Brutus Bites: Pumpkin Dog Cookies

Brutus, my beloved yorkie, is a fan of my baking.

We didn't discover this on purpose, as we try to not give Brutus food scraps, especially from the table. We discovered his love for snickerdoodles after he stole one right out of Chris' hand, and we discovered his love of cream-cheese frosting after he went nuts from the smell when I made the whoopie pies (he didn't get any whoopie pie, only the frosting).

As I said, we don't generally give Brutus any people-food, so I thought I'd let him in on some of the holiday baking action by making a special batch of cookies just for him.

I found this recipe online at http://www.all-natural-dog-treat.com/dogtreatrecipe.html. Its easy, only has three ingredients, and is very healthy.

Pumpkin Dog Cookies

Ingredients:

One 15 oz. can mashed pure pumpkin (NOT the spiced pie filling)

3/4 cup cream of wheat (or rice cereal if wheat-sensitive) You can mix this dry--no need to cook it first

1/2 cup dry powdered milk 

Directions: Preheat oven to 300 F. 

Mix all ingredients together. Drop small spoonfuls (I use about a tablespoon) onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 15-20 minutes. After I dropped them on the cookie sheet I flattened them with a damp finger. Monogram is optional.

If you'd like to make bite sized cookies for small dogs, training rewards or just small treats, you can use a pastry bag and squeeze out rosettes about the size of a dime for tasty bite sized cookies!

Keep in mind, these cookies are dense and don't spread, so how they look before they go in the oven is how they look when they're done.

Depending on the size, this recipe will make around 20 treats. 

Humans can eat these as well, but they don't have much flavor (I tried them).

The long one is because I didn't want to use a third cookie sheet for only 1 or 2 cookies

Brutus loves these cookies and thinks you should make them for your favorite puppy!

Mini Pumpkin Pie

Today we had a psychology brown bag meeting and I like to bake something as an incentive for people to attend.

Seeing that it's fall and because I love pumpkin, I decided to make mini pumpkin pies.

I didn't have much time, so instead of making pie crust and forming it into little tarts, I just picked up phyllo dough shells as a substitute.

Gold crust, creamy filling

Mini Pumpkin Pies:

3 packages of phyllo shells (45 pie-lets total), thawed

2 eggs

3/4 brown sugar

1 can (16oz) pumpkin puree

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger (ground)

1/4 tsp cloves

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and place shells into mini-muffin pans or straight onto a baking sheet (I prefer the mini-muffin pans because it keeps them from tipping over). Beat the eggs lightly, and then add the rest of the ingredients and mix. Once the oven is up to temp, fill the shells to the top, and carefully put into the oven. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the filling doesn’t jiggle too much when the pan is shaken. Cool completely, then refrigerate.

This recipe makes quite a few, but they won’t last long

 So yummy!

Now, this filling recipe makes way too much for just 45 shells. A good solution is either making 90 mini pies, half the filling ingredients, or take the left over filling and bake it in custard cups (425 degrees for 15 minutes, then another 25-35 at 350 until its firm in the center).

Left Over Pumpkin??? Solutions!

So you followed my post on how to make a pumpkin pie from scratch, but you're now facing a dilemma. Extra pumpkin. 


This extraneous pumpkin would not be a problem if you had enough for a second pie, but its not. You only have a little left. What are you going to do with it? It seems wasteful to throw it away. And its not something you're just going to dig into with a spoon (at least I wouldn't), or give to the dog (although mine would love that option). You want to use it purposefully.

First, figure out how much pumpkin you have left... 1 cup, 1/2 cup, just a few tablespoons? Here are a few ideas:


Mini Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins (Healthy!)
Adapted from http://kirbiecravings.com


3/4 cup sugar

1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking power
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used sugar free apple sauce)
1/2 cup fat free milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup pumpkin puree

Coating:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon (go nuts on the cinnamon if you love cinnamon like I do)

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease mini muffin pan with pam spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and egg until combined. Add in flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix until combined.
3. Then mix in pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract.
4. Spoon in batter to muffin pan about 2/3 full (it will look quite runny, don't worry).
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let muffins cool before coating with cinnamon sugar.
6. For the coating. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a small glass bowl. In another small bowl, combine 2/3 cup white sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon. Dip top of donuts in melted butter (or you could go wild and do the whole thing) and then dip in the sugar mixture.

