Several months ago, I was chatting with a cookie friend (hi Trinette!) and we were talking about inspiring cookies we had seen recently. THESE creative pinata cookies came up. As we continued chatting, our conversation shifted to cookie designs we might like to try for the coming seasons (Fall and Christmas). Suddenly… an idea hit me! I blurted out my idea excitedly and my friend laughed to think that might be the way I react any time I get a fun idea =)
My fun (and oh so exciting!) idea was to take inspiration from the Pinata Cookies by Project Denneler (as featured on She Knows), along with inspiration from some adorable 3D cupcake cookies by Sweet Sugar Belle, mash them together… add a twist for fall, and ta-da… 3D Pumpkin Cookies!
Aren’t they cute?
Of course the extra fun feature is not just the 3D shape, but the little treasure inside!
Want to make some?
To start, you’ll need a batch of sugar cookie dough using my Sugar Cookie Recipe.
After you’ve mixed up the dough, grab a small ball (about a baseball sized) amount of dough and kneed green food coloring into the dough (I used Americolor mint green and leaf green). Once the green color is fully worked into the dough, put the dough in a plastic bag and place in the refrigerator (about 30 minutes). With the remaining dough, add orange food coloring (I used Americolor orange and electric orange), and kneed the coloring into the dough until desired color is achieved. Place orange dough in a plastic bag and refrigerate (about 30 minutes). When the dough has chilled, baked according to recipe directions (using the cutter sizes listed below).
As you’ll notice in the finished photos, I made a few pumpkins using scalloped circle cutters, and a few pumpkins using regular circle cutters. Feel free to use either shape you prefer, or the cutters you have on hand. For the scalloped circles I used THIS SET (from Karen’s Cookies) (this set is double use, and will cut plain round circles also).
For each 3D pumpkin you’ll need…
(2) Orange scalloped circle cookies 1 7/8″ diameter
(2) Orange scalloped circle cookies 2 1/4″ diameter with a 1 1/4″ or 1 1/2″ circle cutout.
(1) Green scalloped circle 1 1/4″ or 1 1/2″ diameter, with a hole cutout in the center using a straw.
(1) Green stem, made from rolling a small amount of green dough into a “snake”, and cutting it into pieces about 3/4″ long, then bake.
Note- Feel free to adjust the sizes a bit based on the cutters you have, or the finished size you desire.
When your cookies are baked, and you’re ready to assemble, prepare a batch of royal icing using my Royal Icing Recipe.
Time to assemble the pumpkins….
(Step 2) Start with one of the solid circles and one cutout circle. Add a line of royal icing onto the solid circle, then place cookie “ring” on top.
(Step 3) Add a line of royal icing onto the first cookie “ring” (which you just attached to a base in step 2). Add the second cookie “ring”.
(Step 4) The base of your pumpkin is complete.
(Step 5) Assemble the pumpkin top by first attaching the small green stem to the green circle (using a bit of royal icing). Then add a line of royal icing onto the bottom of the green circle (as shown), and place the green circle on top of a solid orange circle.
(Step 6) Allow the pumpkin top (left) and pumpkin base (right) to dry fully (at least 1-2 hours). Fill pumpkin cavity with small candy (I used mini M&Ms), place top, and share with family and friends!
These cute 3D Pumpkin Treasure Cookies would make great party favors, or special treats for a Fall or Halloween party.
Happy treat making!
I’ve linked up this post to Tidy Mom’s- I’m lovin’ It post.
Pumpkin and cinnamon… oh the delicious flavors of fall! These cute little ”pumpkiny” treats taste like amazing doughnut holes, but are actually mini muffins. Call them baked doughnuts, or mini muffins… either way, they’re delicious!
These sweet muffins are easy to mix, and bake up quite quickly, so they’re perfect for a weekend breakfast, or a special snack anytime!
You’ll notice in the recipe that the baked muffins are dipped in melted butter, then rolled in cinnamon sugar…. so needless to say these little guys are not exactly a “light” treat. Enjoy a couple with a glass of skim milk, and call it even =)
Pumpkin Doughnut Hole Muffins
Pumpkin, cinnamon and sugar make a delicious combo in these cute mini muffins.
