Slice and Bake Spice Cookies with Citrus Glaze and Sea Salt

IT�S COOKIE SEASON YOU GUYS!!!

So many cookies, so few months until I need to squeeze into a maid of honor dress for my sister�s wedding. Why is this time of year just sooo unavoidably cozy and carby and sugary? 
We were still having crisp but sort of warmish weather right up until daylight savings, and it�s like when the clocks changed, Seattle got all cold and chilly. And dark at 5PM. And also, how on earth is it November!? Ugh, it�s so insane how fast time flies. But anyway, the point is, it�s stormy and gloomy outside, and warm and cinnamon-cookie scented inside.    
I almost didn't share these cookies here... they're not over the top special or crazy or "the next big thing," they're just a really solidly awesome buttery spice cookie with the perfect chewy-crispy texture. My secret? Chocolate chip cookie dough! Even without the chocolate, ccc dough has the best texture and buttery brown sugar flavor. Last winter when I was making chocolate chip cookie variations like my life depended on it, I started rolling the dough into logs and freezing it. The dough works really well as a slice and bake, and the cookies are perfectly shaped. Oh, and the fresh citrus-cinnamon glaze dries into the prettiest smooth shell coating. So simple and so good! 

Spice Cookies with Citrus Glaze and Sea Salt
Makes about 36 cookies

These slice and bake cookies work best when the dough is frozen, so plan to make the dough a day in advance. 

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar (or 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar, if you have it) 
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1/4 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (store-bought or make your own) 
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 cup powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons fresh citrus juice (I used grapefruit and clementine)
Pinch of cinnamon
Flaked sea salt

In stand mixer or with hand mixer, cream together butter, granulated sugar (and turbinado, if you using), and brown sugar until fluffy and smooth, beating for about 3 minutes. Beat in egg, vanilla, and fresh ginger, scraping bowl to combine. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice (not the extra cinnamon though). 

With mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to butter mixture, and beat until combined. Separate dough into two balls. 

Lay out a sheet of plastic wrap, and sprinkle half the cinnamon on it. Roll one dough ball gently in cinnamon until the outside is coated, then roll into a log (about 1.5 inch diameter), and wrap with plastic wrap. Repeat with 2nd dough ball. Place both logs in a freezer bag, or additional plastic wrap, and freeze until frozen through. 

To bake:
Preheat oven to 360 degrees F. Pull out one log, and slice in 1/2 inch thick slices (should be about 18 per log). Arrange spaced evenly on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, and bake for about 12 minutes, until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

To glaze:
Whisk together powdered sugar, cinnamon, and citrus juice (start with 3 T of the juice, and add more if needed). The glaze should be thin and runny, but not watery. Once cookies are completed cool, dip the top of each one in the glaze. When the glaze is set but not totally hardened and dried, and a few flakes of salt to the top of each one. Let glaze dry completely, then eat!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins with Coconut & Almond Meal

Happy first Friday in October! One of my favorite months� the air is a little a crisper and the trees are all shades of red and orange. And of course October is all about Halloween and everything pumpkin! It�s also the month Evan and I got married! We�re headed up to Vancouver, BC for the weekend to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary, but I wanted to leave you with a pumpkiny fall treat!

These muffins are from the blog Dishing up the Dirt. The blogger, Andrea, runs a vegetable farm near-ish my hometown, and I actually heard about her blog awhile back from my mom. I recently came across her blog again, and aside from all the beautiful farm photography, these pumpkin muffins really caught my eye! I made a few tweaks to suit my tastes and use the ingredients I had on hand, and I love the way they came out. Moist and dense, perfect for a fall weekend breakfast or afternoon snack!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins with Coconut & Almond Meal
Makes 12 muffins
Slightly adapted from this recipe

2 eggs
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (I used canned�just make sure you find one without added sugar and spices!)
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
4 Tablespoons coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1.5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*
2 cups almond flour/ almond meal
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup desiccated (dried shredded, unsweetened) coconut

Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners, and preheat oven to 325.

