I don’t typically bake a lot of cookies this time of year as I’m usually focused on Halloween stuff and then Thanksgiving, but these Pumpkin Snickerdoodles are the perfect fall cookie for the fall and the holidays!
My classic snickerdoodles are one of my most favorite cookies ever, especially during the holidays (and they have even won some cookie competitions!). I wanted to make a pumpkin version of this classic cookie favorite and these pumpkin snickerdoodles did not disappoint!
I took my regular snickerdoodle recipe and made some tweaks to include pumpkin. Like the original, these snickerdoodles are so perfectly sweet, soft, and thick! In my opinion, there’s nothing worse than a hard and crunchy snickerdoodle!
I brought these into my office to share with the lab and they were gone in about a minute!
A couple of things to note – first, I do recommend chilling the dough. It prevents the cookies from spreading as much which gives them more thickness. I have made them without chilling and while they are still okay, I prefer chilling the dough. You only have to chill the dough for about 30 minutes, but you could also make it it in advance and chill overnight if needed. Oh, and these cookies freeze really well too!
I can’t believe October is already halfway over. It always just flies by, probably because it’s my favorite month of the year!
We are thoroughly soaking up every minute of Halloween fun that we can on the weekends and have some fun parties coming up. I’ve got another savory Halloween appetizer for you guys today! These little Goat Cheese Ball Spiders!
Maddie said they kind of look like Minions and I think she’s totally right, haha. It’s the color of the pistachios and olive “goggles”. But, they are yummy and cute and so we are going to go with it!
I was first thinking about just rolling these in poppy seeds to make the spiders black, but I feel like they would leave you and your guests with a bunch of black tiny seeds stuck in your teeth. So I went with crushed green pistachios instead!
The cheese balls are made with goat cheese and cream cheese as a base along with some seasoning. Super simple and I was pleasantly surprised that these guys actually came together pretty quickly!
For the legs, you just need a small handful of pretzel sticks and sliced olives for the eyes!
I think this appetizer is good for everyone, but the goat cheese definitely makes it a bit more adult-friendly as I know a lot of kiddos don’t like goat cheese.
One tip – You can prep the cheese balls the night before if desired, however, I don’t recommend rolling them into the pistachios or inserting the pretzel stick legs until it’s closer to when you want to serve them. The cheese mixture softens the pistachios and pretzel sticks the longer they sit.
It recently occurred to me that there’s a serious lack of chai recipes on my blog. I LOVE chai. Chai Tea Lattes are my jam. I adore all of the spices like cardamom and cinnamon. And I feel like chai spices definitely give off more of a fall/winter comfort vibe.
And what else gives off a comfort vibe? Homemade banana bread obviously! So homemade banana bread spiced with chai spices? Hello cozy! Just the thought of this bread makes me long for a cold rainy day so I can snuggle up on the couch with a cup of tea and a slice of this chai-spiced banana bread!
This banana bread may seem kind of basic, but the chai spices make it seem a bit more special. Cardamom can be a bit expensive, but if you are a chai fan, it’s worth having a bottle in your spice cabinet!
I didn’t expect the girls to like the cardamom flavors in this bread, but Maddie loves it and keeps asking for a little slice with her breakfast or for a snack. I also froze some and it reheats easily. This bread would be great to have on hand for guests over the fall and holiday season to serve with tea or coffee!
The Instant Pot has been my favorite kitchen appliance for two years now, but I always make the same three or four recipes with it and have been wanting to try some new ideas. Plus, I use my IP much more often during the fall and winter as it gets cooler outside.
This Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken Pasta is total comfort food. Simply cut up some chicken breasts, pour in some broth and seasonings, and then pasta and cook for just 6 minutes in your pressure cooker! At the very end, you just need to stir in some cream cheese, fresh spinach, and some Parmesan and dinner is ready so quickly!
Truth is that I don’t usually love sundried tomatoes. I don’t hate them, but I don’t typically love them. I loved them in this pasta though! You could add them in at the very end, but I added them into the pot before cooking and maybe that helped them get softer. Either way, they add a great punch of flavor to the recipe!
A lot of pressure cooker pasta recipes use all broth when cooking, but I feel like too much of it makes things taste a bit saltier than I normally prefer so I used half low sodium chicken broth and water in this recipe. You can use all broth if you prefer it that way!
I love burgers. Pretty much all kinds of burgers, but even still, I actually don’t like to eat too much red meat so when it comes to burgers, I’m always down for chicken burgers or even veggie burgers!
I wanted to make a good fall-inspired vegetarian burger and sweet potatoes seemed like the best way to go and wow, were these tasty!
I added a bit of cumin to them too so they have a bit of smokiness. And while many veggie burgers include black beans, I went with cannellini beans. First, they blend in better with the color of the sweet potatoes, and they are a meatier bean so I figured they would work well for helping to hold the burgers together.
These sweet potato burgers may seem complex to make at first glance, but I promise that they are actually quite easy! I wrote the directions for making the caramelized onion aioli as if you make it while making the burgers, but know that you can also prep the aioli in advance if desired!
Of course, you don’t have to make the aioli with these burgers, but caramelized onions and sweet potatoes work really well together so definitely give it a try!
I topped these with the aioli, some sliced avocado, and some extra caramelized onions I made. You can add whatever other toppings you’d like including cheese of course, but I didn’t feel like these needed much else! I also served these on toasted onion burger buns.
It’s October! My most favorite month of the year. We are going to kick the month off with a Halloween recipe!
I always like to think about savory Halloween recipes each year. So many Halloween foods are desserts, but with so many Halloween parties, we need to break up the sweet stuff with some good savory snacks! Hence, these super simple, yet slightly spooky Witch Finger Breadsticks!
You can make homemade pizza dough if you’d prefer, but I like to pick up the pre-made dough from the deli section of our grocery store which saves a lot of time for this recipe!
To make these breadsticks, you simply just need to roll out small balls of dough into logs, then I tried to shape them a bit with my fingers, making the middles and ends a bit wider to mimic knuckles. As you can see from the photos, some of them still lost their shape when baking, but not to worry, because they still look just fine and are equally as delicious! Oh, and for the fingernails, I just took a handful of whole almonds.
After baking the breadsticks for about 15 minutes, I take them out and then brush them with melted butter, garlic powder, and Parmesan cheese. And that’s it! Serve them with some warm marinara sauce and you’ve got the perfect festive Halloween snack!
Welcome to Eat. Drink. Love.! My name is Stephanie. Here you will find healthy and easy recipes with a few indulgences thrown in for good measure! Why the name Eat. Drink. Love.? Well, I think this is what life is all about!
