cover and chill the dough for 1 hour in the fridge.

Using a cookie scoop form dough into balls about the size of 1 1/2 tablespoons.

Roll each dough ball into the powdered sugar, shake off excess, and place on lined baking sheets 2 inches apart.

Bake for 11 to 14 minutes.

Let the cookies set in baking sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys

Pumpkin Pie Spice

Pumpkin Pie Spice

I like to make my own pumpkin pie spice as it is so easy. This recipe fills a standard spice jar. Since I start fall baking this upcoming week, I like to have a jar ready to use. Pumpkin pie spice is not just for pie. Use it in cake, cookies, brownies, bars, cheesecake, etc. The 5 spices you need are: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. Just mixing the spices warmed up the kitchen and really made me feel like it was fall. We have had temperatures in the 90s and only this past week has it started cooling down. The aroma from pumpkin pie spice is sublime and I love to use it in my baked goods. If you need more just double the recipe. Happy Fall Baking!

Top left: ginger, right nutmeg; Center: cinnamon; bottom left: cloves, right allspice 

Smells so good!

Ingredients
1/3 cup Ground Cinnamon

1 tablespoon Ground Ginger

1 tablespoon Ground Nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons Ground Allspice

1 1/2 teaspoons Ground Cloves

Spices mixed up

Pumpkin Pie Spice in the jar!

Directions
In a medium size bowl, measure the spices and with a spatula combine until incorporated.

Use a funnel to transfer to a spice jar.

-Enjoy!

Sophia/Two Frys

Ravioli

Ravioli

Allen asked me to make ravioli earlier this week so I got the ingredients I needed to make a quick and hearty dinner. This seriously took less than thirty minutes with jarred sauce and frozen ravioli filled with ricotta and pecorino Romano cheese. These shortcuts helped save time without cutting back on flavor. I bought organic ground turkey but you may substitute with ground chicken, ground sausage, ground pork, ground beef, or use a combo of ground meats. You can omit meat completely and make it vegetarian. Your preference. You can use your favorite spices, but I seasoned the ground turkey with 2 Gringo's Chupacabra Special Blend (link below), which is a company we love for many years and use their spices all the time. I added Italian seasoning to the pasta sauce (I used Prego Fresh Mushroom) and one bay leaf from Allen's parents backyard. See ingredients and directions below.

Ravioli

Ingredients
1 bag (25 oz.) Cheese Ravioli (Frozen)

1 jar (24 oz.) Pasta Sauce

1 lb. Organic Ground Turkey

1/2 Medium Spanish Onion, chopped

4 cloves Garlic, minced

1 Bay Leaf

2 tablespoons 2 Gringo's Chupacabra Special Blend (or your favorite spice blend)

2 Gringo's Chupacabra Special Blend

2 Gringo's Chupacabra Special Blend

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon Tomato Paste

1/2 cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese

1/2 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 teaspoon + 1 tablespoon Coarse Salt

Bunch of Parsley, chopped

Yummy ravioli

Directions
Heat skillet to medium heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Season both sides of the ground turkey with 1 teaspoon of coarse salt and 2 Gringo's Chupacabra Special Blend (or your favorite spice blend) and add to skillet.

Add the onions.

While cooking, heat a large pot filled with water on medium-high heat and boil.

Add 1 tablespoon of salt.

Cook the ground turkey until browned and use a spatula to break up the meat until it is in small pieces.

Ravioli done!

Add the pasta sauce, tomato sauce, garlic, bay leaf, and Italian seasoning and mix together.

Turn heat to low and simmer while you cook the ravioli.

Add the ravioli to the large pot once the water is boiling.

Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil.

Cook the ravioli according to package directions. My ravioli took 8 minutes to cook.

Adding more shredded Parmesan cheese

Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water.

Drain and return to pot.

Turn off ground turkey pasta sauce ragu.

Add it to the large pot with the ravioli.

Add reserved pasta water and mix together with a spatula.

Add grated parmesan and mozzarella cheeses and combine.

Add parsley and combine.

Sprinkle a little extra parmesan just before serving.

Serve with Italian bread or a salad if desired.

To order 2 Gringo's Chupacabra Special Blend or other products, visit:
https://2gringoschupacabra.com/

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys

Football Cookies

Football Cookies

My sister-in-law asked me to make custom football theme cookies for a wedding she made the wedding cake, and desserts. I made footballs using my favorite go to chocolate sugar cookie recipe. To make the helmets and jerseys, I use my vanilla bean sugar cookie recipe with vanilla bean paste, vanilla extract, and vanilla sugar so the vanilla is prominent but not overwhelming. The vanilla speckles are very pretty as well. For the royal icing recipe, see the links above. I used Chefmaster liqua-gel food color in royal blue, buckeye brown and super red.