In a large, whisk together eggs, pumpkin, maple syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla, until well combined. Add spice, flours, baking soda, and salt, and stir to combine. Mix in chocolate chips and coconut.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

*I had a nearly full jar of pumpkin pie spice on hand, but Andrea has a breakout of individual spices in her recipe, if you want to go that route.

Date & Chorizo Kale Salad

We don�t usually have salad at our Thanksgiving feast, do you? I�ve always felt like, who wants to fill their plates and bellies with lettuce when there are already too many other good things to get through?

But this year, I�m throwing this salad option out there for you, just in case you want a dose of something green and leafy. And it�s kale, so really, no worries about that whole lettuce issue I mentioned above.

I got the inspiration for this salad from the New York Times Thanksgiving by State article. An article which, by the way, has Washingtonians very confused. Glazed shiitake mushrooms with bok choy!? So random. I get the Asian influence, we do have a lot of that here. But they seem to have totally passed over all of our amazing local ingredients that typically go into a Washington fall feast: chanterelle mushrooms, which are in-season and abundant in certain parts of the state right now; apples, for which we have orchard upon orchard upon orchard; Walla Walla sweet onions from, you guessed it, Walla Walla Washington; salmon and dungeness crab� I mean, they had so much to work with! And they failed. Big time.

Sometimes I feel like everyone on the east coast is like �Washington� DC, right?� And I�m like �Hello! We�re over here! We�re a state!� Like in the 90s, when we first got (dial-up) internet at home and I spent all my time in chatrooms (um, geocities, amiright!?) and whenever I got A/S/L�d, I obviously lied about the A and said I was a cool, older 16 year old�I was really more like 14 (sorry mom), and even though I was supposed to lie about the L (sorry mom), I would say �Washington,� and my chat-mate would always think DC. Every. Damn. Time. Also, I got in trouble when my mom discovered my chat name was something like �cutiegirl16.� IT WAS THE 90S YOU GUYS. To Catch a Predator wasn�t even a thing yet.

Oh, sorry. I digress. Back to this kale salad. I was inspired by California�s non-terrible representation: kale/date/almond stuffing! Since all these ingredients can be saladified with different proportions, I went that route. The bread becomes crunchy rustic croutons, the kale gets a massage but stays fresh and raw. I nixed the ground turkey and cooked onions because texture, and added Spanish chorizo, cranberries, and a little shallot-lemon dressing, because flavor. It all comes together for a fresh, autumn salad, perfect for Thanksgiving or any other fall dinner. 

(PS. this is a husband arm modeling our chorizo, below!)

Date & Chorizo Kale Salad

Makes 4 servings

Unlike its crumbly, un-cooked Mexican cousin, Spanish chorizo is a hard, cured link, similar to salami. If you can�t find it, you can order online: http://www.tienda.com/food/chorizo.html

1 load sourdough bread

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped

2 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped

Salt & pepper

2 bunches of Lacinato Kale, rinsed and dried

Olive oil

Flaked sea salt

5 large dates, pitted and roughly chopped

� cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped

Spanish chorizo, sliced or diced, about 1 cup

1 cup fresh cranberries, roughly chopped

Juice from half a lemon

1 teaspoon finely diced shallot

1 teaspoon brown mustard

1 teaspoon olive oil

Fresh ground black pepper

First, croutons. Preheat oven to 400.

Cut the crust off the bread, and cut or tear the rest into rustic, large-but-bite-sized chunks. Spread bread chunks on a sheet pan, and drizzle with the 2 T olive oil, rosemary, thyme, and a couple heavy pinches of salt and black pepper. Toss together until the bread is well coated.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until croutons are lightly browned and crunchy. Set aside.

Next, kale.

Remove the stems, and tear the leaves into bite sized pieces. Add kale to a large bowl, and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil (less than tablespoon), and a heavy pinch of flaked sea salt. Massage the salt and oil into the kale leaves with your hands�this helps break down the tough leaves�until the leaves are softer and a more vibrant green.

Add dates through cranberries to kale.

Finally, the dressing.

