My Adventures With Pumpkin Cookies

The Monkey’s school holds a Fall Festival each year, and we have not missed one since she started in 2009.  The school’s PTO (which is AWESOME) organizes the festival, and the Monkey loves it.  They have games, a DJ (!), lots of food and drinks, and the ever popular classroom pumpkin contest.  Each class chooses a theme, and then the students decorate pumpkins to reflect it.  It’s really cool, because the students keep their ideas a secret from one another until the day of the reveal.  The secret keeping is amazing in itself, but what’s really amazing are the pumpkins.  This year there were owls, minions, M&Ms, and aliens.  The students put a lot of time and pride in their work.

The Monkey's Class

One of the winning entries

This year the PTO held  its first Pumpkin Bake Off.  Hot damn.  Something I might be good at.  (Spoiler Alert: I wasn’t so good at it).   I filled out my paperwork, submitted my $5 entrance fee, and then searched Pinterest for the absolutely best pumpkin recipe I could find.

I found this one.  The title of the recipe said it all.  Melt In Your Mouth Pumpkin Cookies.

Each contestant had to bring 25 samples of their recipe to the event.  For a $5 fee, festival goers could taste each of the contestants goodies.  The contest was a popular one – there were 15 entries.  Pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cake, pumpkin truffles, pumpkin creme brulee, and pumpkin cupcakes.  This is not a contest to take part in if you are diabetic.  Once you tasted all of the treats, you had to become a judge and pick your favorite.  The contestant that had the most tickets in their ballet box won the contest.

I didn’t win.

Not even close to winning.

How many tickets did I get? 

One.

One freaking ticket.

I am happy to say that no one in my family voted for me (we didn’t take part in the eating).  So, one person out there liked my cookies.  Or they had a heart, and didn’t want me to not get any votes.  Whoever you are, thank you for your pity.

Don't fret -- the cookies didn't go to waste.  My family enjoyed them, and truth be told, the cookies tasted better the next day.  I'm not sure, but it seemed as if the pumpkin flavor came through better the longer the cookies sat around.

Want to give it try?  Just follow the recipe below.  Best of luck! 

Melt-In-Your-Mouth Pumpkin Cookies

(from Better Homes & Garden)

Cookie Ingredients

2 cups butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 (15 oz) can  pumpkin

4 cups all-purpose flour

Frosting Ingredients

1/2 cup  butter

1/2 cup  packed brown sugar

1/4 cup  milk

1 teaspoon  vanilla

2 3/4 cups  powdered sugar

 Ground cinnamon (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, beat 2 cups butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Beat until combined, scraping bowl occasionally. Add eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla; beat until combined. Beat in pumpkin. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour.

Drop dough by heaping teaspoons 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until tops are set. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool.

In a small saucepan, heat 1/2 cup butter and brown sugar until melted and smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl. Stir in milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in powdered sugar until smooth. Spread frosting on cookies. If desired, sprinkle with additional cinnamon. Makes about 60 cookies.

That's How the Cookie Crumbles

Selling Girl Scout cookies can be a cut throat business.  Really, it can be.  Think about it.  Troops are basically in competition with other troops to sell the most cookies.  You try to get the better booths, and you try to get them at the best times.  Some girls try to get to the school staff before others do.  God forbid you live in a neighborhood saturated with scouts.  I feel bad for my neighbors. Part of the Girl Scout law is to Be A Sister to Every Girl Scout, but sometimes it feels likes it should be Every (Wo)Man for Herself.

I have to push those thoughts to the back of my mind, because the cookie sale is the biggest fundraiser that the girls do.  The money made helps to run the troop, and to help continue to provide great programs for the girls.  The Monkey joined scouts when she started Kindergarten, and over the past four years, she has taken part in many fun and educational activities.

Can I offer you a cookie?

I found myself searching Pinterest each night to find the next great idea for the cookie sale, and I discovered that everyone else had the same idea.  Sell door-to-door, put a sign on the lawn, decorate your wagon and walk around the neighborhood, gift wrap the boxes, include thank you notes….the list is endless.  I pinned every suggestion I found, but was never WOW’ed by anything.  Until I found this picture.  This would be a great way to “advertise” at a booth.  Problem is – it was the picture only, and no instructions.  Not a problem.  I’m a Girl Scout, so I am prepared for anything. 

Our new Miss America, the beautiful Thin Mint

I made the costumes in an afternoon, and posted the photo to Facebook.  Everyone thought it was cute, and I have been asked by several people how I made them.  Hopefully other leaders will be able to follow these instructions and make costumes for their booths.  I’m sorry that I did not take pictures to show how I did things, and I apologize for the graininess of the only picture I did take.

