Frosted Pumpkin Cookies

Of all the recipes I make with pumpkin and squash in the fall and winter, my favorites are the sweet baked goods. No matter that there’s an overabundance of miniature chocolate bars and other individually wrapped, personal-sized candy treats in the world this time of year, I still gravitate toward the homemade late-fall sweets. Like these frosted pumpkin cookies, for instance.

I bumped up the WFQ* in this recipe from The Pillsbury Complete Book of Baking by swapping out one cup of all-purpose flour with millet flour. As far as I know, millet is gluten-free, so its addition in baked goods will make them a little more soft and/or crumbly than wheat flour does. For this reason, I didn’t go all millet, but left some gluten in the form of all-purpose flour to hold everything together. (If you require a gluten-free flour, there are many of them in the stores and on the internet.)

The millet flour did make these cookies extra-soft, but also extra-flavorful. Millet has a pleasantly nutty, slightly sweet flavor that might just make you forget you’re increasing your diet’s WFQ. I loved it in these cookies, but if you don’t happen to have any on hand, and aren’t looking to expand your whole grain repertoire, you could just use all-purpose flour. (I’m also curious about how whole wheat pastry flour would taste in this recipe.)

I also personalized the flavors of these cookies by creating a Pumpkin Pie Spice blend that I used in place of the plain cinnamon in the original recipe. This blend is a little hoity-toity, I admit, especially since I ground some whole spices just to make it. Yes, I have all this stuff in my spice cupboard on any given day, but if you don’t you could use a commercially-prepared pumpkin pie or apple pie spice blend, use another recipe, make your own, or, heck, just use cinnamon.

As I said, these cookies are very soft, almost cake-like. I think some of that is from the millet flour, but the moist pumpkin contributes to the texture as well, so if you don’t use the millet flour, your cookies will still be quite soft. And then there’s the brown sugar frosting (which I also spiced up just a bit). It’s sweet and just a bit caramel-y and sets up on the cookie nicely without becoming too dry or crusty. It’s like you have your own little frosted cake (or two or three) that you won’t be expected to share.

Perhaps you can let all the costumed kids have their trick-or-treat candy, and keep these cookies to yourself. Nah, I won’t be doing that either…the letting kids eat all the candy part anyway.

*WFQ: Whole Food Quotient



The Messy Apron Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice

1. Combine all the spices and mix well. Keep in an airtight container for a few months.

Makes a scant 3 tablespoons.


Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Sugar Frosting
Adapted from The Pillsbury Complete Book of Baking

I used walnuts to make these cookies, but I think pecans would be even better.

You could use more all-purpose flour in place of the millet flour.

For the cookies:
1cup all-purpose flour
1 cup millet flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons The Messy Apron Pumpkin Pie Spice (or pumpkin pie spice of your choice)
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
½ cup firmly-packed brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter at room temperature
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin or other sweet squash puree (canned is fine)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup finely chopped walnuts (or pecans)

For the frosting:
3 tablespoons butter
½ cup firmly-packed brown sugar
¼ cup milk
½ teaspoon The Messy Apron Pumpkin Pie Spice (or pumpkin pie spice of your choice)
2-2 ½ cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. In a medium-size bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, millet flour, baking powder, baking soda, 2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice, and salt. Whisk together until well-blended.

2. In large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugar, ½ cup brown sugar and 1 cup butter. Beat together with an electric mixer or in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until well-creamed and fluffy, at least a minute or two.

3. Beat in the egg until well combined. Beat in the pumpkin and vanilla extract.

4. Slowly mix in the flour mixture a little at a time until just combined. Stir in the walnuts.

5. Lightly grease cookie sheets for baking. Scoop up heaping tablespoons of the cookie batter and place them on the sheets at least 2 inches apart.

6. Bake at 350 F for 12-14 minutes or until the cookies are just beginning to brown and the surface appears set and slightly dry. Remove from the pans immediately and cool on wire racks. The cookies will be very soft, so may need a little extra care in removal.

