Penniless Jellyfish

I love to bake. Not cook, bake, I think they are two completely different things. Ryan is the cook in the house, he makes great home made pizza, chicken parmesian, meat loaf, scampii. I would go hungry if it wasn't for him. But I bake cookies as often as I can. I have used these recipes over and over again with great success. Please copy the recipe you like, try it out and share it with someone.

Cookie Contents:

Mindy's Munchies

Cinnamon Sugar Cookies

Pumpkin pie from the pumpkin!

Pumpkin-Butterscotch Cookies

Butter Pecan Cookies

Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars

Pecan Pie

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Basic Sugar Cookies

Brown Sugar Pumpkin Pie

Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares

Oatmeal-Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies

While at a get-together at my Aunt Barbra's house, I found myself enjoying these delicious chocolate treats my cousin Amy had brought. Noticing I was eating them too fast for anyone else to get their hands anywhere near the tray, and with my mouth full and each one of my fingers smeared with chocolate, I asked my cousin "where ever did she find these??" It turns out, her friend Mindy Mosca made them and has her own store in New Jersey called Mindy's Munchies. I tried to copy and paste a picture from Mindys website onto mine, but she cleverly disabled the right click button, so you'll have to visit her website to see the wonderful displays of chocolate covered snacks. She also takes a lot of her orders online, so please order something for yourself and you'll see how good her treats really are! Here is a little tid-bit from her website about her and her store:

"I love chocolate. I have always loved chocolate. So, a few years before my first son was born, I thought it might be fun to try my hand at making some chocolate treats. After buying a few molds, melting lots of chocolate, and taste-testing many samples, I brought some of my chocolate-covered pretzels to a friend’s party.

Everyone loved them, and a business was born!

So was my second son... In between juggling two young boys, I have been filling orders for many friends, who have told many friends, who have purchased many baskets, bags and platters for all kinds of occasions.

Having added chocolate covered strawberries, apples, graham crackers, cookies, popcorn, marshmallows and much, much more, I am still experimenting and trying out new combinations. Sometimes ideas come from my customers, who are always my best critics — and supporters! I love your feedback...!

We’ve grown a lot since those first chocolate-covered pretzels.

I hope you enjoy spending time on my website. Please call me at (201) 664-1650 if you have any questions or feedback. Thanks for stopping by!"

http://mindysmunchies.com/catalog

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

What You'll Need:

• 2 3/4 cups of all purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks butter, room temperature but still slightly firm
• 1 2/3 cup sugar plus 1/4 cup for coating
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with waxed paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. With an electric mixer, beat butter and 1 2/3 cups of sugar until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add egg and vanilla; beat until combined.
4. Combine dry ingrdients and other mixture together until dough comes together when squeezed (it might appear dry)
5. Make cinnamon sugar: In a small bowl, mix together remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon.
6. Using 1 level tablespoon dough per cookie, squeeze each tightly and roll into balls. Roll each ball in the sugar cinnamon coating, cover completely.
7. Place on baking sheets about 1/2 inch away from each other, flatten with bottom of a glass. Sprinkle tops with any remaining cinnamon sugar.
8. Bake, one sheet at a time, until tops are puffed and crackly, and bottoms are golden brown. About 10-12 minutes. Cool slightly on baking sheets, transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely (otherwise they'll keep cooking).

Total Time: 2 1/2 hours

What You'll Need:

• 1 pumpkin for baking
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1 1/2 cup of mashed pumpkin
• 1 2/3 cup of sweetened and condensed milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 frozen 9" pie crust

                     1) Cut the pumpkin in half. Wrap one half in foil. Take the other half, remove all the seeds and the bulk of the stringy stuff.

                     2) Take the half a pumpkin and cover it with tin foil. Bake at 350 F, for 1 hour.

                     3) When soft and mushy, scoop out the pumpkin and mash it (make sure it's mashed all the way). I used a hand blender to help me.

                     4) Mix all the ingredients together including the pumpkin. Pour into pie crust leaving a little space for it to expand at the top.

                     5) Bake for 15 minutes at 450 F. Bake another 45-55 minutes at 325 F. Make sure the center is pretty much set when it's done baking.

Total Time: About 30 minutes

What You'll Need:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips

Total Time: 30 minutes

What You'll Need:

• 3/4 cup of pecans
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperature!)
• 1/3 cup of sugar (plus more for coating and sprinkling)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. On rimmed baking sheet, toast pecans until fragrant and crisp, about 6 minutes. Remove from sheet, let cool completely and chop finely.

2) With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy for about 1 minute. Beat vanilla, salt and flour, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, just until dough comes together. Fold in pecans.

3) Separate dough into 12 equal pieces. Squeeze dough into balls; roll in sugar. Place balls onto baking sheet, about 3 inches apart. Gently flatten with the bottom of a glass. Sprinkle with more sugar.

4) Bake until cookies are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with more sugar. Cool completely.

Total Time: 2 hours

What You'll Need:

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperture!), plus 2 tablespoons melted.
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup of light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups of coarsely chopped pecans

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Line the bottom an dsides of a 9 by 13 inch baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving an over hang.

2) With an electric mixer, beat 1 stick of butter, brown sugar, flour and salt until coarse crumbs form. Transfer mixture to prepared pan; press firmly and evenly into bottom of pan.

3) Bake until lightly browned, about 25-30 minutes. Let cool about 10 minutes.

4) Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix eggs, corn syrup, granulated sugar and melted butter until well combined. Add chocolate chips and pecans; spread over crust when it's out of the oven. Bake until set, about 25-30 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Using foil overhang, lift from pan. Peel off foil and cut bars with serrated knife into desired size.

Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes

What You'll Need:

• You're supposed to make your own, but that's way too hard, so I just bought a frozen crust. So you'll need 1 frozen pie crust.
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup of pecan halves or broken pecans

1) Preheat oven to 375 F. In medium bowl, beat all ingredients except pecans with wire whisk until well blended. Stir in pecans. Pour into pastry-lined pie plate.

2) cover edge of pie crust with 2-3 inch tin foil strips so it doesn't burn. Remove for the last 15 minutes of baking. Bake pie for about 40-50 minutes or until center is set. Cool completely, about 2 hours!

 Great with vanilla ice cream!

Total Time: 50 minutes

What You'll Need:

• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temperature!)
• 1 cup of packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/3 cup of granulated sugar and more for rolling
• lots and lots of mini chocolate peanut butter cups, like 36. While the cookies are in the oven, make sure you unwrap them all.

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. With an electric mixer, beat the peanut butter and butter until smooth (no clumps). Add the brown sugar and beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until incorporated.

2) In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. With mixer on low speed, gradually beat in dry ingredients.

3) Using 1 level tablespoon dough per cookie, roll into balls. Place granulated sugar on a plate, and sprinkle cookie balls with sugar or roll them in sugar. Place on prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.

4) Bake until cookies begin to puff up slightly and turn a lighter color, about 7 minutes. Remove from the oven and hurry up and place 1 reese's cup in the center of each cookie. They'll melt, wait until cookies cool completely before eating.

Total Time: 2 hours

What You'll Need:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus a little extra for rolling and cutting
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperature!)
• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1) In a large bown, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

2) With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. With mixer on low, gradually add dry ingredients; beat until combined. Divide dough in half and flatten into disks. Wrap each disk in waxed paper and freeze until firm (about 20 minutes).

3) Preheat oven to 350 F with racks in upper and lower thirds. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove one dough disk from freezer and let stand for about 5-10 minutes. Roll dough out to about 1/8 inch thick between two sheets of lightly floured parchment paper, sprinkled with flour so the dough won't stick to the rolling pin or the wax paper. Cut out shapes with lightly floured cookie cutters. (Cooking time depends on the size of the cookie cutter - the smaller the cookie, the less time). Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to prepared baking sheets. (If the dough becomes too soft, chill it for like 10 minutes). Make sure to re-roll the scraps and cut into more shapes.

4) Before putting into the oven, sprinkle cookies lightly with sugar. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through. Total time should be about 10-18 minutes for a cookie a little bigger than the palm of your hand. Remember the smaller the cookie, the less time needed. Stick a knife in the center of the cookie, if no dough sticks to the knife, they are done!

5) Transfer cookies to cooling rack and cool completely. You can add icing if you want but I wouldn't suggest it because I think they would be too sweet than.

Total Time: 5 hours, 55 minutes

What You'll Need:

• Buy a frozen crust at the store, because like I said, I can't make a crust
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 3/4 whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (or instead of using allspice, ginger and cinnamon, if you have Pumpkin Pie spice, add all the measurements of the others together and that would work just fine)
• 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling). I like to use Libby's.

1) heat oven to 425 F. In a large bowl, beat eggs slightly with wire whisk. Beat in all filling ingredients until smooth.

2) cover edge of pie crust with 2-3 inch strips of foil so it won't burn, remove foil for last 15 minutes of baking. To prevent spilling filling, place pastry lined pie plate on oven rack. Pour filling into pie plate. Bake pie for 15 minutes.

3) reduce oven temperature to 350 F. Bake about 45 minutes longer or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely. Tastes great with vanilla ice cream.

Total Time: 45 minutes

What You'll Need:

• 1 1/2 cups of crunchy peanut butter
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperature!)
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for fork.
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

1) preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2) with an electric mixer, beat peanut butter, brown sugar and butter until well combined. Beat in the egg.

3) with mixer on low speed, mix in flour and baking powder just until the dough forms.

4) using 1 level tablespoon per cookie, roll dough into balls. Place onto baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. With a lightly floured fork, press into dough to make a criss-cross design, flattening to a 1/2 inch thickness.

5) Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until lightly golden, about 18-22 minutes. Cool Completely.

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

What You'll Need:

• 2 cups of all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 tablespoon of pumpkin-pie spice
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon of salt
• 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) of unsalted butter (room temperature!)
• 1 1/4 cups of sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1 cup of canned 100% pure solid-pack pumpkin puree (not pie filling). I like Libby's brand.
• 1 package (12 ounces) of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Line the bottom and sides of a 9 by 13 inch baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving an over-hang on two sides.

2) In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3) With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled, but thats ok!). Reduce speed to low and mix in dry ingredients just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

4) Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, Just until edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in center and comes out clean (or with just a few crumbs). 35-40 minutes. Let them cool completely in the pan.

5) Using foil overhang, lift cake from pan, peel off foil and use serrated knife to cut.

Total Time: 40 minutes

What You'll Need:

• 1  1/2 Cups of all purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 sticks (16 ounces) of unsalted butter (room temperature!)
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups of old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups of raisins
• 1 package (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 375 F. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt, set aside.

2) With an electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

3) Add dry ingredients, beat just until combined. Add oats, raisins and chocolate chips, beat until combined.

4) Drop heaping tablespoons of batter onto baking sheets, about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies have spread and are golden brown but still soft to the touch. About 10-12 minutes. Cool 5 minutes than transfer to cooling rack.