Six Sisters' Stuff: Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies

I Love these cookies.

Six Sisters' Stuff: Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies

Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies
Ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup) margarine
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 large egg
3 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix together the margarine, shortening, sugars, pumpkin, and egg, beat well. Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and mix until well-blended.
Chill dough for about 30 minutes (or cheat like me and throw it in the freezer for about 10 minutes). Roll into balls the size of small walnuts.
In a separate bowl, mix 1/2 cup sugar with 1 Tablespoon cinnamon and 1/2 tsp ground ginger (more or less depending on how you like it). Roll dough balls in sugar mixture until completely covered.
Place dough balls about 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 7-9 minutes until lightly browned, but still soft.
Makes about 4-5 dozen cookies.

Read more at http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/09/pumpkin-snickerdoodle-cookies.html#iuxLE4fmhDF36sRJ.99

Easy Chocolate Cake

This recipe has a lot of steps, but it's pretty easy to make. I haven't had a lot of success with homemade cakes, but this one rocks. The key is to have patience and follow the steps exactly.

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake
Courtesy of America's Test Kitchen

1 1/4 all purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pans
12 T butter, softened, but still cool
1 1/4 c sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c + 2 scant tsp cocoa
1 c plus 2 T milk
2 tsp vanilla

Make sure your oven rack is in the center position and heat the oven to 350. Generously grease 2 8-inch round cake pans and cover the pan bottoms with rounds of parchment paper or waxed paper. Grease the parchment rounds and dust the pans with flour, tapping out the excess. Beat the butter in a large bowl at med-high speed until smooth and shiny (abt. 30 seconds). Gradually sprinkle in the sugar; beat until the mixture is fluffy and almond white, 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating 1 full miinute after each addition.

Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa in a medium bowl. Combine the milk and vanilla in a liquid measuring cup. With the mixer at the lowest speed, add about a third of the dry ingredients to the batter, followed immediately by about a third of the milk mixture. Mix until the ingredients are almost incorporated into the batter. Repeat the process 2 more times and scrape the sides of the bowl. Return to mixer to lower speed; beat until the batter looks satiny, about 15 seconds.

Divide the batter evenly (Important!) between the pans. Smooth the top. Bake 23-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean. Remove from oven and let cool in pans 10 minutes. Run a knife around the pan, invert onto racks, and peel off the paper liners. Reinvert the cakes onto addition racks; cool completely before frosting.

*All in all, it took me about 2 hours to make and frost this cake. Make sure the cake is cooled completely before frosting. Some hints in frosting:
1) To avoid crumbs, crumb coat the cake
2) Dump all of your frosting on the top of the cake and then start to push the frosting toward the edges. You can get the desired thickness of frosting on top and then it's really easy to frost the sides because all of your frosting is already there.

Brown Sugar Bundt Cake

My husband normally skips out on the cake when it is served. I finally found a cake he loves. I have made it for others and they have all loved it as well. 

Ingredients:

Serves: 10-12

• 1 (18 ounce) box yellow cake mix
• 1 (3 1/2 ounce) box instant vanilla flavor pudding and pie filling
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

                                     Prep Time: 30 mins

                                     Total Time: 1 1/2 hrs

1. 1 Grease a 10-inch bundt pan well and sprinkle pan with granulated sugar (even if using non-stick pan).
2. 2 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. 3 Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, oil and water in large bowl and beat on medium speed until well mixed, about 4 minutes.
4. 4 (Shorten to 2-3 minutes if using stand mixer).
5. 5 Add brown sugar and pecans and mix to combine well.
6. 6 Pour batter evenly into prepared bundt pan and bake for 1 hour or until cake tester comes out clean.
7. 7 Place bundt pan on wire rack and cool 15 minutes.
8. 8 Invert cake onto rack and slip pan off cake.
9. 9 Let cool on rack.
10. 10 Can be stored covered at room temperature

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/brown-sugar-bundt-cake-42976#ixzz1QdfS0tSc