My mother-in-law has some great recipes stored away. A lot of them are from her mother and so on. This is one of those recipes. I know you probably see a ton of these pumpkin recipes and I also know its not halloween or thanksgiving time, the time when these types of recipes come out. You see my wife made these this weekend and I just had to share them with you.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies w/ Brown Sugar Icing

Cookies

• 1 c. (2 sticks) Butter
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 c. pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 2 c. flour
• 1 t. soda
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1 pkg. Mini Chocolate Chips (Mini are best but regular work fine)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cream butter, sugar together
3. Mix in Pumkin
4. Mix in Eggs until its all worked together
5. Sift together flour, soda, salt and cinnamon and add to the pumpkin mixture and mix.
6. Mix in chocolate chips
7. Add Tablespoon sized drops on greased cookie sheet
8. Bake for 12-15 min

Icing

• 3 T. butter
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 4 t. evaporated milk
• add in 1 c powdered sugar
• add in 1 tsp vanilla

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat mix together butter, brown sugar and milk and heat until sugar is dissoved
2. Add mixture to powdered sugar and add vanilla and mix until smooth
3. After cookies have cooled, frost

I have looked for a long time for a great pizza sauce recipe. I used to work at a couple pizza places but only one of them had great pizza. The place that had great sauce had a lot of amazing food. It was a small place called High Desert Pizza in Ivins Utah, not a chain or anything. Along with their Focaccia Sandwich their pizzas were amazing. After I left the place was bought by one of the workers there and she ran it into the ground. Sad. Since then I have been trying to find something close to the sauce they had for their pizza. I think i have found it. Thanks to Laura Flowers of the The Cooking Photographer for this recipe.

Old School Pizza Sauce

Adapted from The Cooking Photographer

• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 2 t. dried oregano
• 2 t. dried basil
• 2 t. garlic powder
• 1 t. onion powder
• 1 t. ground sweet paprika
• 2 t. sugar
• 1/2 t. salt
• Fresh cracked pepper to taste
• 4 T. olive oil
• 2 t. white vinegar

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl or container

I have found that if it sits a day or so in the fridge the spices get married to the tomato sauce/paste it tastes a bit better than fresh, but it is ready to use the moment you are done mixing. This also makes a good dipping sauce for bread sticks.

About 6 months or so ago my wife found this recipe on a website she frequents. She decided to try it out on the family. It was a huge hit. For a family of 4 semi-picky little girls that is a good thing. I need to warn you though, this stuff is sooo addicting you won’t be able to stop yourself at 3 or 4 helpings. Seriously. If you try this I am sure it will be a long time favorite in your house.

Chicken Broccoli Pasta Skillet w/ Parmesan

Adapted from The Best Skillet Recipes
Found at My Kitchen Cafe

• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch squares
• Table salt and ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 6 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 t. dried oregano
• 1/2 t. red pepper flakes (more or less depending on how much kick you want it to have)
• 16 oz. of ziti or penne
• 6 1/2 c. of water broth mixed with 5 boullion cubes
• 4-5 c. broccoli florets (depending on how much broccoli you want)
• 1/2 a jar of oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped coarse (I get the tomatoes with the italian seasonings)
• 3/4 c. heavy cream
• 3/4 c. grated parmesan cheese, or asiago cheese
• 1 1/2 T. lemon juice

Directions

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a 12-inch nonstick or, in my case, cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add the chicken in a single layer and cook for 1 minute without stirring. Stir the chicken and continue to cook until most, but not all, of the pink color has disappeared and the chicken is lightly browned around the edges, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Transfer the chicken to a clean bowl and set aside.

Add the remaining tablespoon of oil, onion, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the skillet. Return the skillet to medium-high heat and cook, stirring often, until the onion is softened, 2 to 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, oregano, and pepper flakes, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add the pasta, and the water-broth. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until the liquid is very thick and syrupy and almost completely absorbed, 12 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the broccoli, sun-dried tomatoes, and the remaining 1 1/4 cups water. Cover, reduce the heat to medium, and cook until the broccoli turns bright green and is almost tender, 2-3 minutes.

Uncover and return the heat to medium-high. Stir in the cream, parmesan, and reserved chicken with any accumulated juices and continue to simmer, uncovered, until the sauce is thickened and the chicken is cooked and heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve, passing more grated parmesan at the table, if desired.

This is the best cornbread you will ever have. The soaking of the cornmeal before mixing it in with the other ingredients is brilliant. This softens the cornmeal and allows the cornbread to be so soft. If you like a sweeter cornbread this one is good, just reduce the sugar if you like a less sweet cornbread. Trust me you will love this cornbread.

Moistiest Cornbread Evar

Courtesy of All Recipes

• 1 1/2 c. cornmeal
• 2 1/2 c. milk
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1 t. salt
• 1 c. white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c. vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, combine cornmeal and milk; let stand for 5 minutes. Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix in the cornmeal mixture, eggs and oil until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cornbread comes out clean.