7. To make the frosting, heat the 3 tablespoons butter and ½ cup brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally as the butter melts. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

8. Remove from the heat and cool 10 minutes.

9. Add the milk. Stir until smooth. The sugar may have crystallized, so keep stirring until it dissolves.

10. Stir in the Pumpkin Pie Spice. Sift in about 2 cups powdered sugar. (Failing to sift the powdered sugar may give you a lumpy frosting. I, unfortunately, do this all to often.) Stir until well-combined and smooth. Sift and stir in more powdered sugar if needed to make the frosting spread easily.

11. Frost the cookies when they have completely cooled. Allow to stand until the frosting is set.

Makes about 3-4 dozen cookies (depending on how big you make them). They will keep in an airtight container for a few days.

Other recipes like this one: Pumpkin Oatmeal Quick Bread with Dates and Pecans, Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

One year ago: Caramel Corn

Two years ago: Black Beans with Beets and Oranges

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

I’m always looking for recipes to help me prove that spaghetti squash is not just fake spaghetti. Well, not always, but certainly when the stuff is in season and I get a few in my CSA box. Almost two years ago, this search led me to a Greek-flavored spaghetti squash salad that I was feeling pretty smug about, until I realized it reminded me of pasta salad.

This year I found a take on something more like a general vegetable treatment: gratin. You’ve seen other vegetables treated this way, layered with cheese (or béchamel sauce or cream), topped with breadcrumbs and baked. The original version was made with walnuts, bacon and mozzarella cheese, but I went with cheddar cheese and omitted the walnuts. I left the bacon right where it was. Everything’s better with bacon.

Speaking of the bacon, this recipe only calls for two slices of thick-cut bacon. You’ll want more. I know you will. And that would probably work just fine. I found the two slices, chopped, cooked and layered into the casserole, to be enough. You do what you feel you must in the name of bacon.

Let’s face it, spaghetti squash is a bit on the bland side, so I liked the sharp cheddar and bacon, both of which are strongly flavored and add a lot to this dish. I also spiced things up with a bit of Aleppo pepper, which I’ve really only just discovered, and with which I am quite enamored. You could use black pepper or another ground or crushed chile pepper that you like, or omit it if you don’t want the extra heat.

Overall, this is a nice, tasty and easy way to enjoy spaghetti squash. There’s much more work involved in preparing the squash than there is in assembling and baking the casserole. (I still like to use the method of baking the whole squash a bit, then cutting it when it’s slightly softened, which is much easier than hacking into a raw squash.) You could do all the assembly as much as a day ahead, then just heat it up to serve and you’ll have a nice vegetable dish without anyone seeing you sweat.

While this is first and foremost a vegetable dish (with cheese and bacon) and a great treatment for spaghetti squash, I just can’t help but wonder how good it would be with noodles instead.


Spaghetti Squash Casserole with Bacon and Cheddar
Adapted from this recipe at Chocolate and Zucchini

I used two squash for this recipe for a total of about 4 1/2 pounds.

4-5 pounds whole spaghetti squash
2 slices thick-cut bacon
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon Aleppo pepper (or chile or black pepper of your choice)
4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup fresh whole wheat breadcrumbs

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Pierce the squash skin all over with a sharp knife. Place the whole squash on a baking sheet or in a large baking dish. Bake at 375 F for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand until cool enough to handle.

2. Cut the squash in half. Scoop out the seeds. Return the squash to the baking pan or dish and return to a 375 F oven. Bake another 20-30 minutes or until the squash flesh is tender and can easily be separated into strands. Let stand until cool enough to handle.

3. While the squash is baking and cooling, cut the bacon into small strips. Cook the bacon in a pan over medium heat until browned. Drain on a paper towel. Set aside.

4. When the squash has cooled a bit, scrape the flesh from the shell-like skin with a fork. It will separate into strands. Place these strands in a large bowl. Stir in the salt and pepper.

5. Lightly grease, oil or spray with nonstick cooking spray a 2 quart (2 liter) baking dish. Place about half of the squash mixture into the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle with half the cheese and half the bacon.

