Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Pumpkin Cookies

R's Halloween Party for school is tomorrow. I volunteered to bring the "treat" for the party. I *was* tempted for a split second to do something healthy since, let's face it, the sugar onslaught is about to begin. But I am a sucker for holidays and didn't want poor R to bear the brunt of his 4-year-old friends' wrath if their party treat was something like, carrot dippers in hummus.

So we made pumpkin cut-out cookies using our favorite Gingerbread Cookie recipe (replacing 1/4 of the flour with whole wheat, just to appease my inner health nut) with a new take on frosting:

Naturally Orange Pumpkin Frosting

1 c pureed pumpkin
3-4 T apple cider
1/2 t ground cinnamon
several cups of powdered sugar

Mix all ingredients, adding enough sugar to make it stiff and spreadable.

For school tomorrow, I am packing up the frosted pumpkin cookies and some chocolate chips so the kiddos can make Jack-O'Lantern cookies like this:


R, of course, was a very willing taste-tester. I joined him in a tasting and I have to say, they were beyond amazing!

19 comments:

BigBi said...

Very cute, and very impressive!

whitneyingram said...

HA! You crack me up. Carrots and hummus would make children hate you, except for my son. He would eat the hummus with his fingers.

Amer21 said...

That's a great idea for the frosting. I'll have to try that one.

Cheffie-Mom said...

Sounds delicious! I'm definitely going to try it out. Thanks for sharing. Cute pictures!

Anonymous said...

Great idea on the frosting. Can you think of any way to make naturally red frosting? My son wants a volcano cake for his birthday party and I shudder at the thought of all that food coloring to make lava! Thanks in advance for any ideas you may have.
Jen

Anonymous said...

I answered my own question - berries!
Jen

Sweet Pea Chef said...

Jen--I do have another idea...beet juice. It is an amazingly effective dye, just not sure if it would come out red, red or pinkish red.

Anonymous said...

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Mitch from www.familyeducation.com here. I wasn't able to find any contact info in your profile, but I wanted to talk to you a little about your blog. Could you shoot me a line? The spambot-proof email address is "feedback at fen dot com"

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Deep in the Heart said...

So nice you get to send homemade treats to school. I'm hoping I can get clearance for the Daisy troops meeting snacks when it's my rotation, otherwise it's storebought. And for Rachel's birhtday, you have to buy through the school cafeteria!

Sweet Pea Chef said...

Jenn, You are kidding me! Well, I am sure that is the least of all the shocks I am in for when R goes to kindergarten next year.

Anonymous said...

Very cute and they sound delicious!

Live.Love.Eat said...

Awesome idea!

Happy Halloween...

Erin said...

Hello! Visiting from Tabitha's page! We are HUGE buckeyes! My hubby grew up/attended!
These cookies look fab!!
Happy Halloween!!

PS- I have an almost 2 yeard old, and had the same "party food" dillema. I bought cheddar cheese slices, and used my cookie cutters to cut them into halloween shapes and packed organic crakers w/ them : )

Erin said...

Hello! Visiting from Tabitha's page! We are HUGE buckeyes! My hubby grew up/attended!
These cookies look fab!!
Happy Halloween!!

PS- I have an almost 2 yeard old, and had the same "party food" dillema. I bought cheddar cheese slices, and used my cookie cutters to cut them into halloween shapes and packed organic crakers w/ them : )

Cookin' Cowgirl said...

So cute; what a fun idea!

I'm having my first linky party on my blog and the theme is pumpkin. I'd like to invite you to come link up your favorite pumpkin recipe. The link is open until Wednesday at midnight, so please stop by and say hi.

http://cookincowgirl.blogspot.com/2011/07/pumpkin-blog-hop.html

~Cookin' Cowgirl

Shannon said...

I'm so confused - I could NOT get the icing to harden. I just had very very sweet pumpkin sauce. Any idea what could've gone wrong? (and, by the way - I LOVE your blog, I've made a ton of these recipes, thank you!)

Sweet Pea Chef said...

Shannon,

I am so sorry you couldn't get it too harden. I am not sure what went wrong, other than too much moisture? Maybe the pumpkin puree was more moist than usual? Either way--I am sorry for the frustration!!

Next time, I would perhaps try 1/2 the pumpkin and add the sugar first...then thin it out a bit with a touch of cider, and see if this works better for you.

Thanks for your kind words!

Shannon said...

Awesome, I will try that next time. I don't mind the recipes that go wrong, it helps to learn, and then there's that much more satisfaction next time! Thanks again....
AND, your meatless Friday plan for our meatless Mondays is such a great plan, I love it!

Sweet Pea Chef said...

Thanks Shannon--I am so glad you will be along for the MM ride! :)