Pumpkin Pie Cookies

IT'S FALL! I walked into Trader Joe's (my fav store ever) the other day, and pumpkin everywhere! Seriously, the best. So, here's the first of many fall recipes that will be coming up on my blog. I've slowly started to give up on studying for midterms, hence why I'm baking. I need motivation! Anyways, you guys will benefit from this. This recipe is so stinkin' easy, and perfectly pumpkin-y. One thing, I just realized that I put too much whipping cream and not enough sugar when I made this. That's why it was harder for me to put the filling in, because it kept spilling out. So make sure you follow the recipe exactly. Enjoy!!! 

Yours should look a little thicker and more orange than mine. I used too much whipping cream! I adjusted it in the recipe though, so don't worry!

Ingredients

2 boxes of Betty Crocker Pie Crust dry mix or Refrigerated Pie crust (Roll out dough)
1 cup pumpkin puree (canned or homemade)
1 egg
¼ cup heavy cream
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

optional: 1/4 sugar + 1/2 tsp cinnamon, egg wash

Method

Preheat your oven to 350° F
To prepare the filling, combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and beat on low speed until combined. Set aside.
Roll out dough into a large flat piece. If it's cold, it would be better and easier to work with.
Using a 3-inch round or pumpkin-shaped cutter, cut shapes out of the pie dough. Place these on the parchment paper, evenly spaced. Use a small paring knife to cut out eyes and a mouth.
Spoon about two teaspoons of filling into the center of each bottom pie crust. The more filling you get in there, the better!
Place each top crust on top of the pumpkin-topped bottom shapes. Press down the edges with something thin (I used a fork to make and seal the crimped edges).
Brush with an egg wash and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
Bake for 10-14 minutes, or until the filling is set. Cool on a wire rack.

Adapted from Building Buttercream

Even youths shall faint and be weary,

    and young men shall fall exhausted;but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

    they shall walk and not faint. 

{Isaiah 40:30-31}

Matcha Green Tea Shortbread

My life has been crazy! Midterms are being dumped on me like no other....so here's to baking therapy sessions that were much needed. A lot of people have been asking me...HOW DO YOU HAVE TIME TO BAKE? Honestly, it's kind of like my way of taking a break. And it doesn't take me that long, I guess, so it's my way of destressing. That's how I have time! Although, I have been cutting down a lot..because midterms are sucking away all my time. -.- Still though, God has constantly reminded me to fight the good fight. This past Sunday at Reality LA was just what I needed. See below for more on that. 
Anyways, I made these cookies over a period of two days. I made the dough and then later baked it, and I'm really happy with the results. It seems light, even though its like pure butter and sugar, and my friends really enjoyed it! You can't go wrong with matcha! The green tea powder was bought on Amazon. It's pretty good quality, so I'd recommend it. I was going to use this cool cookie cutter I bought at World Market to make the cookies. But I ended up just making them into squares, for the sake of time. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• a pinch of salt
• 1 cup butter, cut into small pieces
• 2 1/2 - 3 tablespoons  high quality matcha (green tea) powder
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1-2 tbls of oil, if dough seems dry

DIRECTIONS

1. Whisk flour and salt together in a small bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, beat butter until creamy.  Add matcha powder and beat until mixture is a uniform green color. Add sugar continue beating until light and fluffy.

3. Add about half of the flour, then mix on low speed.  Gradually add remaining flour, mixing just until blended. The mixture should look crumbly; but if you squeeze it between your fingers, it will come together. If it seems dry, then add oil until it comes together nicely. Gather the dough into a large ball.

4. Roll out dough to 1/3-inch thickness between two pieces of parchment paper.
Peel off top parchment paper.

5. Cut out as many cookies as possible using cookie cutter and place on cookie sheets 1-inch apart. Re-roll remaining dough and repeat until all of the dough is used up. Refrigerate cut outs for one hour.

6. Preheat oven to 325 F. Bake for about 17 minutes or until the cookies are dry and firm to the touch. The edges might just start turning brown.

Adapted from: Kirbie Cravings

1 Timothy 6:6-19

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love,endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal lifeto which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

If it feels like a fight for you right now, that’s because it is. In fact, I would say that if it doesn’t feel like a fight who are you actually following? Paul says, “this is a fight!” He’s describing what it should feel like. Each falling away from sin and turning to righteousness is going to be a mini victory. But FIGHT! And fight the good fight! -Pastor Tim Chaddick [RLA]

Think of this as a life long athletic story with an incredible underdog story.

