Thursday, November 18, 2010

12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies - Pumpkin Bucket List

As I mentioned in my other post, I have a sort of "Pumpkin Bucket List" going on with all the pumpkin recipes I want to make. So, today I decided to make the Pumpkin Gingerbread and the Pumpkin Molasses Cookies.

The pumpkin gingerbread recipe makes a lot. I halved the recipe and still got three rather large-sized mini loaves. The bread has a nice tight crumb to it and a delightfully crunchy crust on the top.


Unfortunately, the taste was not what I was hoping for. I was really wanting that ginger flavor to shine through, but instead what I got was your every day pumpkin bread. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that. I still went ahead and devoured a couple of pieces. I'm thinking that I might have to just use all ginger in this recipe and maybe add some crystallized ginger to it as well. It's worth playing around with.


As for the pumpkin molasses cookies, I was also thinking that they might have that gingerbready flavor to them as well, but I just couldn't detect it. In an effort to spice up the flavor of the cookies, I drizzled some of the with melted pumpkin spice kisses and others of them with some melted white chocolate to which I had added ginger and cinnamon. That helped to improve the flavor a bit.


I still have some of the batter left too and am considering rolling them in a mixture of ginger and sugar before baking them. Of course, as with all spice cookies, the flavor tends to deepen over time, so I'll have to taste them again in a day or two. But, the search for a great pumpkin gingerbread cookie is still on.

As for Pupkin, well, he just cares about one thing.
"When do we eat?"



Pumpkin Gingerbread (Allrecipes)


3 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
4 eggs
2/3 c. water
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
3 1/2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, oil, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Add water and beat until well blended. Stir in pumpkin, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves. In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour.

Note: I didn't realize that the recipe said to add water, so I inadvertently left this out. However, I don't see why you would need the extra moisture since the bread's texture is perfectly fine without it.


Pumpkin Molasses Cookies (My Baking Addiction)

2 1/3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice (I used 2 tsp. ginger powder, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. cloves, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp. allspice)
1/4 tsp. black pepper (I omitted this)
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1/4 c. molasses
2/3 c. pumpkin puree
1 egg
1/2 c. sugar, for rolling

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and pepper.

Beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the brown sugar, molasses, and pumpkin puree and beat for 2 min. Add the egg and beat for 1 min. more. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing until the flour and spices disappear. You will have a very soft dough.

Divide the dough in half and wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Freeze for at least 30 min. or refrigerate for at least 1 hour. The dough is sticky, so the longer time it can chill, the easier it is to work with.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Put the sugar into a small bowl. Divide each half of dough into 12 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Roll the balls in the sugar and use the bottom of a glass to press down on the cookies until they are between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick. Transfer to cookie sheets. (I simply used two spoons to form the dough into balls, rolled them in sugar, and pressed down with a spoon that had been dipped in sugar.)

Bake the cookies for 12-14 min. or until the top feels set to the touch. Let cookies cool 5 min. on the sheets before transferring to cooling rack.

This recipe is linked to:
A Prairie Story's Recipe Swap
Friday's Potluck
Friday Favorites
Vegetarian Foodie Fridays
Holly Jolly Recipe Swap
Holiday Treats Hook-up

Week 8 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:

42 comments:

  1. Those both look yummy and I could totally got for a couple of each. LOVE the pupkin! Great photos.

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  2. I wouldn't mind a piece of the pumpkin bread right now, my coffee's hot:@)

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  3. The pumpkin gingerbread looks nice and moist despite the ginger flavor perhaps not "shining" through, I bet it still tastes delicious. Gorgeous cookies as always!!

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  4. maybe you need to increase the amt of ground ginger? or use grated raw ginger? but im sure those loaves taste as good as they look! love such an autumny post :)

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  5. I made a pumpkin recipe for this week too--two great minds think alike! :-)

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  6. The pumpkin Gingerbread and molasses cookies both look delicious. You always come up with the cutest ways to display your treats!

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  7. I love both of them! They are a must-have for the holidays!

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  8. Beautiful pics! The pumpkin gingerbread sounds amzzing and I will have to give that one a go, and soon!

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  9. These cookies look really yummy! I also like to taste the spice from the ginger or pumpkin spices.

