January 8^th is Elvis’s birthday.  If you grew up in Memphis, you know that.  For my 25^th birthday (quite a few years ago, and not in January), I had a big party.  At Graceland.  The party was in the large lobby of the ticket pavilion, decorated (by Graceland) in pink, black and turquoise balloons.  We ate barbecue and danced to an amazing retro band called The Bouffants.  It was one of my favorite birthdays.  But the real bonus of a party at Graceland was a private, nighttime tour of the house.  Back then, they had just introduced the audio headset guide.  That was a real disappointment to me, because the personality of the Graceland guides had always been such a big part of the tour.  But that disappointment was very much balanced, because we toured the kitchen, which was opening to the public the following week.

The kitchen at Graceland, like most rooms at Graceland, is an absolute model of everything new and chic in the 70s.  It’s not a huge room, very much a standard family house kitchen.  It has dark wood cabinets and harvest gold appliances, with burgundy and avocado green accents.  But Elvis was a modern man, and there is on display one of the earliest microwaves.  It is bigger than the wall oven.  Elvis had a cook for many years who prepared him whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it, as Elvis kept irregular hours.  He was a country boy and liked county food, and a lot of it, biscuits and gravy, greens, and pork chops and mashed potatoes.  He liked each element of his meal on a separate plate.  These are the things you learn at Graceland.

Elvis did enjoy a peanut butter and banana sandwich occasionally, but was a real fan of banana pudding.  I think the peanut butter and banana connection is a sort of urban myth that has grown and grown in the years since his death.  It is held out as an example of his “peculiar” eating habits, which weren’t all that peculiar, just old-fashioned, Southern and copious. The eating habits of man who didn’t have enough to eat when he was a child. People laugh about the PB&B, but actually enjoy the flavor – and choose to eat the sandwiches on their own.  And man, is it a good combo for a cookie! It is not peculiar, it’s just part of the legend of Elvis.

Cookies for the King (Banana Cookies with a Peanut Butter Glaze)

These are a soft, cakey cookie with a light peanut butter glaze.

For the Cookies:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 bananas)

1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Glaze:

2 Tablespoons peanut butter

2 – 4 Tablespoons milk

¾ cup powdered sugar

For the Cookies:

Preheat oven to 350°. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs and mashed banana and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times.  Add the vanilla and blend thoroughly.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add to the wet ingredients, scraping the bowl occasionally, until everything is well incorporated.  Refrigerate the dough for about 15 minutes.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoons (I use a cookie scoop), 2 inches apart onto the lined sheets. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes until puffed golden and firm. Remove to wire racks to cool.

For the Glaze:

Place some waxed paper under the cooling racks to catch drips from the glaze.

In a small bowl, using a sturdy whisk or hand mixer, beat together the peanut butter and one Tablespoon of milk until smooth.  Sift in the powdered sugar and mix well.  Drizzle in more milk, ½ Tablespoon at a time until you reach a consistency that will drizzle from a spoon over the cookies.  I consider this medium-thick.

Drizzle the glaze over the cookies and leave to set.

I like a light glaze on these cookies, so the banana flavor shines with just a little hint of peanut butter.  If you prefer a completely frosted cookie, double the glaze recipe and use just enough milk to make it spreadable.

Makes 12 – 16 cookies

Milk Punch has roots in New Orleans, with a history as a hair-of-the-dog remedy.   In fact, my best milk punch memory is enjoying a bit too much at a wonderful wedding brunch in New Orleans.  And now, that bride makes milk punch for a Christmas party every year.  I have to admit though, I make it differently from my friend.  I’ve had milk punch that is just milk and bourbon with a sprinkling of nutmeg and I have seen many recipes that use melted vanilla ice cream as the milky base.  I split the difference, mixing up a sweet, creamy syrup lightly spiced with holiday flavors to stir in cold milk.  Then I dose it with good bourbon, serve it over ice and grate a dash of nutmeg. And to reinforce that Crescent City connection, I like to listen to one of my favorite seasonal songs, Louis Armstrong singing ‘Zat You, Santa Claus while whipping up a batch.

I love the idea of serving fudgy cookies with milk punch.  Sure, you can fill a punch bowl with a big batch of punch and arrange a plate of cookies beside it.  But I think a glass of milk punch and a little stack of cookies would make an amusing dessert for a grown-up dinner party, adding a touch of whimsy to a sophisticated event.  These gently spiced cookies are rich with chocolate, soft and sweet, just perfect for dipping in milk punch.  Plus, they can be made ahead, stored in the fridge or frozen, and baked fresh.

