Festive Pumpkin Roll

     There is no better flavor that encompasses the Thanksgiving holiday like pumpkin, and my mom's pumpkin roll is a perfect dessert that, to me, is both nostalgic and delicious. Its a little different from your regular bar, cake or cookie, and a it's fun, attractive looking dessert, so that should be enough reason for you to make it!
      I'm not huge on pies, so I'll happily skip straight to this delightful little pinwheel, and then most likely try a little sliver of pie later ;P

        The homemade cream cheese filling really is what makes it so delicious. It's sweet and rich and compliments the pumpkin perfectly, and with the crunch of walnuts......... MmmmMm, I could definitely go for another piece of this right about now!

I'd also like to thank my mom for participating in my step by step photo shoot, in the midst of all the Thanksgiving cooking!


       I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and stay tuned for a wonderful sweet potato casserole recipe that will pair wonderfully with a ham or roast dinner on Christmas!

Festive Pumpkin Cake Roll

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup pumpin

1 tsp lemon juice

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped nuts

powdered sugar

Filling:

1 cup powdered sugar

8 oz cream cheese, softened

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven at 375 

Beat eggs on high for 5 minutes, and gradually add in sugar, then stir in pumpkin and lemon juice.

Mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt, and then fold into the pumpkin mixture. 

Line a 15"x10"x1" jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with raised sides) with waxed paper and spread with mixture. Top with chopped nuts.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes

*Meanwhile - take a dish towel and spread quite a bit of powdered sugar on it (as shown in photo above). To make the filling, beat ingredients together until smooth.

When roll comes out of oven, flip it onto the towel and roll up starting at the narrow end, rolling cake and towel together, as shown in photo. Let it cool completely in the towel.

Unroll and fill with cream cheese mixture. Re-roll, wrap in saran wrap or foil and refrigerate until serving.

Momma's Apple Crisp

     Apple crisp is a universally loved dessert, and if you defy that made up fact then I disclude you from my made up statistics. Everyone loves it and if you don't, you are crazy. It's not only the tender, sweet apples with crumbly crisp topping with crunchy oats and brown sugar, but the nostalgia it provides with each bite.

      Fall season and Thanksgiving comfort food always shared with crazy family......Oh the memories!

  Oh that crisp topping looks so yummy!! Especially served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream....I seriously don't know what's much better than that.

       This is a recipe of my mom's, and it is so easy. Just sprinkle the apples with cinnamon sugar and top with a brown sugar and oat mixture, and taadaaaaa! Next thing you know you've eaten half your weight in calories, but who cares.
       Just tip back a Shipyard Pumpkinhead and take another bite! It's beautiful autumn in New England and if that's not reason enough to treat yourself, then you need to rethink some things!

Momma's Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

9 apples, peeled and cored

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 tablespoon flour

TOPPING:

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup quick cooking oats

3/4 cup flour

6 tablespoons butter (melted just 30 seconds in microwave)

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix flour, cinnamon and sugar in a bowl, add in apples and toss to coat

Place apple mixture in bottom of 9x9 pan

Make topping by mixing all the ingredients and sprinkle over apples

Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until apples are tender

"Grandma's" Chocolate Chip Cookies

       Halloween as a little kid is exciting, but Halloween as a college student is waaaayyyy better, and the fact that it happened to fall on a Thursday this year was very convenient. I may or may not have made it to my Friday morning classes but the answer to that doesn't necessarily need to be disclosed.....(sorry Mom)
        Needless to say it was an awesome night and everyone came up with some hilarious and creative costumes. Here's what me and my roommates looked like:

       From left to right we have Sam/Wonder Woman, Me/Bingo Nana, Mo/Khaleesi and Maggie/80's prom queen. I'd say it's a pretty awesome array of costumes. My boyfriend was an old person with me, which was pretty hilarious, especially after I stuffed my elastic waistband jeans with a king size sheet for some added butt cushioning. You can imagine I had a lot of fun dancing around with that.....

     So dressing up as a Grandma, I felt it necessary to put my culinary skills to work and make a batch of homemade cookies for all the party goers. (There is a good chance I am about the biggest nerd in the world, but thats okay.) The huge batch of cookies is nearly gone so no one's complaining!

         I found the recipe on Allrecipes. I love that site because the ratings help make it easy to tell what recipes are worth trying, and you can easily read peoples' reviews and suggestions. This particular recipe had great reviews and it was pretty simple so I decided to give it a shot, and it came out really good! They are moist and chewy and sweet, and the dough is dangerously good. Successful recipes always make for a happy blogger :)

Enjoying some homemade cookies and a nice cold Corona! Happy Halloween!

"Grandma's" Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp hot water

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts - optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream together butter and sugars until smooth.

Beat eggs in one at a time and add in vanilla, then baking soda dissolved in the hot water.

Stir in flour and salt then fold in chocolate chips.

Drop by the spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake for about 10 minutes or until edges are golden