Working Title.

After the last blog's success failure, I said that I would not do this again.  Well, once again here I am telling that world that I'm eating my words.  I hope you can all see past the gigantic foot sticking out of my mouth and enjoy the blog.  Here's to me actually sticking it out this time!


You may be wondering about the blog title.  Well so am I.  I'm not great at thinking up cutsie phrases or titles so I stuck with what I know best: stress and baking.   More often than not, those two events are coupled together in my world.  They're symbiotic if you will and as a new law student, I have a lot of stress, which is usually followed by a lot of baking - go figure.  So I hope that you can enjoy a bonus side effect of my stress without the actual, well, stress. Let the straking? bressing? Stress baking begin!


Just a little about myself for those of you who are new to me.  I'm a first year law student in Missouri.  I am married to my best friend Mike who is the biggest blessing in my life (no we don't have kids yet, give it time).  My husband and I are both originally from Oklahoma where we met and graduated undergrad.  We've been married almost a year and a half and lived in Missouri for as long.  We have an eight month old puppy named Kora who thinks she's our child - we haven't told her she's a dog yet, only that she's adopted so if you see her, please don't break the news to her.  She just can't handle the truth yet.  


My husband is a youth minister by trade which is a blessing and also a great dose of birth control all at once.  We are very luck to have such a wonderful church family as our first home congregation as a married couple.  


There's a little about me, but before I leave you with a cookie recipe, I would love to hear a little about you all as well.  Happy baking! (Or stressing, if that's your thing!)

Pumpkin Cookies with Caramel Frosting
(Husband approved)


These cookies are the quintessential fall cookie.  What makes them unable to put down is the caramel frosting.  Once you begin making the frosting, you won't be able to put the spoon down. The cookies are plump and moist and the frosting just makes them that much better.  Definitely an easy cookie to make and enjoy immediately. 

Ingredients

Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup fresh pumpkin puree

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ginger

2 cups all-purpose flour

Frosting

5 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Stir in pumpkin. In a medium bowl, sift together the baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and flour. Add to pumpkin mixture and mix well.  Drop by heaping tablespoons onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

 

To make frosting: In a medium saucepan, combine butter, cream, and brown sugar over medium heat.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture just begins to boil; remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Cool then stir in confectioner's sugar.  Spread a generous amount of frosting over cooled cookies. Consume immediately for maximum enjoyment.