finger food Archives - Spindles Designs by Mary and Mags

Pumpkin Honey Muffins

August 27, 2020 by Mary Ellen Stringham Leave a Comment

It’s getting to be that time of year with Fall just around the corner. Not that I need a special time to prepare something with pumpkin in it because let’s face it why wait until Fall. Pumpkin is a flavor we like and we use a lot of honey in our baking so when my husband found this recipe for Pumpkin Honey Muffins we thought we had to try it. I wish I knew where so I could give credit where credit is due. But at least I can share it.

Oh, and lets not forget the pecans. Pumpkin, honey and pecans…I’m in heaven.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp backing soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 ground nutmeg

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

3/4 cup honey

1 large egg

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup chopped toasted pecans

Shimmer Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tin with paper liners. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. In an electric mixer, beat butter until light in color, about 2 minutes. Add honey, egg, and pumpkin and beat until combined, about 1 minute. Slowly add flour mixture and mix until just blended and no flour streaks remain. Fold in pecans.

Using about 1/4 cup of batter evenly distribute batter into muffin cups. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp Shimmer Sugar over each muffin. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove muffins from pan and cool on rack.

Like other pumpkin treats their great for dessert but these are not super sweet so they are a great breakfast muffin. Great for after school snacks too!

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Peanut Butter Squares

August 20, 2020 by Margaret 2 Comments

I call Peanut Butter Squares energy bars – yes it is a cookie there are no “energy” ingredients just good old peanut butter and oats. I like them for snacks on camp outs and road trips. They give you quick energy and tide you over until dinner, but really anytime you want them is good – yum!

Peanut Butter Squares

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups flour, sifted
2 cups oatmeal

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, vanilla and peanut butter. Mix well. Sift together soda, salt and flour and add to mixer. Blend well. Mix in oatmeal until just blended. Press into greased 12″x18″x1″ pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 13-15 min. or until golden brown.
Be careful not to over bake. Cool and frost with chocolate frosting.

Be careful not to over eat. They are habit forming! Yum!

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

August 13, 2020 by Margaret 7 Comments

It is so hard to stick to a diet when you make yummmmy cookies! I have to stop doing this to myself. Good thing most of them left the house.

Pumpkin is one of my favorite flavors and these make the house smell so good. I’m so happy fall is here, well sort of here, August is fall right? Why wait? They are great any time. It doesn’t help that they my dad’s favorite.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin, canned or fresh
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
12 oz bag semi sweet chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)

Sift together the flour, soda, salt and spices. Cream together the butter and sugars, add the egg, pumpkin and vanilla. Add the flour mixture, pecans and chocolate chips. Mix until just blended. Drop by rounded tablespoon on to greased cookie sheets. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 15 – 17 minutes or until cookies are slightly brown along edges. Transfer to rack for cooling.

Enjoy!

Mags

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Molasses Cookies

July 22, 2020 by Mary Ellen Stringham Leave a Comment

Last week we bought some Molasses Cookies that tasted really good but there were only 1 dozen in the package. They lasted about 20 minutes, well really a couple of days. So we bought another package and well…out came the recipe books combining an old with a new recipe, I came up with this “Molasses Cookies” recipe.

When my children were little ours was the cookie house. The cookie jar almost always had cookies in it and all the kids in the neighborhood new it. Most of the time they were chocolate chip cookies but I was always trying new kinds. Another favorite was Molasses Bars. I just didn’t want a bar cookie this time.

Molasses Cookies

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup butter, softened (not quit room temp)

3/4 cup unsulfured molasses

1 large egg

Shimmer Sugar

In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until it forms a grainy paste. Scrape sides of bowl, add molasses and egg. Beat until fluffy. Sift together dry ingredients and blend into sugar mixture until just combined. Do not over mix. The dough is very sticky. Divide the dough in half. Roll each half in waxed paper forming 2 inch diameter rolls. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours. Unwrap chilled dough, slice about 1/2 in thick and place on un-greased cookie sheet. I use silicone baking sheets. Sprinkle with shimmer sugar. Bake at 325 degrees for 16-18 minutes. Makes about 3 dozen yummy soft Molasses Cookies.

Enjoy!

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Buttermilk Croissants

November 28, 2019 by Mary Ellen Stringham Leave a Comment

There is nothing my family loves more than fresh homemade rolls. We have a favorite recipe but occasionally I like to change things up. This time it was “Buttermilk Croissants“. They take a little more time but well worth the effort.

You make them the night before. Roll out and bake the next day fresh for dinner. Yum! Fresh hot rolls

Recipe

2 1/2 tsp yeast

1 cup warm water

3/4 cup, plus 1 Tbsp buttermilk

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg, slightly beaten

5 cups flour

1/4 cup butter, just melted and cooled

1 cup cold butter, cubed

To a large mixing bowl add warm water and use a fork to mix in yeast. When yeast is dissolved add buttermilk, salt , sugar, beaten egg, 1 cup flour and melted butter. Blend well.

In another mixing bowl add remaining 4 cups flour and cut in cubed butter. Make sure all flour is well blended. Add the butter flour mixture into the buttermilk yeast mixture. Mix until large ball forms. Don’t over mix. Cover and refrigerate overnight or at least 10 hours.

Remove dough from refrigerator and kneed well making a large smooth ball. This is an important step to wake up the yeast. Divide in half and make two balls. On a floured surface roll one ball at a time into a 14 inch circle. With a sharp pointed knife or pizza cutter cut into 12 equal wedges. Roll each wedge starting at the wide end to form the croissant shaped rolls. Place on greased baking sheet and let raise about 4 hours or until doubled in size.

Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Optional, brush with melted butter. Makes 2 dozen.

Try some for your next family dinner.

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