Whisk together lemon through black pepper, and pour over salad. Toss everything together, and enjoy! Can also be eaten the next day.

Wild Mushroom & Pumpkin Pasta

October! You�re here! I love you! I love hot cider at the pumpkin patch. I love pumpkin cakes and cookies and soups and chilis (and beers). I love sunny but crisp days, and orange leaves, and red leaves, and scarves. Guys, I have a serious scarf problem (I have like� 35 scarves. Yikes!). I love cinnamon and nutmeg so, so much.

But what I really love�are scary movies and haunted houses! I know it�s only the first of the month, but� Halloween. Do you guys have your costumes or party food picked out yet? Please tell me your house is covered in fake blood and fake cobwebs.  

I�m so excited! I have a major urge to watch Are You Afraid of the Dark right now. Did you watch that as a kid? We didn�t have cable tv, so I only watched 5 episodes that a friend recorded (on VHS) for us. Amanda and I watched those 5 episodes a hundred times. Here are my top 5 (and only 5) favorite episodes:

1. The Tale of the Lonely Ghost: By far the best episode! An old haunted house, a creepy-ass child ghost, a bitchy but super popular teenage cousin. All keys to a good story.
2. The Tale of the Twisted Claw: �It�s the clor of a vulchah!� Amanda and I know this one pretty much word for word.  
3. The Tale of the Prom Queen: Um, who doesn�t love a ghost prom queen from the 50s. I know I do!
4. The Tale of the Pinball Wizard: The entire mall turns into a deadly pinball game. And there�s obviously a teenage love story in here. Enough said!
5. The Tale of the Phantom Cab: Brothers get lost hiking and a creepy old dude in the woods who holds them captive� um. It�s more PG than it sounds.

I may have also spent an entire Saturday a year or two ago watching YouTube recordings of AYAOTD. Just sayin�.

Anyway, that was worthwhile! Also, to celebrate the amazingness of October I made pasta with pumpkin (fall, check), wild mushrooms (fall, check), and sage (yep, check, check, check!). It�s sort of loosely based on a Rachel Ray recipe, but don�t let that stop you from making it.

Wild Mushroom & Pumpkin Pasta
Adapted from this recipe

I used lobster mushrooms and chanterelles, but also threw in some crimini for bulk. The wild guys add in all that wild, earthy flavor I love, and the crimini are the work horse, ensuring that you have a little bit of mushroom in every bite (without costing a million dollars, because let me tell you, wild mushrooms aren't cheap!). But, feel free to use whatever you can find, afford, forage. I also added in a splash of truffle oil, because it just brings out the flavor of the 'shrooms even more. It's totally optional though. This makes a bunch, so it's great for a crowd, or for leftovers. I tossed some diced dry-cured Spanish chorizo into my leftovers, which was pretty tasty! 

1 lb pasta (shells, mac, etc)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb wild mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 cups chicken broth
1.5 cups pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon flour
pinch nutmeg
pinch cinnamon
pinch cayenne
8-10 sage leaves, sliced thin
salt & pepper to taste
truffle oil (optional)
Grated parmesan

Heat water for pasta, salt it and cook penne to al dente. Reserve a cup of pasta water, drain and set aside. 

Heat the butter and olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add mushrooms and saute until soft and golden, about 6 minutes (add more oil or butter if they stick), sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. Whisk together broth, pumpkin, milk, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, cayenne, salt and pepper. Add to mushrooms in pan, and when everything starts to bubble, reduce heat to medium low and simmer 5 to 6 minutes to thicken. Stir in sage and truffle oil if using. Add in pasta, and reserved pasta water if it's too dry. Serve with cheese. 

Pumpkin Spice Almond Milk + Coffee

PUMPKIN SPICE ALL THE THINGS!  

Man, you all really like your pumpkin spice this year! I can't even tell you how many pumpkin spice Facebook posts and memes I've seen this fall (and fall only just started!). And Pinterest, jeez louise. Pumpkin spice for days. My favorite pumpkin spice incarnation has to be beer. I love a good pumpkin spice beer! This one is my favorite right now� it tastes like pumpkin pie!