Caution: These things are addictive. You can't eat just one!

So moist and yummy!

If you have only a tablespoon or two left, this recipe is perfect. This syrup is great in coffee, chai tea, and best of all, oatmeal!

Pumpkin Syrup:

From: http://www.savvyeat.com

Mix anywhere from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of this pumpkin spice syrup into a mug of your favorite hot drink, depending on how sweet and pumpkin-flavored you want it.

Yields: approximately 1 1/2 cups
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Over low heat, bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally to keep the sugar from burning.
Simmer until the sugar is completely dissolved and the pumpkin is fully mixed into the syrup. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to an airtight container. Refrigerate and use within 3 weeks.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

Welcome to Fall! Today is October first and we woke up to a "cold front" this morning. By cold front I mean 76 degrees in the morning with a high of only 86 today. So, not a cold front to those up North, but cold enough for me!

I'm not a fan of Fall. Even as a kid, I didn't really like Fall. The only things I like about Fall are fresh apples, pumpkin pie, Halloween (as a kid), and football. I moved to Florida, in part, to get away from the cold and Fall. I like Florida Fall much better. Still warm enough to go to the beach, get a tan, walk the dog in shorts at 7 am, and never having to bundle up.

Yeah, we love football

As I said, I love pumpkin pie. I grew up having it on Thanksgiving morning for breakfast (yes, breakfast. Its a vegetable!). My dad was always in charge of making the pies for Thanksgiving, even though he didn't like pumpkin pie himself. He just made it for us girls. That's a good dad for ya.

Now that I'm an adult, I make my own pumpkin pie. If you don't count the crust, its one of the easiest pies to make. Pretty much you just throw everything into a bowl and mix it up. Chris also loves pumpkin and our 6 month anniversary is Oct 5, so I have made it for the two of us the last three years. So, in addition, happy 3.5 year anniversary Christopher!!!

I've never made pumpkin pie from scratch before. I'm not talking about making the crust (that's a given), I'm talking about starting from a whole pumpkin!

Turns out, roasting the pumpkin is super easy! Just procure a sugar or pie pumpkin (I got mine at Walmart), wash it, cut it in half (use a big knife), scoop out the seeds, and roast it for ~45 minutes in a 350 degree oven. If you can poke into it easily with a sharp knife, its ready. Let it cool, scoop out the flesh, and puree. I guess it freezes very well. If you want an in-depth look, I suggest watching the Good Eats episode on youtube.

Side note: I opened my pumpkin and was like "Oh yeah, pumpkin seeds." I rinsed them, dried, and toasted them in a non-stick skillet, dropped on 2 T of brown sugar, and then sprinkled with salt. Ta-Da! Kettle cooked pumpkin seeds! They were amazing!

Here is the roasted pumpkin. Very pretty color.

Pumpkin puree

First, before mixing up your pie, you have to make the crust. I've made pie crusts for years, but I have yet to have any luck with them here in Florida. I think its too warm (our apartment is about 79 degrees) and humid for a crust to stick together well. Oh well, the good thing about pie crust is that its hidden by filling.

Pie Crust (9 in):

1 cup AP flour

1/3 + 1 T shortening (NOT BUTTER)

2 to 3 T cold water (very cold)

Mix the flour with shortening with a pastry cutter or two forks until the shortening is in pea sized pieces. Drip in the water (1 to 2 T more water can be used if needed, but be careful). Mix until the dough comes off the bowl. Form into a ball, flatten into a disk, then wrap in cling wrap and chill in the fridge for about 45 minutes. 

To roll, I suggest using a silicone mat under it, sprinkled with flour, and roll out. Its also a good idea to flip the crust halfway to make sure its not sticking. When its the right size, either roll it over the rolling pin or cold up and move into the pie pan. Bake for 10 minutes, covered with foil at 425 degrees. Uncover and bake for another 2 or 3 minutes until starts to get golden.

For the pie filling:
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon cloves
15 oz pumpkin puree
12 oz evaporated milk

In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Pour into prepared pie crust. Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees. Lower temp to 350 degrees, bake 45 minutes. Test the pie by wiggling. If the middle only jiggles a little, its done. If the edge of your crust is getting too dark, wrap with a strip of foil.

Cool for 2 hours or overnight. Enjoy!

Finished pie. Crust doesn't look great, but its all about the flavor

Dreamy.