Yes I know, you are saying to yourself “oh no another one of those posts”. Just a reminder though: I do scour the interwebs searching for the best recipes evar. You see the blog title up there…go ahead and look, I’ll wait. We good? Now we’re seeing eye to eye. I have tried multiple chocolate chip cookie recipes. Even #43 from Cooks Illustrated “now with more browned butter”. Well there were only 2 that really made the cut but this one is by far the best ever (the other will come later)! It comes from a guy that I think knows his chocolate, Jaque Torres. I used to watch him on PBS make his chocolate goodies. Yeah this one has made the rounds on the internet but I figured I would remind you of all its tasty goodness.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Courtesy The New York Times and Jacques Torres

• 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 c. (10 ounces) light brown sugar
• 1 c. plus 2 T. (8 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
• 2 c. minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
• 1 2/3 c. (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
• 1 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1 1/2 t. coarse salt
• 1 1/4 lbs. bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks, I recommend Ghirardelli Chips, (originally the recipe asked for chocolate fèves, if you have them good job but I am a normal human being that shops at normal grocery stores)
• Sea salt. I like the Costco Sea Salt Grinder unless you got some Fleur de Sel.

Directions

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or if you are like me and hate the mess of parchment, lightly spray it with cooking oil spray. Set aside.
4. Scoop 2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of small golf balls) onto baking sheet, Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 16-19 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 5 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

These cookies are some of the best cookies I have ever had. Every year around the holidays I make these. It’s sad I wait that long during the year because these cookies are really awesome. If you like snickerdoodles you will love these.

Mrs. Siggs Snickerdoodles

Courtesy of All Recipes

Cookies

• 1/2 c. butter, softened
• 1/2 c. shortening
• 1 1/2 c. white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 t. vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 t. cream of tartar
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/4 t. salt

Tasty Ball Rolling Mixture

• 4 T. white sugar
• 3 t. ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Cream together butter, shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
3. Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

Holy crap these are good. They are a little bit of work but they are totally worth it. My wife found these at My Kitchen Cafe and I have to give her mad props for a great find. I have made them quite a few times. Next time I make them I am going to try them with frozen raspberries, I feel they are that versatile. Enjoy!

Lemon Sugar Crusted Blueberry Muffins

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

Lemon-Sugar Topping:

• 1/3 C. sugar
• Zest from one lemon

Muffins:

• 2 cups frozen blueberries (or 2 cups fresh)
• 1 1/8 cups (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1/4 cup oil (vegetable or canola)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

For the topping, stir together sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and set aside.

For the muffins, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Rinse one cup frozen berries under cold water and spread on a double layer of paper towels to dry well. Bring remaining one cup berries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with a spoon several times and stirring frequently, until the berries have broken down and the mixture is thickened and reduced to about 1/3 cup, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and cool to room temperature, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Toss the berries that have dried on the paper towels in with the flour mixture. Whisk remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together in a medium bowl until thick, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in the butter and oil until combined. Whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold egg mixture into flour mixture until just moistened. The batter will be lumpy with a few dry spots of flour – don’t overmix. This is the key to moist and tender muffins.

Using ice cream scoop or large spoon, divide the batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill the cups). Spoon a teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into the center of each mound of batter. Using a skewer (or a chopstick), gently swirl the berry filling into the batter using a figure eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over the muffins.

Bake until the top of the muffins are golden and just firm, 17-18 minutes. Cool muffins in the muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and serve warm.

To me banana bread was something that someone else brought over to the house or gave us for a gift. For some reason my mom didn’t ever make quick breads such as banana bread or zucchini bread (at least I don’t remember her making them). Thus the quick bread was somewhat of a mystery to me and so i thought it was hard to make them. Although I found out later that these elusive breads were insanely easy to make, especially with the help of a good Kitchenaid mixer.

It’s not very often that there are old bananas at my house. We love ourselves some bananas, but when there are I like to make banana bread. I stumbled upon this recipe in my journeys through the recipes interwebs and it has become my defacto recipe for banana bread.

Crazy Good Banana Bread

Courtesy of AllRecipes.com

• 2 C. all-purpose flour
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/2 C. butter (1 Stick)
• 3/4 C. brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 C. mashed overripe bananas (about 5 medium bananas)
• 1 C. dark or semisweet chocolate chips (optional)
• 1/2 t. cinnamon (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

My Wife’s Dad makes some mean breakfasts. He is always making pancakes, waffles or some other goodness. I tried replicating them but he’s the kind of guy that doesn’t measure, its all by feel and sight and for me that doesn’t cut it when it comes to “baking”. My attempts to replicate his biscuits were always in vain. So I decided to search for a recipe I could call my own, but I had one main criteria: It had to be made with butter.

A lot of recipes I found were made with shortening. To me shortening is tasteless and gross. If I want to bake something I want it to have some flavor. What about butter flavored shortening you might ask? Well its the same stuff as above but with fake butter flavor, and that’s not tastyliciousness. Finally I found this one on Epicurious.com and I must say everyone at my house is in love, even the Wife.

Best Buttermilk Biscuits

Courtesy of Epicurious.com

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• Rounded 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon milk or cream for brushing biscuits

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425. Sift all dry ingredients together.
2. Cut butter into dry ingredients using a pastry cutter or whatever floats your boat, until they are pea sized.
3. Add buttermilk and mix into dry ingredients. I do it with a fork until it starts to make a ball.
4. Turn dough out on floured surface. Fold dough over and over about 6 times to make “layers” (this will make them flaky). Roll out onto clean surface about 1/2-3/4 in. thick.
5. Using a cookie cutter or whatever you can find cut out the biscuits and put them on a slightly oiled cookie sheet. Brush tops with milk.
6. Bake for 15-20 min depending on how golden brown you want them. Enjoy!

Oh and I guess I will take pictures of my beautiful ladies too.