Soft Brown Sugar Cookies

        This was another great find by my wife on Pinterest. +Susie Buetow posted this on her Susie QT pies Scraps of Life blog and said I could share on my blog. You'll want to give these a try.

I added the frosting while it was still warm and runny to give
it that smooth coating.

        This recipe was a hit. I brought some to a family get together and received a lot of positive comments about these. I think for me the best part was the flavor. The sour cream and the brown sugar make for a really nice sweet flavor. I've always preferred the taste of brown sugar over white. I do like the flavor of molasses  so brown sugar is a welcome change from standard white granulated sugar. The taste is smooth with a hint of creaminess from the sour cream and a hint of molasses from the brown sugar. Great combination in my opinion.  Also, and I think this has a lot to do with the sour cream, these are extremely soft. I think I would have preferred them a little stiffer and more chewy, but that is my opinion and preference.  If you are a fan of super soft cookies, then these are the best sugar cookies in that category that I am aware of. Without further delay, here is the recipe.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup softened butter
• 1 & 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoonful vanilla extract
• 2 & 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoonful baking powder
• 1 teaspoonful baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoonful salt
• 1 cup sour cream

Instructions:

         Cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in eggs one at a time and add the vanilla. Continue creaming the mixture until light. In another bowl mix together with a whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and the salt. Slowly add flour mixture and sour cream to creamed mixture by alternating portions. Mix well. 

        Drop by spoonfuls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. After cookies are cool, frost with Browned Butter Frosting. 

        Makes 2 - 4 dozen depending on spoonful sizes.

Browned Butter Frosting

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 & 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoonfuls milk

        Melt butter over medium heat in a suitable saucepan. Heat the butter until it turns golden brown. Keep an eye on the butter as it will go from melted to brown very quickly. You don't want to miss it and over cook the butter. Remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar. Add milk until the desired consistency is met.

        One thing I noticed when taking them off the sheet, was that my vinyl spatula was tearing the cookies up on the bottom. I switched to a metal spatula that was much thinner and I was able to get the cookies from the sheet to the cooling rack much easier. I personally prefer sugar cookies without frosting. So I made most of them plain. However, the Browned Butter Frosting that was suggested in the recipe seemed likely to enhance the overall flavor. So I made some to try. While I still think I personally liked them better plain, the frosting was great and really did enhance the already great flavor of the cookies.  Don't skip the frosting just because you don't normally like frosting on your cookies. At least give it a try. 

        At any rate these where great. I look forward to enjoying them again. I recommend giving them a try.

Pumpkin Bars

        As promised, here is my post on the Pumpkin Bars. I found this particular recipe on Pennies on a Platter's website and she let me share it here. The recipe and post for her Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies can be found at http://penniesonaplatter.com/2010/11/02/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-brownies/

Her recipe is:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line an 11" x 7" pan with parchment paper.

1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 whole egg
2 egg whites
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Combine until smooth and set aside pumpkin, egg and oil. In separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, spices, salt and sugar. Add dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture until well incorporated, then stir in the chocolate chips.

Pour mixture into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean. Completely cool before cutting.

        So basically, I followed the recipe. However, I did tweak a couple of things.

        First off, I don't have an 11" x 7" pan. I don't know many who do. I used a 9" x 9" square stoneware pan. As it is stoneware, I skipped the parchment and it came out just fine. I substituted the cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg with about a teaspoon and a quarter of pumpkin pie spice. I was out of allspice, and I don't know that it would make much of a difference anyway.

        I mentioned in the previous post that I made a second pan. For the second pan I used a glass 8" x 8" pan that I did line with parchment. I also skipped the chocolate chips. While I am usually fond of the way simple things can bring a great flavor all on their own, I felt that this pan needed frosting to set them off. I mixed up a simple cream cheese frosting by mixing in about 2 cups of confectioner sugar into a packet of softened cream cheese. I mixed in about 4 tablespoons of milk to get the texture how I wanted it. I think frosting the second one was the right choice.

        I don't know that calling these brownies is quite right. I always think of brownies as being, well, brown, and chocolate. That being said this is an excellent bar recipe. The name has absolutely no bearing on how great they tasted. A Rose by any other name and all that. I found the texture to be closer to cake  than brownies. I like mine a little gooey. I'm not sure if I should decrease the baking time or do all whole eggs, rather than a couple with just the whites. Even so I found the texture moist and soft. Even though I did the second batch in a slightly smaller pan I found that the size difference didn't have much difference on baking time, or on how it turned out. Neither the chocolate chips or the frosting proved to be a better fit. Both batches were very tasty.  My family loved them and my coworkers loved them. They are definitely worth a try.

These Pumpkin Bars Are a Hit

        My grandmother invited my family over for Sunday dinner and asked us to bring dessert. Me being somewhat of a procrastinator meant that I was scrambling for a recipe that looked good, and which I had all the ingredients on hand, Sunday afternoon. As autumn is here I came across quite a few recipes with pumpkin, and my wife remembered that we still had a few pints that I had canned a while back. It must have been meant to be.
        I decided on a pumpkin chocolate chip brownies recipe that my wife pointed out. I'll post the recipe and my experience on that later. The recipe yielded one pan. I was sure that wouldn't be enough because for some reason I thought it would be my family, parents, siblings and grandmother all over for dinner rather than just my family and grandmother. My solution was to make another pan, which I then decided to alter a bit to see how it turned out.
        The first pan I did with chocolate chips in it. The second, without chocolate chips and with cream cheese frosting. Both went over really well. I had most of it left after dinner because I made to too much, so I brought them to work with me. Everyone just gobbled them up. It's always good to be the one who brings the treats.

edit: the post with the recipe is at http://foodyadventure.blogspot.com/2012/10/pumpkin-bars.html