Caramel Apple Cider Cookies...My oh my

I have been staring at this pin on Pinterest for, well, ever, but never got around to make it until yesterday. I mean I love caramel and apples and cookies so this seemed like a no-brainer.

Now yesterday seemed like the first real day of fall with the chill and it was homecoming in my hometown so I thought it was as good a day as any for cookies. This recipe came from Scrambled Henfruit. Here's what you need.

Prep work time! I needed a slightly bigger bowl....C'est la vie. And can I just say that unwrapping caramels is a pain in the ass!!

Hello dough. ha

I was supposed to put the dough in the fridge for an hour, but I am impatient. I probably should have listened, however, since this stuff was super sticky and was all over my hands.

Now you see the caramel. Now you don't!

 Pre- and post-oven cookies

 And here's the finished product! Super yummy!

Couple recommendations though. Make sure you let the cookies cool before you take them off the parchment paper so that the caramel doesn't ooze out the bottom. Also if you don't eat the cookies soon after they come out of the oven, reheat them a little in the microwave so that the caramel is oozy again.

Enjoy!!

Caramel Apple Cider Cookies
Source: The Cooking Photographer via Scrambled Henfruit
Makes 3-4 dozen cookies (mine made 3)

2 sticks of butter, softened
1 cup sugar*
1/2 tsp salt
1 box Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Drink Mix (all 10 packets)*
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3 cups flour
1 (14 oz.) bag caramels

*I could only find Sugar-Free so I added an extra 1/2 cup of sugar (1 1/2 total), just because. 

Preheat the oven 350° F. Line the cookie sheets with parchment paper otherwise you'll have a sticky mess! Set the cookie sheets aside.

Combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon) in a separate bowl.

In your mixer, add the butter, sugar, and apple cider mix and beat it until it's fluffy and smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Next add the flour mixture slowly into the mixer until just combined.

If you have time, refrigerate the dough for an hour. It will help to make the dough easier to deal with. If not, full speed ahead! But you have been warned...

Unwrap all the caramels. Scoop out about a tablespoon of dough. Flatten the dough out in your hand, place a caramel in the middle, and wrap the dough around the caramel. Make sure the caramel is completely covered. Then place the cookie on the parchment lined cookie sheet 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes (mine took more towards the 14) or until very lightly browned around the edges.

After the cookies are done, lift the parchment paper off the baking sheet and allow it to cool on the counter. DON'T TOUCH THEM until they are cooled a bit. Then twist the cookies off and store in an air-tight container.

Potato Leek Soup!!

For today I am not doing a Pinterest recipe. I know, crazy right? Instead this is a recipe that comes straight from The Book and surprisingly I've never made it until today. That seems so, so wrong. C'est la vie.

I have now learned the error of my ways....

True, this recipe was done more out of necessity than anything else, but whatever. My mom intended to make the soup but then didn't have time to make it before she left for a vacation. This meant the leeks were getting to that point. You know what point I'm talking about...

Anyway, the soup is amazing and it was my responsibility to make it. So here we go!

Since the recipe is just written in The Book, I don't know where it came from initially.

Here's what you need:

Ingredients

2 smaller leeks or 1 larger leek
twine
coffee filter (optional)
2 bay leaves
20 black peppercorns
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 tbsp butter
2 strips of bacon, chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
5 cups chicken broth
1-1 1/4 lbs russet potatoes, diced
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper
1/2-3/4 cup heavy cream

The first step is to make a thingy (I'm so eloquent) that ties up the bay leaves, peppercorns, and thyme. The recipe recommended to tie it all up in a leek leaves. I am not NEARLY that coordinated so I used a coffee filter because my klutziness can handle that.

 Then put that little puppy aside. You'll use him later.

I like to chop up everything first because I am just not coordinated to do it when it's necessary. So here comes the leeks. You'll want to cut off the white-er parts, cut them in half length wise, and then rinse them. You'd be shocked at how much dirt is in there! Once it's washed, cut it across

Next peel and chop up the potatoes. Actually I have no idea if you're supposed to peel them, but I did it anyway. Then chop up the bacon. I used 3 slices because I really like bacon.

Once everything is chopped up, you're good to go. Put the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat and add the bacon once the butter is melted. Cook for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally until the bacon is soft. Yum!!!

Next add the leeks and cook about 5 minutes until they are wilted. It's starting to look pretty. 

Next add the wine and bring it to a boil. You'll see from the first picture I used frozen wine. Did you know you can save your wine by putting it in the freezer?? Food for thought...Moving on...Once it boils, add the coffee filter thingy, the chicken broth, potatoes, salt, and pepper. Bring that to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.

Once it's cooked, take out the coffee filter thingy and use an immersion blender or a food processor (I vote immersion blender). Just be sure not to use the blender to much. It's still good, but there is something about it being a smidge thicker. Here is the before, during, and after:

 Then add the heavy cream and voila! You're done!

Bon Appetite! Now go make this. I mean it. Do it now! You'll thank me later :)

More Pumpkin! Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread!