Milk Punch and Cookies

Milk Punch

1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup sugar

½ vanilla bean

2 sticks cinnamon

4 cardamom pods

1 quart whole milk

Bourbon

Nutmeg

In a small saucepan with a tight fitting lid, stir together the cream and sugar.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar.  The mixture may turn buttery yellow.  Just when it hits the boil, remove the pan from the heat.  Split the vanilla been and scrape out the seeds and drop them in the cream.  Add the cinnamon sticks and the lightly crushed cardamom pods.   Cover the pot and leave to cool completely.

When the creamy syrup is cool, strain it into a pitcher, add the milk and stir well to combine.  Fill a punch glass or highball with ice, add 1 to 1 ½ Tablespoons bourbon and fill with milk mixture.  Sprinkle nutmeg over the top of each glass.

Makes about 5 ½ cups punch, can be doubled or more

Chocolate Spice Cookies

2 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips

3 Tablespoons butter

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Dash of cayenne pepper

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the chocolate, butter and condensed milk in a large microwave safe bowl.  Microwave at medium power for 45 seconds, remove the bowl and stir vigorously until the chocolate is melted and everything is combined.  If needed, microwave in 15 second bursts until everything melts.  The mixture will be thick. Alternately, you can carefully melt everything together in a large pan.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and spices with a fork.  Dump into the chocolate mixture and stir beginning to come together. Add the egg and vanilla and stir until the dough it all combined.  It’s a thick batter and will take a little elbow grease.  Chill the dough in the fridge for 20 minutes, then divide into three equal portions.  Cut three lengths of waxed paper and use each to roll a portion for dough into a log.  Wrap tightly and keep in the fridge until ready to bake, up to three days.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Take the cookie logs out of the fridge and allow to soften for a few minutes, then use a sturdy serrated knife to slice the logs into ¼ inch slices.  Place on the prepared sheets and bake 8 minutes, until the cookies are puffed in the center.  Remove from the oven and cool on the pans.

Makes about 60 cookies

Red Velvet Cake is a real childhood memory for me.  I have an aunt who makes a great one.  But it was definitely not trendy or cool or in.  Red Velvet was seriously down-home, real country food.  It wasn’t even a standard on diner menus.  But that all seems to have changed.  I am dubious about this hipsterfied version.  I have had some really, really bad red velvet made by places that charge huge amounts for small cupcakes, and advertise that it’s the best-selling flavor. I even had a red velvet cupcake in London, but it was an abomination.  In fact, it seems that anything with a little red food coloring in it is now called “red velvet” and earns a premium and a lot of attention. No, I don’t like this trend at all.

But Christmas is different. We all love fun and whimsical at Christmas, and bright red sweets just fit the bill perfectly.  These cookies with their chocolate-y richness, ruby color and festive white snowdrops will delight kids, but they will also make an impression at a cookie swap.

Red Velvet Polka Dot Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 (1-ounce) bottle red food coloring

1 (11-ounce) white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light-colored.  Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy and light.

In a small bowl, use a fork to mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.  Use the fork to break up lumps of cocoa powder.  Add the dry ingredients to the butter in the mixer a little at a time, mixing well after each addition and occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl.  When the dough is thoroughly mixed, add the food coloring, beating until the dough is a dark red color.  If you have some place important to be or just had a manicure, I’d recommend wearing gloves.  That red food coloring will show up in the oddest places.  When the dough is evenly colored, stir in all but about ½ cup of the white chocolate chips until mixed in.

Scoop the dough onto the lined baking sheets using a 2 Tablespoon cookie scoop or spoon.  Place the cookies apart from each other to allow room for spreading.  You will have enough dough to use on a third pan of cookies after these have cooked.  Wet your fingers and lightly press down the top of each cookie mound, then press the remaining white chips into each cookie to create the polka dots. The cookies spread, so press a lot of chips into the cookies.

Bake the cookies for 10 – 12 minutes until firm in the center.  Cool on the pans for a few minutes until firm, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.  When one pan has cooled, repeat with the rest of the cookie dough. Stored in an airtight container, the cookies will keep for several days.

Makes 30 cookies

The flavor of caramel covered apples is amazing.  Eating a caramel apple, not so much.  The caramel-to-apple ration in my opinion, tends to be too low.  I can’t abide those pre-made wrap around sheets, and making a good caramel is a bit of work.  And in the end, the caramel tends to slide off the apple.  Here’s the solution.

I’ve made these cookies for years, but not as often as their flavor warrants.  I used the square caramel candies, and slogged through the process of unwrapping each one, then cutting them into small pieces with floured scissors or a knife.  But I recently discovered caramel bits in the baking section.  Basically, caramel pieces with all the work done.  If you can’t find them, cut up the old squares.  These are chewy from the caramel with a little snap from the apples.