I'll leave the beer making to the professionals, but one pumpkin spice treat I will make at home is the PSL. Pumpkin. Spice. Latte. Sort of. So� I mentioned this before, but I'm not a huge fan of sweet, milky coffee. I'm obsessed with (and maybe addicted to) the actual taste of strong, black coffee. But, like everyone else, when the leaves start turning orange, I start craving a little pumpkin spice in my coffee. I don't like the taste of soy milk, and I hate the taste of regular (cow) milk (yes, even in a latte, I can taste it), so I decided to make my own pumpkin spice almond milk to add to coffee! 

This mix is sweet but not overly so, and has just the right amount of pumpkin and spice. Make a jar-full, and take it to work to add to your coffee all week! It feels all cozy and indulgent, and makes me want to bundle up in a warm sweater! 

PS. This is hilarious. 

PPS. I read the back of a pumpkin pie spice jar, and it said it contained mace (spice). I remember there always being a jar of mace in my mom's spice rack, but I honestly couldn't remember anything about it. So I looked it up� did you know that mace is the dried lacy layer of the nutmeg seed? Weird! Feel free to throw some of that in your spice mix, if you have it! 

PPS. Since you'll have extra pumpkin puree after making this, go ahead and make some pumpkin pie granola too. 

Pumpkin Spice Almond Milk + Coffee 

Pumpkin pie spice is a breeze to make on your own. I use just cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg, but you can also add cloves and cardamom if you want. For the spiced milk, you can also try adding maple syrup instead of the brown sugar!

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

pinch allspice

pinch nutmeg (fresh ground is best)

pinch salt

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (also try almond, to pump up the flavor of the almond milk!)

2 tablespoons pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling, be sure the only ingredient is pumpkin)

To serve: Coffee, fresh nutmeg, whipped cream (optional)

Combine almond milk through pumpkin puree in a small pot and whisk to combine. Heat over medium until it starts to bubble, then simmer stirring occasionally for another minute or two. Taste, and add more sugar/spices/pumpkin as desired. Use right away, or let mixture return to room temperature before refrigerating. Store in a jar in the fridge for up to a week, and give it a good shake or stir before using. 

To serve, I like to do a 60/40 coffee to almond milk ratio, but test it out and figure out what you like best. 

Sweet Potato, Pear, and Wild Rice Salad

It's officially fall, and that means you can officially wear boots and scarves and order pumpkin spice everything, shame free. It also means I can start making dishes full of fall flavors like pears and roasted sweet potatoes. I really think sweet potatoes are going to be my go-to this fall, sort of like corn was all summer. I just love sweet potatoes so much. As is evident here and here. 

Amanda always welcomes fall with a pear and pecan salad that has a creamy yogurt-honey-lemon dressing. I decided to make that salad, but add in some heartiness with wild rice (actually, I used forbidden black rice, which is super fun), sweet potato roasted in coconut oil, and aged white cheddar. Bleu cheese would absolutely work here too (um, maybe both!?). 

This salad also holds up well for lunch the next day! Just layer it in a jar so that your dressing is on the bottom, and your arugula is on the top. And leave your pecans out, so they stay nice and crunchy. 

Who says you can't welcome fall with a salad!?

Sweet Potato, Pear, and Wild Rice Salad

Exact amounts for roasting the sweet potato and making the dressing are below. For assembly, just use proportions that work for you. I like to use equal parts rice, sweet potato, and arugula, then add in a handful of everything else. 

1 large sweet potato or yam, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 tablespoon melted coconut oil

Salt & Pepper

Wild rice of your choice, cooked and cooled

Chopped fresh pear

Honey yogurt dressing (recipe below)

Toasted pecans

Diced red onion

Shaved or cubed aged white cheddar

To roast the sweet potato, preheat oven to 400, toss cubes with coconut oil, spread out evenly on a baking sheet, sprinkle salt & pepper, and roast (flipping once) for 30-40 minutes, until golden and slightly crispy on the outside, and creamy-tender on the inside. Watch to make sure you don't burn them. Cool.