6. Layer the remaining squash over the bacon and top that with the remaining cheese and bacon. Cover it all with the breadcrumbs in an even layer.

7. Bake at 375 F for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the breadcrumbs are browned and toasted.

Makes about 4 main-dish servings or 6-8 side-dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: Spaghetti Squash Salad with Greek Flavors, Spicy Potato and Tomato Gratin with Caramelized Onions, Broccoli Cheese Casserole with Mustard Rye Croutons

One year ago: Cranberry Vinaigrette

Two years ago: Roasted Vegetables

Why Not Broccoli?

I collect about seven million recipes every year. (I’m exaggerating…a little.) And so when I finally get around to going through them, I’ve often missed the season for some of the more interesting ones. Take, for instance, a recipe for Spicy-Sweet Green Beans from Food Matters by Mark Bittman. This summer, I had plenty of green beans with which to try this treatment, but, of course, the notes I took on the recipe were buried in a notebook that was buried in some other papers, which were in turn buried in the ubiquitous clutter when we moved.

So now I have this recipe, but no beans, except, perhaps, for those that would have been grown a thousand miles away in the Emerald City or somewhere else perpetually green. What I was really interested in was the sauce anyway, so I looked at the last few CSA boxes of the season and said, “Why not broccoli?”

Broccoli is always a good vehicle for sauces, since its bushy, bushy green hairdo is lovely for trapping flavors like a mop. This sauce, which is quite thick, didn’t so much ooze into the broccoli florets as coat the whole piece with its rich spicy, sweet, salty, tangy goodness. You kind of have to scoop up the sauce with the broccoli rather than soak it up, but the result is just as good.

Actually, this isn’t really about the broccoli. It’s about the sauce. I don’t care whether it gets scooped by or soaked into my vegetables, or even what vegetables they are (I think it would be good with steamed cauliflower or sautéed cabbage as well as the green beans in the original recipe). It’s about the sauce, I tell you. This sauce is fabulously delicious. This sauce is one of my new favorite foods. I’m trying to think of a way to slather it on every meal. I’m thinking of giving it out to trick-or-treaters.

Okay, that might be going too far, but this is maddeningly good stuff with a sharp, strong, wake-you-up flavor from lots of garlic, plenty of dried chiles, honey and soy sauce. The sweet and the spicy are beautifully balance and the salty-tangy (some would say umami-filled) soy sauce and sturdy ground almonds fill in all the flavor spaces. The only thing I might consider adding is a bit of sesame oil. That, however, might totally blow my mind. If so, I’ll take full responsibility. I doubt I’ll be able to blame it on the broccoli anyway.


Broccoli with Sweet and Spicy Almond Sauce
Adapted from Food Matters by Mark Bittman

1 pound broccoli florets
½ cup whole almonds
2 large (or 3 medium) garlic cloves
2 dried hot chiles
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons soy sauce

1. Place the broccoli in a microwave-safe dish. Add about 2 tablespoons water and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Poke several holes in the plastic wrap with a knife (this will allow steam to escape).

2. Microwave the broccoli for 3 minutes on high. Carefully remove the plastic wrap, avoiding any escaping steam. The broccoli should be tender-crisp, but you can steam it longer if you like. Drain the broccoli. Set aside.

3. Combine the almonds, garlic, dried chiles and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a food processor. Process until a coarse paste is formed. If the mixture is too dry to form a paste, add a little more olive oil. Set aside.

4. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes or until the onion is soft and beginning to brown. Add the almond mixture from the food processor and cook about 2 minutes more. This mixture is fairly sticky in the pan, so you’ll want to stir and scrape it up frequently.

5. Stir in the honey and soy sauce. Add the cooked broccoli and toss to coat with the sauce mixture. Cook just until heated through.