Caramel Apple Cookies

½ cup butter, softened

1 ½ cups packed light brown sugar

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

2cups finely chopped green apples (about 1 large apple)

11 ounces caramel bits, or caramel squares cut into small
pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and brown sugar in a stand mixer until fluffy, about 7 minutes.  Add the egg and beat until smooth.  Add the flour, cinnamon and baking soda , bit by bit, beating until smooth. Fold in the apple pieces and the caramel bits until well mixed.

Using a 2 Tablespoon cookie scoop or spoon, scoop mounds of dough and inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets.   Bake for 8 – 10 minutes until firm and puffed.  Rotate the trays from the top shelf to the bottom shelf after 5 minutes.  Cool on the trays until firm, then remove to a cooling rack.  Some of the caramel may leak out and turn brown; those pieces will snap off.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

I set out to make a cookie reminiscent of good-old fashioned gingerbread cake.  When I managed to achieve this, it occurred to me that if I called them gingerbread cookies, it would bring to mind the crispy, crunchy type – like gingerbread men or tree ornaments.   That is not what these lovelies are at all.  These little pillowy cushions of cakey, gingerbread goodness are something altogether different.  These cookies are rich with molasses, tangy with buttermilk and spiced with fresh ginger and ground for deep ginger hit, complemented by cinnamon and nutmeg.

These cookies are amazing with a glass of egg nog or plain milk, or beside a mug of mulled cider or hot chocolate.  You can make these smaller or larger, and the recipe is easily doubled if you need a big batch to tote to a cookie swap or party.  These work equally well plain or with the simple glaze on top and you can then go to town decorating with sprinkles or colored sugar, or add an extra hint of ginger with a sprinkling of diced candied ginger.

Gingerbread Pillows

Take your pick – you can use a cookie scoop slightly smaller than 1 Tablespoon or one slightly larger than a Tablespoon.

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

½ cup packed light brown sugar

1 egg

½ cup molasses

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

½ cup buttermilk

For the Glaze:

¾ cup powdered sugar

1 ½ Tablespoons (more or less) milk

Dash vanilla extract

Diced candied ginger, colored sprinkles or sanding sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Line 3 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg, the molasses, vanilla extract and grated fresh ginger until combined.  The mixture may look slightly curdled but don’t worry.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and spices and toss with a fork to combine.  Turn the mixer on slow, and add the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately in three additions, ending with the buttermilk and scraping down the sides as needed.

Use a cookie scoop to scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets and bake for 7 – 9 minutes until the tops of the cookies are puffed and firm.

Cool for two minutes on the baking sheets, then remove to a wire rack to cool.

For the glaze:

Sift the powdered sugar into a small bowl and beat in the milk and vanilla to the desired consistency. You can go for a light glaze that drips over the side or a thicker, spreadable glaze.  Spread the glaze on the cookies and top with candied ginger or sprinkles.

Makes 2 ½ dozen large, or 3 ½ dozen smaller cookies

As a kid, I was a great one for projects. Homemade play-dough. Cookies painted with egg/food-coloring paint. Dollhouse furniture. Leaves pressed between waxed paper. I was never very good at any of these, and my record on finishing what I started was less than stellar. So maybe I should clarify that I was a great one for the idea of projects. I liked thinking about them, planning them, more than actually doing them. What patient parents I have! At some point – I was maybe eight or nine – we had a book full of project ideas. It has long since disappeared, but I seem to remember that it had something to do with a World’s Fair or the Olympics. It was a guide book for kids like me, with ideas and charts and drawings. All sorts of cool stuff you could actually do at home! On your own! This book gave me the ill-fated idea for a science fair project to hatch chicks. In a shoe box. With a light bulb. My father had to track down fertilized eggs and buy some for me and we built a sort of Easy-Bake oven incubator. This was not a successful experiment. It resulted in no baby chickens. And unhatched eggs left under a hot bulb do not smell good. My interest in the grand project waned somewhat after that experience.

But tucked away somewhere in that book, between the potato battery and Indian-basket weaving, was this recipe for Clove Cookies. And though my general project-completion record was low, I have always loved a good recipe. And this one is easy and makes a darn good cookie. I copied that recipe in my wobbly handwriting onto one of my earliest index recipe cards, re-copied years later onto a designed recipe card with pictures and “from the kitchen of…” at the top. Glued that card into a binder. Recopied it into a recipe-keeper notebook I was given as a Christmas present, cut out that page to put in a vinyl page protector in binder. As you can tell, my inability to see a project through also applies to my many and varied attempts to decide on a pre-computer recipe organizing system. But this recipe has stayed with me, moved from format to format.

