Gingerbread Cookies

I am, in general, not a fan of gingerbread cookies. I can have one or two, but they are not my thing. Nate is usually a fan though, and I like to try to do the "typical" seasonal things. I have a recipe that I've made before, but these are slightly different. Also, those are the ones I made for my mom to use on her advent calendar.... and there's something about the fact that they can last for years that throws me off. Time for a new, different recipe! :)

These, as advertised on the blog I got them from, don't spread. I like that about them. I was iffy to use butter, in my experience it tends to cause more issues than using Crisco, especially with spreading. (I know I've talked about my love for Crisco before.)  However, I am pretty fond of these. I think the lack of baking powder/baking soda helps, too. 

They are fairly crunchy, but soften a lot if you add frosting. Frosting is totally optional, though!

Remember, comments are loved! Tell me about your favorite gingerbread recipes & ideas!

Printable Recipe

Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup molasses
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Do not overmix. Add the egg, and mix until incorporated.
3. Add the molasses, and vanilla; mix just until incorporated.
4. Whisk the flour, salt, and spices together in a separate bowl. Slowly mix in the flour mixture.
5. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, to ¼" thickness. Place on prepared baking sheet, and bake for 8-9 minutes.

Yield/Time

Approximately 27 cookies

45 minutes

Nutrition Facts

110

Source (for original): The Kitchen Paper

Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 2-3 tablespoons milk

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and milk to desired consistency. 
2. Spread over cookies. 

Yield/Time

5 minutes

Nutrition Facts

20/cookie

Source (for original): Love Grows Wild

Spiced Apple Cider Donuts

I love donuts. Love, love, love donuts. (My waistline doesn't. Oh well. I only ever eat them in the fall, so that makes it ok... right?) Pumpkin donuts and these apple cider donuts are my favorites! I've been making these for a few years, and we always go through them pretty quickly. I won't tell you how quickly we went through the 5 dozen donut holes.... but it was fast enough we didn't have to worry about them going stale. ;)

This being apple season, I'm sure I'll make these a few more times! Only problem is the cost of the apple cider. WOW. I don't know about you guys, but it's crazy how expensive apple cider is. I don't buy it unless it's on sale... and even then I'm fairly cheap frugal, and don't buy it very much.

These donuts are totally worth it, and really don't call for a lot of the cider. (Oh, you may want to cut the recipe in half or so.... it does make a lot.) They are great to make as donut holes, especially for little fingers! As with the pumpkin donuts I make, the cinnamon sugar coating is optional. I usually do about 3/4 with coating, and 1/4 without coating. Either way, they get devoured!

Printable Recipe

Spiced Apple Cider Donuts

Ingredients

• 2 cups apple cider
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½  teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• ½  teaspoon salt
• 2 large egg, room temperature
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• ¾ cup light brown sugar 
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ cup milk, room temperature
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup cinnamon sugar mix

Directions

1. Simmer apple cider over medium heat in a small saucepan on the stove for 15-20 minutes. Add cinnamon sticks, spices, and/or orange slices for flavor if desired. Simmer down to ¾ cup, then remove any cinnamon sticks/orange slices. Cool in the refrigerator (or freezer) to room temp.
2. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a mini muffin pan/donut pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
3. Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, melted butter, brown sugar, and sugar together until smooth. Whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla, and concentrated apple cider.
4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; slowly pour in the wet ingredients. Whisk until all ingredients are just combined; some small lumps may remain. Do not overmix. 
5. Pour the batter into the mini muffin pan, filling ¾ full. If making donuts, fill donut pan ⅔ to ¾ full. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The donuts will take the same amount of time.
6. After baking, dunk the warm donuts all the way into the cinnamon sugar, mixing it around so the entire donut is coated. Repeat with all the donuts, if desired.