Thin Mint

1 yard brown felt (I had this cut at Jo Ann Fabrics)

2 sheets white felt

2 sheets black felt

½ yard pink felt (this will be used for the Thin Mint & the Caramel DeLite cookie)

White puffy paint

Green satin ribbon (found at Jo Ann Fabrics)

Hot Glue

Foam board or heavy cardboard

Pencil

Box cutter (or heavy duty scissors)

Caramel DeLite (sometimes called Samoas)

1 yard light brown felt

2 sheets white felt

2 sheets black felt

Pink felt (leftover from the Thin Mint)

Brown (leftover from the Thin Mint)

Purple satin ribbon

White puffy pain

Hot Glue

Foam board or heavy cardboard

Pencil

Box cutter (or heavy duty scissors)

These are the instructions to make the Thin Mint. 

·         Using your scout as a guide, “eyeball” how large the actual cookie should be.  I was fortunate to have an extra large serving tray that I used as a guide.  Draw the circle of the board, and using your knive/cutter/scissors, cut the circle.
·         Lay the circle on top of the brown felt, and cut the felt to be one inch larger than the circle (that make sense?).  Basically, your felt should be larger than the cardboard.
·         In small sections, begin to hot glue the felt to the cardboard.  At this point, you are wrapping the felt around the cardboard.  Do this until the board is completely wrapped.  Turn it over so the felt side is facing up.
·         Cut two large eyes from the white felt, and glue towards the top of the felt circle.
·         Cut out two small pupils from the black felt, and glue on top of the white felt.
·         Draw a smile on the pink felt, cut it out, and glue to the cookie shape.  At this point, you should have a happy looking cookie.
·         Take the green ribbon, and cut it a bit longer than the length of the cookie.  You want it to be able to wrap around to the back of the board.  This will be the cookie sash.  Once cut, hot glue to the cookie shape.  You now have what looks like a Miss America cookie.
·         Cut another strip of the green ribbon large enough to comfortably fit over your scout’s head, and hot glue to the back of the board.  It should look like a large handle.
·         Using the white puffy paint, write the words THIN MINT on the green sash. The paint needs about four hours to dry so be sure to leave it alone!

The Caramel DeLite is made exactly as the Thin Mint is, except I used purple ribbon, and I cut “squiggles” out of the extra brown felt.  Those squiggles are supposed to be the chocolate part of the cookie.  As for the sunflowers I put on the costumes – we had an old flower arrangement that we decided to throw away that morning.  I thought it would “pretty” things up, so I glued them to the cookie.  You can do the same thing, or let your imagination run wild.  Do you have a Brownie troop?  How about putting a Brownie Beanie on the cookie?

Really?  How can you resist?

We used these for our booth last week, and received many compliments on them.  The girls wore them without being asked to, which is always a good thing.  My daughter did have one complaint – the ribbon around her neck bothered her.  I plan on putting some felt around that portion of the ribbon, in the hopes that will help.

To my fellow leaders out there that attempt this craft – best of luck!  I hope you find these instructions useful.  Please be sure to share pictures, as I would love to see what you come up with.  And for those currently participating in the sale – Happy Selling!

My Own Lil Bit 'O Trouble

This past Saturday, my daughter and her Girl Scout troop sold cookies at the local mall.  Their booth was located in the food court, which was a primo spot.  It was also located across from the Nestle Toll House cookie stand.  Competing with them shouldn't be a problem -- who wouldn't want to buy cookies from sweet little girls?  I'll tell you who.  My daughter.

Her: "Can I get a cookie?"
Me: "What?  Are you kidding me?  You are selling cookies."
Her: "Come on!  They have the good cookies I like."

She's a great salesman, right?

And the cookies she likes?  It's call the Lil Bit 'O Trouble.  It's a small frosting sandwich -- two chocolate chip cookies with vanilla frosting in the middle, and rainbow sprinkles on the outside.  They also cost just about $3 a pop.  You would think that I have had enough of cookies already, considering I am the Girl Scout cookie mom.  You think wrong.  I decided to make my own version of this cookie, for much less than $3 a cookie.  I must admit to you now that I took the easy way and cheated.

You will need the following supplies: one can of vanilla frosting, a package of ready-to-bake cookies, and sprinkles.

I used the seasonal sugar cookies I found at the grocery store. I also made two packages, for a total of 48 cookies, which would make 24 cookie sandwiches.

Bake the cookies as directed and allow to cool completely.

I love these cookies.  My mom used to call them Magic Cookies because of the designs.  I was excited to find the Disney designs -- we are huge Disney buffs.

Place a glob (that's the technical term) of frosting on the bottom of the cookie, and place another cookie on top.  You should now have a cookie sandwich in your hand, and some of the frosting should be oozing out of the sandwich. 



Take your cookie sandwich and roll the outside of it in the sprinkles.

You now have your own version of the Lil Bit of Trouble.  Pretty crazy that someone charges $3 for these things, right?  I made 24 for less than $5.  The kids at the school's morning YMCA program were very happy to see me with these this morning.



And for those of you wondering....No.  I did not buy her a Nestle cookie when we are at the mall.  She got ice cream.

Come back tomorrow to learn how to make Dirty Chicks (not gonna give any secrets).