Oh, hi! Nice to see you again! So, um, I guess I haven’t posted much recently. I blinked and 11 months just disappeared! Isn’t it funny how that happens?
You know what else is funny? All of the plans I had for life after baby. One of my plans was to continue blogging regularly, maybe even more! After all, now I had a new way to relate to readers. I was going to blog all about the meals I was making, the homemade baby food my baby was going to love to eat, the DIY projects I was going to start, maybe I would even write about the cloth diapers I obsessed over my entire pregnancy, and the way I reorganized my life to fit both new mommy me and old me. Some of my favorite blogs are written by moms! They seem to be able to do it all!
But the truth is… I haven’t quite found the way to reorganize my life to seamlessly fit new mommy me and old me. It’s a work in progress.
The truth is, I make dinner, but not every night. Sometimes the recipes are new but a lot of the time they’re old standbys. And my baby didn’t like homemade baby food (or really any baby food, she preferred baby led weaning). And DIY projects? Ain’t nobody got time for that. And I love cloth diapers. I really, really do. But I went back to work in January and now only use them part time. And blogging? Yikes!
The truth is, I WANT to blog. I do. I just haven’t found that magical place where motivation meets time and energy.
But recently I got a little nudge. The cooking board I am on decided to bring back recipe swaps and I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to see if I can manage to fit in a little old me. I’m happy to say that other than a minor hiccup (where I wrote an entire post and WordPress randomly decided to eat it), I managed!
My assigned blog was Dough See Dough, run by Jenni. To say that I spent a LOT of time scouring her pages for the perfect “back to blogging” recipe is an understatement. So many things caught my eye. These Chinese BBQ Pork Buns. This Turkey & Rice Taco Skillet. These Snickerdoodles… So what would I choose?
Clearly these delicious Iced Pumpkin Cookies won. After all, ’tis the season! And what better way to get back to blogging than with pumpkin?
I think these cookies were really a great choice. I made very few changes, only adding dairy (Jenni’s version was dairy free!) and substituting some white whole wheat flour for all purpose flour. Because doing that makes me feel like I’m making a healthy cookie (just humor me) that I can eat for breakfast (and I have). Hopefully you enjoy them just as much as I have!
Iced Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2-3 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare baking sheet by lining with parchment paper or a silpat baking sheet.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl then add the pumpkin puree, egg, and vanilla and mix until well combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Using a cookie scoop, place the dough 2 inches apart on a prepared baking sheet. Wet the palm of your hand and gently press down on the tops of the dough mounds to gently flatten and smooth. (Wetting your hand is to keep the super sticky dough from sticking to your hand) Bake for 13-15 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
While the cookies are cooling, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Add the additional tablespoon of milk as needed to reach a good drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the cookies and allow to harden a bit before storing.
Jenni notes that the cookies can become too soft if stored in a sealed container. I found that layering the cookies between sheets of parchment paper and placing in a tupperware but not completely sealing the lid was the perfect storage method (though the addition of whole wheat flour may have made them just a touch less “wet” and easier to store).
Adapted from Dough See Dough, originally from Allrecipes
Just because, here is my sweet, energetic, fun, wild, beautiful little TODDLER!! Rocking her pumpkin wear.