If you are on the verge of giving up, LOOK TO CHRIST! 
For an amazing sermon, watch this: http://realityla.com/teachings/against-the-odds-courage/

Crunchy Hash Brown Chicken Sausage Casserole

My mom is the queen of casseroles. They're basically perfect for guests who are staying over, Christmas morning, special occasion breakfasts, before-a-big-exam breakfasts, whatever. Here's one she made, so I guess you can say she's my first guess cook. I changed it up a bit, and made a crunchy top by using crushed up Ritz crackers! 

INGREDIENTS

6 pieces of bread whatever kind you like (can be old bread or maybe a little stale even) 

1 1/2 cup of chicken sausage (got ours from Trader Joe's), browned and drained

2 cups milk

1 can cream of mushroom soup

2 lbs bag of frozen has browns thawed

2 c. sharp cheddar, shredded

4 eggs, well beaten

3/4 tsp dry mustard

1/2 c. milk

1 cup Ritz crackers, crushed

DIRECTIONS

Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan well. Tear the pieces of bread and line the bottom of pan. Top with 1.5 cups cheese and sausage. Cover with mixture of eggs, milk mustard. If you can, do this the night before, and refrigerate overnight. 

Cover with potatoes and remaining 1/2 cup of cheese. Then sprinkles top with Ritz crackers. Bake at 300 degrees for 1.5 hours or 325 degrees for 1 hours. 

The Easiest Tres Leches Cake ever

I made this cake four times last week. That is how good it is! Basically every event I went to I brought it, also because it's super easy. Just use yellow box cake mix and buy the three milks, and you're good to go.

The directions I used said to poke holes while the cake was still hot, but I don't think it really mattered. Just make sure you get the holes evenly everywhere on the cake.

Pour slowly or else you'll make a mess...

Someone got CREAM FACED!

Ingredients

Cake

1 box (1 lb 2.25 oz) yellow cake mix with pudding
1 cup water

1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

Sauce

1 1/3 cup whipping cream

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

Topping

1 cup whipping cream

1 box of strawberries (optional) 

 

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish. In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed about 30 seconds or until blended. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter into baking dish. Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

2. Meanwhile, in large bowl, mix sauce ingredients. Using long-tined fork or chopstick, pierce hot cake in baking dish every 1 to 2 inches. Slowly pour sauce mixture over cake. Refrigerate cake at least 3 hours to chill. (Cake will absorb most of sauce mixture.)

3. Before serving, in small bowl, beat 1 cup whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Spread over cold cake. Sprinkle with cinnamon and strawberries. Cover and refrigerate any remaining cake.

The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.

All our troubles

And all our tears

God our hope

He has overcome

All our failure

And all our fear

God our love

He has overcome

All our heartache

And all our pain

God our healer

He has overcome

All our burdens

And all our shame

God our freedom

He has overcome

::: Hillsong United Take Heart :::

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

2 Timothy 3

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, reacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancyyou have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Kit Kat Red Velvet Oreo Madness Cake

Yay for birthdays! October is the best because of that :) Here's the recipe, step-by-step for my "Kit Kat Red Velvet Oreo Madness Cake." AKA heaven in your mouth & all the best desserts in one. This was made for the very best, a special person, my BFF Ner! Since birth and always. Love her and stoked to have her so much closer to me, despite our busyness. God is doing great things in her life!

I ended up needing more Kit Kats, and the brownie recipe ingredients aren't shown here!

What you need:

1 box of Red Velvet Cake Mix

1 brownie recipe Found here!

1 pack of Mini Oreos

1 pack of Mini Reese's 

1 can Milk Chocolate frosting

2 cans of Vanilla frosting

5 packs of King Size Kit Kats 

Bake Red Velvet cake according to directions in two 9" pans. Let cool and freeze to make sure it is firm. Bake brownies and crumble in Oreos. Also let that cool and freeze.

Then layer it up!

1. Red velvet cake
2. Vanilla frosting
3. Oreo Brownie
4. Vanilla frosting
5. Red Velvet cake
6. Trim edges of cake to make sure they are perfectly aligned, no extra edges.
7. Frost the entire cake with vanilla frosting.
8. Frost just the top with Milk Chocolate frosting.
9. Smack on those Kit Kats!
10. Pipe swirls of frosting, add Oreos, decorate to your heart's content.
11. Tie a ribbon around it!
12. Indulge.