Life Above the Clouds

Wowie kazowie these are delicious! They're little clouds of pumpkin cookie (that are so soft I'll almost call it cake) with Nutella swirled throughout. And let's face it, Nutella makes anything better, but it's not too sweet or overwhelming. Yum yum yum! 

Eek it's November, and have you heard? Pumpkin is the new bacon. I'm still easing my way into pumpkin, and with these cookie sandwiches you get the perfect hint of pumpkin with some classic snickerdoodles.

Snickerdoodles

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 and 1/2 c sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla 
• 2 and 3/4 c flour
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tsp cinnamon and 3 tsp white sugar for rolling

Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

Add eggs and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.

Stir dry ingredients together in separate bowl and add to creamed mixture.

Chill for 20-30 min.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll into Tablespoon size balls and then toss in the cinnamon/sugar mixture, coating the dough evenly.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned but soft.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Filling

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup pureed pumpkin
  
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1/8 c white sugar
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat all ingredients in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Spread about 1 tablespoon filling onto the flat side of half the cookies.

Place remaining cookies on top, and gently press on each to squeeze filling to edges

(Inspired by The Stirring Place)

10. Vanilla: Even though the word "vanilla" means "ordinary," this flavor will always be a classic

9. Pumpkin: You usually can't find this flavor until October, but it's popularity throughout the holidays got this flavor on the list

8. Banana: While this isn't really my favorite flavor, banana is surprisingly popular because it's easy to combine with a lot of different flavors

7. Coffee: Like banana, coffee easily offsets sweet flavors like vanilla, chocolate, raspberry, etc.

6. Chocolate: Who doesn't love chocolate?

5. Lemon: Probably one of my favorite cupcake flavors, it's the perfect combination of tangy and sweet

4. Peanut Butter: Perfect with chocolate frosting, but for something new, try honey

3. Carrot Cake: Carrots have more sugar than any other vegetable, and carrot cake is the perfect way of convincing myself that I'm eating more vegetables

2. Red Velvet: These originally get their red coloring from a chemical reaction of cocoa powder with an acidic ingredient like buttermilk

1. Chocolate & Vanilla: The most timeless of flavor combinations. Who can resist a yellow cake with chocolate frosting or a chocolate cake topped with vanilla?

(Inpsired by TLC)

It's time to get dressed up and go trick or treating! That's pretty much what Halloween has become. But why all the jack-o-lanterns and slutty costumes? Some people say the holiday dates all the way back to Ancient Rome, but it's more commonly linked to a Celtic festival named Samuin, which translates to "summer's end." There are some mentions of supernatural encounters in Scottish Folklore, but there isn't much evidence to support that. The name "Halloween" comes from "All-Hallows-Even" "Even" means "evening" so the original Halloween was the night before All Hallows Day which is also referred to as All Saints' Day.

Now instead of carving a pumpking, how about trying a turnip? Believe it or not, jack-o-lanterns originated from the tradition of carving turnips into lanterns to remember the souls held in purgatory. Pumpkins were much more available in North America than turnips, and they were bigger and easier to carve. Carving pumpkins wasn't associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century. Originally, it was associated with harvest time in general.

(Inspired by Wikipedia)