Yield/Time

5 dozen donut holes/28 donuts

3 hours

Nutrition Facts *I calculate nutrition facts for reference only, this is not done scientifically

Without sugar: Holes: 52  donuts: 77

With sugar: Holes: 64 donuts: 138

Source (for original): Sally’s Baking Addiction

Remember, comments are loved! What's your favorite homemade donut recipe!

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

I've talked before about how much I love fall, and in Michigan we are still having some very fall-like days. In between the days where mother nature doesn't know what season it is, of course. Even though all the hunters were complaining, I was enjoying the warm rain we got on Sunday. (Well, until the wind got scary and people started posting about tornadoes on facebook. Then, not so much.) It was a perfect fall baking day.....

And since it was a fall baking day, that meant pumpkin! Well, I was debating between pumpkin bread and Nutella banana bread, but the pumpkin won out. I have a pumpkin bread recipe that I love (as well as a pumpkin streusel muffin recipe), but I wanted to make some changes to make it a little healthier. 

(And who said healthier is a bad thing? Look at how tasty that looks!)  

I was debating on the changes to make, and decided on this: sub part of the butter for Greek yogurt, cut down on the sugar, and sub half the flour for wheat flour. I was debating on also switching the sugar to brown sugar, but decided against it. (Didn't really make it any healthier, would add some calories, and since there was already molasses in this, I was afraid of adding brown sugar.)

Since I was making so many changes at once, I cut the recipe in half so I would only make one loaf. (That way, if it failed, I only had to pitch one!) 

Overall, we are definitely pleased by the changes! Cutting down on the sugar makes a significant difference in taste; it tastes less like a sweet bread now. We all still loved it, but if you prefer a sweeter quick bread, I would add the full amount of sugar. It would be easy to vary the sugar content (from ¾ to 1 cup per loaf) depending on how sweet you would like it. 

One thing that I would suggest, that I didn't think of beforehand, was increasing the spices if you are cutting down on the sugar. The pumpkin is more noticeable, but the cinnamon & cloves aren't very dominant. I honestly can't say if that's because of the sugar decrease, or if I just didn't notice it before. Either way, I would suggest increasing the spices.

To make things easier for people who don't want to have the healthier version or who want to compare, I'm posting both. Check them out, & let me know if you make one or both!


First, the version I made today: (this makes one loaf, just double if you would like to make 2)

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter, softened    
• 1 ½ tablespoons Greek yogurt 
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 eggs    
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• ⅓ cup orange juice    
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract    
• ¾ cup + 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (to double, use 1 ½ cup + ⅓ cup)
• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder    
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt    
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a bowl, cream butter, yogurt, and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add the pumpkin, orange juice, molasses and vanilla. 
3. Combine dry ingredients; add to the creamed mixture and mix until blended. Pour into a greased and floured 9”x5” loaf pan.
4. Bake for 65-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. 
5. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from the pan to wire rack. 

Yield/Time

16 Servings

Prep: 15 min. Bake: 65 min. + cooling

Nutrition
120 calories per slice




Now, the original (this makes 2 loaves, cut in half if you would like to make 1):
(Oh, and please note: if you make it without the whole wheat flour, it's NOT going to look like my picture. I don't have any pictures of the original recipe, but there is a significant color difference when you switch out some all-purpose flour for whole wheat.)

 Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

• ¾ cup butter, softened    
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs    
• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• ⅔ cup orange juice    
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract    
• 3 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder    
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt    
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¾ to 1 teaspoon ground cloves

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add the pumpkin, orange juice, molasses and vanilla. 
3. Combine dry ingredients; add to the creamed mixture and mix until blended. Pour into two greased and floured 9”x5” loaf pans.
4. Bake for 65-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. 
5. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from the pans to wire racks.

Yield/Time

32 Servings

Prep: 15 min. Bake: 65 min. + cooling

Nutrition Facts

145 calories per slice

Source (for original): Taste of Home (Note: The original original also called for pecans & raisins, to be added after the dry ingredients. I don't like pecans or raisins, so I never made it that way.)