To assemble, toss together cool roasted sweet potato, cool wild rice, pear, arugula, and a spoonful of dressing. Top with pecans, red onion, and white cheddar. Serve with fresh ground pepper. To assemble in jars, add a scoop of dressing, followed by rice, sweet potato, arugula, cheese, and pear. I like to bring onion and nuts in separate containers or baggies--the nuts so they don't get soft, and the onion so it doesn't overpower the whole salad. Refrigerate until lunch time, then either toss and stir in a bowl, or eat straight out of the jar. 

Honey Yogurt Dressing

3/4 cup plain yogurt

3 tablespoons honey

Juice from 1 large lemon

1 tablespoon finely chopped chives

Salt & Pepper

Whisk yogurt, honey, lemon juice, and chives together until smooth. Add salt & pepper to taste. 

Apple Muffins with Crunchy Oat Bottom & Maple Glaze

You know those stupid, fattening, sweet, buttery muffins that parade around as breakfast but are really just dessert? 

Well, sorry. That's what these are. 

I said I'm sorry!

Ok, but really� I'm not all that sorry. For starters, swimsuit season is over, my friends. Time to put on some extra weight to stay warm through the winter, right? And they do have whole wheat and apples, hello�that's healthy-ish. And also, my house smelled so amazing and warm and fall-y when I was making these, which is reason enough to whip up a batch.

Sidenote: have you seen the most obnoxious Gwyneth Paltrow food quotes? OMG. I love it so much. I just want to find ways to incorporate autumnal yum into my daily vocabulary. These muffins are a pretty good excuse�they're chock-full of autumnal yum. 

Do you remember the apple muffins at Costco? I'm not talking about the ones they have now, with the streusel topping� I'm talking about the ones they used to have with the crunchy oat-crumble bottom. You guys, those muffins were awesome, as far as dessert muffins go. That's what I was going for here with the crispy oat bottom, but the muffins themselves are loosely based on the blueberry muffin recipe in the Grand Central Bakery Cookbook. I changed it up quite a bit. I mean, obviously I used apples (big hearty chunks of 'em) instead of berries, but I also used whole wheat flour and oats, and lots of warm fall spices. And butter. There's a good dose of the good stuff in here. You could definitely use coconut oil, but the butter makes these so good. For dessert, I mean. 

Apple Muffins with Crunchy Oat Bottom and Maple Cinnamon Glaze

Makes 24 standard sized muffins

I made some in paper liners and some directly in a greased muffin tin. The crunchy bottom seems to come out of both just fine, but either way, be sure to cool entirely before trying to remove, to avoid leaving behind delicious crumble. 

Crumble bottom:

1.5 cups quick oats

1/2 cup butter (1 stick) melted 

1/2 cup brown sugar

pinch of salt

Muffin batter:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup quick oats

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon allspice

2 medium apples, diced (about 3 cups of apple chunks)

4 eggs

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup with 1 tablespoon lemon juice)

Glaze: 

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon pure maple syrup

Juice from half a lemon

Dash of cinnamon 

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 24 muffin tins, or line with paper liners. 

Make the crumble bottom: Stir all ingredients together until combined and set aside.

Make the batter: 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour through allspice, and stir in the apples until coated. Make a well in the center.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and melted butter, and pour into the well in the dry ingredients. Evenly pour the buttermilk around the outside ring of the dry ingredients. 

With your hands, mix the dry and wet ingredients together, using big, slow circular scrapes. Be sure to incorporate the dry ingredients on the bottom of the bowl, but stop as soon as everything is incorporated. Don't over mix! 

Bake: Fill each muffin tin with a small scoop of crumble, and pat down with your hands or the back of a spoon. The spoon muffin batter on top of crumble, filling tins about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 35 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean.

Cool completely in the tin, then gently run a knife along the outside edge to release the muffins. 

Mix together glaze ingredients (add more syrup if it's too stiff, or more sugar if it's too runny), and glaze cooled muffins.