The use of cloves in a cookie may smack seriously of the 1970s origin of this recipe, but boy is it good. These cookies are warm and spicy and scream autumn leaves and crackling fires. I come back to these cookies whenever I need something homey and comforting and happy. They start out with a pleasant, soft, slightly chewy center, but after a day or so turn into a lovely, crunchy wafer. The taste of cloves remains central, but mellows. These cookies will please you every time you open the tin. And they are not a project at all.

Clove Cookies

½ cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon ground cloves

Stir the melted butter into the sugar in a large bowl until well blended. It will be a mixture like very wet sand. Stir in the vanilla. Beat in the egg until smooth and incorporated.

In another bowl, stir together the flour and cloves with a fork to distribute the cloves evenly and break up any clumps. Stir the flour into the butter-sugar mixture until thoroughly blended. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to firm it up.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. When the cookie dough is firm, scoop it out in one teaspoon mounds onto the cookie sheet, spacing them an inch apart. I use a small cookie scoop for this. Press down lightly on the cookies, then bake for 7 – 9 minutes, until the cookies have spread, the edges are golden brown and the centers soft. Leave to cool on the tray for one minute, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

The iconic S’more.  That memory-provoking piece of gooey, melty childhood – summer camp, the Fourth of July, beach bonfires.  I am not the first to re-imagine the s’more in a slightly less drippy, sticky and potentially hazardous form, but perhaps I am the laziest.  The portable, storable S’more cookies need only six ingredients, one bowl to mix and a few minutes to bake.  But they are a little bite of all that is good about summer.  Kids can absolutely help make these, and have no doubt they will help devouring them!

S’More Cookies

These cookies will keep in an airtight container for several days, but good luck keeping them that long.

12 ounces milk chocolate chips

5 Tablespoons butter

1 cup flour

½ cup light brown sugar, tightly packed

1 egg

3 graham cracker sheets

½ cup mini marshmallows

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with silicone liners or parchment paper.  The melty marshmallows make these sticky.

Place 6 ounces of the chocolate chips and the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave on high for 2 minutes, then remove and stir the chocolate until smooth and melted.  Add the flour and sugar and stir with a fork, then add the egg and continue stirring until smooth. The mixture will be very thick, but will loosen when the egg is added.

Place the graham cracker sheets in a bag and pop them with your fingers to break them into pieces.  You want small pieces here, not crumbs. Stir the remaining chocolate chips, the graham cracker pieces and the marshmallows into the batter, stirring to combine.

Using a tablespoon and your clean finger, scoop the dough onto cookie sheets, making sure the ingredients are evenly distributed.  Flatten the mounds slightly and bake for 7-9 minutes, until the edges have set but the centers are slightly undercooked.

Leave to cool completely on the baking sheets.  If the cookies have spread and lost their shape in some places, you can use the back of a flat knife to push in the overflow while still hot.

Makes 18 cookies

St. Patrick’s Day is a silly holiday – in the best possible way.  Grown folks dressing in green fuzzy wigs and big hats.  Pinching co-workers and friends who forget to wear green.  Drinking green beer.  Singing Irish songs as if you just came over from the old country.  In fact, celebrating a holiday largely based on snake-driving has an element of silliness to it from the get go. St. Patrick, it seems, never did have anything to do with snakes.  Now you know.

Except for college, when I am sure that it was a big beer drinking occasion (I assume that because frankly, I don’t remember), I have never really gone in for too much St. Paddy’s Day fun.  My only St. Patrick’s memory is a family spring break trip to Chicago right during the St. Patrick’s Day festivities.  Of course, my brother and I were too young to appreciate the principal activities of the day. But the Chicago River was dyed green, and we could watch the parade down Michigan Avenue from our hotel.  George Bush, Senior was staying in our hotel.  He’d just started his first presidential run (boy am I dating myself now), so the Secret Service were everywhere.  I can only imagine that Chicago on St. Patrick’s Day is a Secret Service nightmare.

So in celebration of the silly, I created these Kiss Me, I’m Irish Cookies.  I am not, by the way, Irish, but that’s sort of the fun of St. Patrick’s.  Everyone is Irish for a least a day.  The cookie base is flavored with Irish cream liqeuer, topped with a chocolate kiss.

Kiss Me, I’m Irish Cookies

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

½ cup sugar

½ cup light brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup Irish cream liqueur (like Bailey’s)

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

24 Hershey’s Kisses, unwrapped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla, beating until combined.  Add the Irish cream, beating well.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt and add to the dough, mixing until fully incorporated.