The key to working with royal icing when you are layering colors over each other is to let the first layer dry overnight.

Football cookies drying

Football jersey cookies drying

Football helmet cookies drying

When making these recipes it is important to use softened, room temperature unsalted butter and do not overmix.

Sugar and softened butter ready to mix

This is the vanilla bean dough ready. Once the dough clumps around the attachment it is ready. Do not overmix the dough.

Vanilla bean dough is ready

This is the vanilla bean and chocolate dough ready to chill. I chilled them overnight since I made them a day ahead of baking.

Vanilla bean dough - see the speckles

Chocolate dough

I use Sweet SugarBelle icing bottles for this project. I highly recommend them. I made border and flood icing. Instructions are available at the links above.

Sweet Sugarbelle icing bottles

These are some of the cookies. They are cool and ready for icing.

Time to decorate the cookies

Helmet cookies about to get iced

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys

Potato Salad

Potato Salad

I am a big fan of creamy potato salad and this weekend I made some. Potato salad goes great with chicken wings, chicken thighs, pork chops, ribs, steak, burgers, hot dogs, etc... It is the perfect accompaniment to round out your BBQ and enjoy this last weekend before cooler weather starts to kick in.

Potato salad

Creamy potato salad

Yummy potato salad

Allen made two kinds of chicken wings to go with this potato salad. To really let the flavors develop, you need to chill this potato salad overnight or for at least 5-6 hours. This potato salad is very creamy, eggy, tangy, and perfect to share with your family and guests. This year, I added celery seed and sprinkled fresh dill over the potato salad, and this is by far the best potato salad I ever made. See recipe and directions below.

Eggs

Shallot cut in 4 and ready to dice

Diced shallot

Ingredients
1 5-pound bag of Russet Potatoes

2 cups Mayonnaise (adjust according to your preference)

6 Eggs

1 medium Shallot, finely diced

1/2 cup Relish

1/4 cup Dijon Mustard

3 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar

1 tablespoon Coarse Salt + 1 teaspoon

1 teaspoon Celery Seed

A small bunch of Fresh dill, taken off stem

Ingredients

Diced potatoes

Ready to mix in shallot and eggs

Mixed in

Directions
Wash the potatoes in warm water.

Place potatoes in a large pot with water on medium heat and season with 1 tablespoon of coarse salt.

Cover and cook until potatoes are tender but not too soft; about 20-30 minutes.

After 20 minutes, test some of the potatoes with a fork and adjust extra time as needed.

Place eggs in a saucepan filled with water. Boil eggs for 15 minutes, turn off the heat and let them sit in the water for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and place in a bowl with cold water for 5 minutes.

Peel the eggs and slice each one into 4 quarters and with a fork or potato masher break them up; set aside.

When the potatoes have cooked drain them into a colander, and cool to room temperature for about 15 minutes.

1 of the 2 cups of Mayo and 1/4 cup Dijon mustard

Mayo and Dijon mixed in

Adding in relish and then the vinegar, celery seed, and fresh dill (see pic above)

Peel each potato and dice into pieces and place in a large bowl.

Add shallot and eggs to bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Add the mayonnaise, and Dijon mustard and mix together.

Add the relish, apple cider vinegar, and 1 teaspoon of salt and combine.

Taste and adjust salt if necessary.

Sprinkle fresh dill over the potato salad.

Cover and chill in fridge for several hours or overnight.

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys

Thrifty Ice Cream

Thrifty Ice Cream

Allen and his family used to go to Thrifty Drug Stores where they sold Thrifty Ice Cream in California. Owned by Rite Aid, Thrifty Ice Cream has been around since 1940. There are currently 8 signature flavors available at Rite Aid. In the past few weeks, I purchased the Rocky Road and Mint 'N Chip and we loved them both. I love the vintage design on the ice cream packaging. Thrifty is known for its cylinder shape scoop serving which is displayed on the carton.

Rocky Road

Rocky Road

The Rocky Road exceeded our expectations with its lush creamy chocolate ice cream, marshmallows and California almonds. It was dreamy.

Yummy Rocky Road

Rocky Road

Love the design

Cylinder ice cream scoops - so cute! 

Rocky Road description

The Mint 'N Chip was phenomenal. Allen and I loved it and each bite had a refreshing mint flavor and lots of chocolate chips. So decadent.

Mint 'N Chip

Mint 'N Chip

We look forward to trying the other flavors. I hope Thrifty Ice Cream is here to stay.

For further information, visit:
https://www.riteaid.com/thrifty

-Sophia/Two Frys