I'm sticking with the pumpkin theme since I love it and I had leftover after the Pumpkin Pasta. Since I have also been craving cinnamon rolls, I decided to go with a recipe I made for New Years Even, Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread! I was also told this stuffy is also called Monkey Bread in some places? Whatever, it just tastes....Yum....

This recipe came courtesy of Sunny Side Up and it was relatively easy. Just a lot of waiting...And I hate waiting. But I love this bread so...WORTH IT!

Now the last time I made this recipe, I did something wrong I think. Maybe I didn't let the dough rise enough or maybe the pan was too small. Who knows. All I know is that last time this recipe EXPLODED out of the pan. Fortunately only a couple of the pieces were lost and it was still awesome. Allow me to show you....

Yeah it was nutty. It looked like a mad scientist's experiment. ha. I also made the rum topping that the recipe recommended, but I wasn't really a fan of that so this time around I nixed the rum. It was just too much for me.

You can find the recipe here. Here are the ingredients, although I forgot the vanilla.

 First you brown the butter. I don't think I browned it enough, but eh, it happens. And then we added the milk.

Next step was to to proof the yeast

Add the rest the pumpkin, flour, sugar, and yeast. Then kneed the hell out of it!! Yeah buddy...God I love my Kitchen Aid Mixer.

 Let it rise for an hour or so and then punch it. This is the dough post-punch as you can tell from the imprint.

Roll that puppy out and then add the cinnamon sugar butter filling. I went with putting the melted butter on the dough and then adding the sugar mixture. I think I needed a bit more butter because it was pretty dry.

Then I cut it all up into 36 square pieces and then shoved them all into the pan.  My pieces were a bit thinner than last time because the darn dough got stuck. C'est la vie.

Then it's time to bake that puppy at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Based on my previous experience, I highly recommend that you put cookie sheet on the rack below the pan because sometimes the squares pop and last time it kind of oozed over the side and made a lovely mess on the bottom of my stove.

Here it is fresh out of the oven. I had to use all my self control to not start eating it right then and there because there is still the topping to make!!

I went with the vanilla instead of the rum. Yeah for melted butter and vanilla and sugar!!

And tada! The finished product!And it was just as awesome this time as it was last time which was evident from how quickly mom and I inhaled half of it immediately. Warm, gooey, awesomeness.

Pasta and Pumpkin Sauce

My absolute favorite part of the fall is all the pumpkin, well, everything! Whether its pumpkin beer or pumpkin bread, I don't care what it is. If it's got pumpkin in it, I want it. Going to a restaurant now is easy because if something has pumpkin in it, I will probably order it without looking anymore. I am that obsessed.

And I'm totally ok with that.

So when I saw a recipe for Pasta with Pumpkin Sauce on Circle B Kitchen, I had to make it.

Here's what you need.

What I loved about this recipe is that it was super easy to make and tasted amazing. The most time consuming aspect was cutting up the shallots and the sage. Besides that, it was really just pouring, whisking, and waiting.

The recipe called for the pasta (I used penne) to be al dente, but I cooked it fully and skipped the part about covering it and letting it sit because I was too impatient. ha

  But seriously though, how awesome does this look?? Excuse me while I go back for seconds :)

Pasta and Pumpkin Sauce

1 pound of penne pasta
2 tbsp olive oil
3 shallots, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
One 15-ounce can pure pumpkin puree
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 oz goat cheese
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 ½ tbsp of chopped fresh sage
Grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

Cook the penne in a large pot according to the directions and drain.

At the same time, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a medium skillet. Add the shallots and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes until the shallots are soft.

Add the broth, pumpkin, salt, pepper, heavy cream, nutmeg, cinnamon, goat cheese and 1 tbsp of the sage and whisk until smooth. Lower the heat and allow the sauce to simmer for about 5 minutes.

Combine the pasta and sauce and top with remaining sage and parmigiano-reggiano cheese if desired.

Crispy Parmesan Asparagus

I don't know about you, but when I think about asparagus, I don't usually think about putting it in the oven. But that's exactly what this recipe called for.

And let me tell you...It. Was. Awesome.Like seriously awesome. So awesome, in fact, that I made it twice within a week.

This was another recipe that I found on Pinterest and it came originally from How Sweet It Is.

I was so excited when I made it the second time I forgot to take a picture of the ingredients. Oops!

Here's what you would need though for the recipe:
1 bunch of asparagus
Egg whites (the recipe called for 2, but I ended up needing 3)
1/4 cup flour
1 cup of panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

You can see the full recipe here.

Now I am going to warn you now. This recipe is MESSY!! My biggest suggestion is to split the dry ingredients up into two batches because the mixture got goopy pretty fast. That might be my lack of skills, but regardless I think the two batches would make the whole process easier.

I probably should have cooked it a bit longer until it browned more, but it was still yummy and crispy. Even my dad liked them and he is super picky about vegetables. This one made The Book :)

Oh and a quick word of caution. I made the mistake of microwaving leftover spears and they were mushy. I would reheat them in the oven or a toaster and I'm sure they would be wonderful!