Roll generous teaspoons of dough into balls and place on the prepared baking sheets.  Press a kiss into each cookie ball, letting the dough form up around the kiss.  Bake the cookies for 8-9 minutes until lightly golden. Cool on the cookie sheets for a few minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 24 cookies

Don’t forget the Corned Beef and Cabbage Cooked in Beer!

Maple Madness

Maple is one of those ingredients that always makes me look.  If I come a recipe in a magazine or cookbook for maple anything, I just have to read it, then usually cut it out or mark it with a post-it. Of course, sometimes I end up disappointed that these recipes only call for “maple flavoring,” which appeals to me not at all.  It seems like cheating or faking. Then, not every maple recipe I have made has lived up to my expectations, even made with real maple syrup. I like a real hit of maple, not just a subtle, general sweetness. But I have never given up and some of my forays into maple cookery have had superb results.

Like most people of my generation who did not live in maple country, my early exposure to maple syrup involved pancakes and waffles and came in the form of Aunt Jemima or Log Cabin, really just “maple flavored” syrup.  But both my parents went to college in New England, my dad in New Hampshire, so we occasionally got the good stuff “imported” in from their old stomping grounds.  I remember the little tin log cabin shaped containers; I think they came from LL Bean.  And my mother has a real fondness for maple sugar candy, so as kids we used to get it in Christmas stockings – super sugary, maple-y pieces molded into the shape of Santa Claus, or sometimes at Thanksgiving in the shape of pilgrims. I have a cousin who lives in Massachusetts now, and spends a lot of time in Vermont.  She has supplied me with some great maple syrup (hint, hint) and I hope in return I have given her some recipes to use her own supply.

So now I have really discovered maple syrup.  I absolutely disdain any form of “maple flavored” syrup and use only the good stuff. (Okay, there is lurking in my pantry some sort of low-cal, sugar free maple something intended to make me eat a diet breakfast. To no avail I might add.).  And I have been turned on to Grade B for baking, which really gives a maple punch to all your recipes.  I find it at natural foods markets, and it’s a little expensive, but well worth it.  And I am sure it can be found online as well, and I do recommend you search some out. These cookies have a nice warmth from the spice and a good hit of maple flavor.  I’d say they are perfect for curling up with a good book and a warm mug of apple cider on chilly day.

Maple Spice Crinkles

This dough needs to chill for a few hours before being shaped and baked to ensure the nice round shape and crackled finish.

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened to room temperature

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1/3 cup Grade B maple syrup

1 large egg

Granulated sugar for coating

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt.  Set aside.

Cream the butter and dark brown sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer until light in color and fluffy.  Add the oil until blended, then add the egg and maple syrup, beating until well incorporated.  Slowly mix in the flour mixture on low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until completely incorporated.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 3 – 4 hours.

When the dough is well chilled, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease two cookie sheets or line with a silicone mat. 

Place some granulated sugar in a shallow bowl or small plate. Scoop out balls of dough measuring about ½ Tablespoon and roll into balls.  Roll the balls in the sugar to coat completely and place on the cookie sheets, about 1 ½ inches apart.  Bake the cookies until the tops are crackled and the centers just begin to look dry.  Remove from the oven and cool on the pans for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 2 ½ dozen cookies

My favorite time of year is finally here – pumpkin time!  I love pumpkin - in cake, soup, risotto, muffins, bread and, of course, cookies. I am sure over the next few months my pumpkin obsession will manifest itself with a host of recipes, so be prepared! We’ve just had our first cool days here and I couldn’t resist whipping up an early batch of these soft, hearty and delicious pumpkin cookies.  I love ginger and cranberries, but feel free to substitute any combination of dried berries or nuts like cherries, raisins or walnuts.

Hearty Pumpkin Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups old fashioned oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar, tightly packed

1 cup pure pumpkin puree (from a 12 ounce can), not pumpkin pie filling

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup dried cranberries

½ cup chopped crystallized ginger

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease two cookie sheets.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt.  Set aside.  Cream the butter and both sugars together in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Add the egg, pumpkin and vanilla extract and mix until thoroughly incorporated.  Add the flour mixture and mix well to combine.  Stir in the cranberries and ginger pieces, distributing them evenly through the dough.

Drop 2 Tablespoons of dough onto the prepared cookie sheets, spacing about two inches apart.  Bake until the cookies are set and lightly browned, 14 – 16 minutes.  Leave to cool on the pans for 4- 6 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

The cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to 4 days, or can be frozen for up to two months.

Makes 2 ½ dozen