Makes about 4 side-dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: Sesame-Soy Asparagus with Ginger and Garlic, Spicy Sesame Cabbage and Zucchini, Szechuan Broccoli and Water Chestnut Stir Fry

One year ago: Chard Soup with Cilantro and Lime

Two years ago: Homemade Pizza

Winter Squash Soup

You don’t need me for a winter squash soup recipe. If you have a device that gives you access to the Information Superhighway (I think it’s safe to assume you do if you’re reading this), you can find yourself a perfectly good one. Some are made with peeled and cubed squash, some with roasted squash puree, still others of the quick-and-easy variety start with canned pumpkin or store-bought frozen squash puree. They vary in seasonings from curry to Southwestern and can be loaded with cream or very low-calorie, based on a meat broth or vegan.

For the most part, no matter what you start with or how you like your spices, most of these recipes will give you a thick and creamy (regardless of whether they actually contain any dairy) pureed soup. That’s the standard. And since there’s more than one way to get there, I decided I like to take the easy way. That means roasting a squash until it’s soft and scooping the flesh out of the hard skin. No squash peeling. No squash chopping.

Currently, my favorite form of pureed winter squash soup contains whatever type of winter squash I have on hand (most recently, that was a Red Kuri squash, which looks like a darker orange, flat-ish pumpkin), a good dose of cumin and chili powder, a few spoonsful of prepared salsa and some black beans. The result is a little chunky and a bit more rustic than the elegant, velvety smooth soups out there, but a big bowl of it accompanied by a hunk of cornbread (or other bread) makes a nice meal.

I’ve been roasting whole squash by first piercing its skin all over, and partially baking the whole thing until it’s soft enough to cut into easily. Once it is cool enough to handle (this method does take some time, but it’s largely waiting time), I cut it open, scoop out the seeds and roast it again until it is soft and the skin can be removed from the flesh (or vice versa). The cooked squash flesh can then be simmered in the soup, frozen to be used later, or blitzed in a food processor to be used as desired.

Really, squash soup is flexible in a lot of ways, and you could cook your squash however you want to. You could also leave out all the Southwestern ingredients and replace them with Italian herbs or curry powder or whatever flavors you like. It should be pretty easy to start treating all those creamy squash soup recipes like variations on a theme. The whole world of squash soup will be at your fingertips. You’ll never be without squash soup in whatever flavor you heart desires.

Of course, if you’re like me, you’ll get pretty sick of squash really soon and start looking for Christmas cookie recipes instead.

Roasted Squash Soup with Black Beans and Salsa
You could make this recipe vegan by using vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth.

A 2-2 ½ pound winter squash, such as butternut, Red Kuri, Hubbard, pumpkin, etc.
2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large or 2 small carrots, chopped
1 large celery ribs, chopped
1 teaspoon coarse salt (or to taste)
2 large or 3 smaller garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
4 cups chicken broth (I used reduced-sodium)
1 (15-ounce) can black beans (about 1 ½ cup)
½ cup prepared salsa as hot or mild as you like (I used medium)
garnishes such as crumbled tortilla chips, sour cream and additional salsa

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Pierce the skin of the squash all over with a knife. Place the squash on a pan or in a baking dish. Roast for 30 minutes at 400 F. Remove from the oven and let stand until cool enough to handle.

2. Cut the squash in half (the skin and flesh should be tender enough to cut easily), and scoop out the seeds and seed membranes. Return the cut squash to the baking pan or dish and continue to roast at 400 F until the flesh is very soft, about 30 to 45 minutes.

3. Remove the squash from the oven. Cool until easy to handle. Remove the squash flesh from the skin. Set the flesh aside until needed in the soup. (This can be done up to a few days ahead. Refrigerate if making ahead.)

4. In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions, carrots and celery and cook, stirring frequently for about 8 minutes or until beginning to brown.

5. Add the garlic, cumin and chili powder. Cook and stir 1 minute more.

6. Add the roasted squash and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

7. Remove the soup from the heat. Cool slightly. Puree the soup with an immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender. Return to medium-low heat.

8. Stir in the black beans and salsa. Heat through. Garnish as desired and serve.

Makes about 8-10 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Cream of Carrot and Parsnip Soup, Spicy Carrot and Apple Soup with Coconut Milk

One year ago: Winter Squash and Leek Empanadas with Sage

Two years ago: Apple and Cranberry Crisp