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  10. Wow Lisa... you're on it ha? I love how dedicated you are to Christmas! What is ?Christmas without great cookies and plenty of sweets? Thanks for posting thses.. everything look amazing:)

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  11. Both recipes sound delicious and your photos look great!

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  12. YUM, YUM, YUM!! I want to eat these as my breakfast!

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  13. your posts just make me SO happy Lisa!!! Pumpkin & gingerbread are just HOLIDAY HAPPINESS to be Had! :) hahahahaha....

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  14. Oh, the pumpkin bread sounds wonderful! All these cookies and treats will are killing me!

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  15. ahhh! You and all your pumpkin goodies make me so hungry! : )

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  16. A beautiful seasonal recipe. Thanks for sharing at Vegetarian Foodie Fridays!

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  17. Hi Lisa - other than wanting more ginger - were you happy with the cookie? Would you teweak the flavors and make it again? Looks like the kind of cookie I've been wanting a good base recipe for.

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  18. Pumpkin gingerbread how amazing does this sound. What a great seasonal recipe.

    xo

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  19. I also love ginger and find it difficult to get it to stand up for itself in cooking and baking. If you hit on the solution, please let me know. But your offerings this week *look* stunning! :-))

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  20. Both the bread and cookies look great! I've been wanting to make a pumpkin bread pudding.. Think I'll use this recipe for my pumpkin bread Thanks!

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  21. I love how you decorated your cookies - you obviously have more patience than I do, lol. Both recipes look delicious to me but I know what you mean. I've made recipes before that were certainly good but not quite what I had hoped. Next time! :o)

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  22. What a cute little pupkin! And those cookies sound absolutely yummy!

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  23. Hi there...thanks so much for coming over and posting on my first swap. Your recipe looks yummy. Now...I accidentally posted the wrong recipe on your swap...yes...I have way too many windows open on my computer and I was busy coying and pasting and I goofed up! I don't know how to get my entry off of your recipe list. So sorry!!! You can remove it if you know how. Thanks.

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  24. I hope you'll manage to find your perfect pumpkin recipes, I still haven't tried any so I can't advise you.
    However, both the bread and the cookies look great.

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  25. Your pumpkin gingerbread and pumpkin cookies look really good.In Australia we don't really bake a lot with pumpkin but my husband has brought home 4 beautiful pumpkins (that's an awful lot of pumpkin soup!) so now I'm looking for something to do with them. These recipes could be good. As you say, maybe a bit more spice. I love spice!

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  26. I love the idea of a pumpkin bucket list! Such a cool idea!

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  27. wow, these cookies and bread both looks delicious, yum! great idea to have pumpkin bucket list. happy weekend! :)

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  28. Pumpkin & gingerbread are like PB & jelly. Made to go together! :)
    ~ingrid

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  29. Oh so delicious , love the pumpkin combis ,the spices do match!!
    And oh so pretty!!
    I remember u liked my cookies too and need to ask u to vote for me , will give ya details in the next message ok:-)

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  30. Ooh, they both looks so delicious! Yum :)

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  31. Haha, I love that you have a pumpkin bucket list. ;-) That bread looks particularly yummy...wish I could reach out and grab a slice!

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  32. Hi Lisa the bread and cookies look delicious . This was a great idea for a Linky list. You're more than welcome to link up . ( I will have to see if I have some holiday cookie recipes so I can link up here,too!)

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  33. I love the idea of a pumpkin spice Kiss drizzle on the cookies!

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  34. Lisa...... Congratulations on winning the Giveaway on my blog. If you send me an email using the address on the right hand side of blog. Supply me your address so I can get your cake pan mailed out.

    JoAnn

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  35. These both look amazing! I have been on a pumpkin kick myself, I will need pumpkin detox after Thanksgiving! Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier.

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  36. Great flavors! I love your presentation and photos!

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  37. I couldn't help but laugh at the phrase "Pumpkin Bucket List." Too funny! And your cookies certainly look yummy!

    I planning to post a Christmas cookie in the next couple of weeks. I'll have to remember to come back here and link it up.

    Thanks for linking up for Friday Favorites!

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  38. Ooh, the pumpkin gingerbread sounds delicious! I also love the "pumpkin bucket list" title. Any use of spice and pumpkin is a good use to me. ;)

    xo*tricia

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