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated if possible)
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/3 cup oil (vegetable, olive, etc)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup milk
For the coating-
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350*F.
Spray a mini muffin pan generously with cooking spray.
Pull out two large bowls.
In one bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and spices.
In another bowl, whisk the oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk. Mix until smooth and well combined.
Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix until just combined (do not over mix).
Divide the batter evenly among the 24 muffin cups (using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop).
Bake 10-12 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
While the muffins bake, prepare the final coating.
Melt butter in one bowl and combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in another bowl.
Remove muffins from oven and cool for 2 minutes, or until just cool enough to handle. Dip each muffin in melted butter, then roll in cinnamon sugar to coat. You will likely not use all of the butter, or cinnamon/sugar but this amount makes them easy to dip.
If by chance you don’t have any pumpkin on hand, I have a previous post, Cinnamon Sugar Mini Cupcakes that is almost identical, but without pumpkin.
As I was preparing this post, I was stuck on the spelling of “doughnut” (or “donut”). I posed the question on my facebook page and had fun reading all of your varying opinions =) In the end, I chose “doughnut” mostly because I have a previous post titled, Baked Doughnuts with Maple Glaze and I thought it made sense to just keep any others the same. But I’ll borrow a comment from the facebook discussion (as posted by Naomi S.) “either way, it spells delicious”.
Happy fall baking!
This year, as I’ve been gathering ideas for fall decorating and crafts, I keep coming across pretty painted pumpkin (including these and these) that are a fresh and fun take on traditional Jack-O-Lanterns.
My daughters and I recently painted a few pumpkins for our front porch, and I thought the same fun colors and inspiration could be used on cookies as well. Fall cookie decorating can sometimes feel limited to oranges, yellows, and browns, so it was fun to mix up bright, non-traditional colors. I included the ever so popular chevron pattern, stripes, and polka-dots, and had fun mixing the colors and patterns.
Want to make your own colorful pumpkin cookies?
You’ll need a batch of cookies made with my Sugar Cookie Recipe (or your favorite).
Then, prepare a batch of Royal Icing.
For the chevron pattern (shown below), I made a template with cardstock, and traced the pattern onto cookies using a food coloring pen.
The only other tip to consider, is for cookies with stripes of various colors… outline and fill every other space, and allow that to set up a bit (about 1 hour) before adding the adjoining color. This will add a bit of dimension to the cookies, as well as help prevent the colors from bleeding together.
Have fun mixing colors and patterns to create a playful set!
Now, if these wild pumpkins are quite your style…. my friend Callye of Sweet Sugar Belle has compiled a collection of over 20 different ideas, all using a pumpkin cookie cutter! Each one is made by a different baker, and the full collection is bound to get your creative juices flowing!
Here is the amazing collection of ideas…
Here are links to each of the fun projects shown above…
1. Panda Calaveras, Miss Cuit
2. Owl S’mores on a Stick, Kitchen Fun with my Three Sons
3. Pumpkin Cheesecake Pasties, Bakingdom
4. Halloween Pumpkin Wall, Arty McGoo
5. Cocoa Krispies Trick or Treat Bears, Hungry Happenings
6. Creative Cherry Cookies, Lila Loa
7. The Ultimate Halloween Candy Bar, Dollhouse Bake Shoppe
8. Halloween Pumpkin Carriage Cookie, Trilogy Edibles
9. Easy Cheveron Pumpkin Cookies, Lizy B Bakes
10. Pumpkin Fudge on a Stick, The Decorated Cookie
11. Funny Face Pumpkin Cookies, Munchkin Munchies
12. Woodland Owl Cookies, The Bearfoot Baker
13. Pumpkin Cheesecake Hand Pies, Created by Diane
14. Wide Eyed Owl Cookies, Simply Sweets by Honeybee
15. Zombie Girl and Brains Cookies, Not Your Momma’s Cookies
16. Cookie Cutter Pumpkin Fudge, The Partiologist
17. 3-D Pumpkin Cookie, Cookie Crazie
18. Faberge-Style Pumpkin Coach, Oh, Sugar Events
19. Peek-a-Boo Pumpkin Cupcake Topper, Sweetology 101
20. Slimy Green Ghost Cookies, Pink Little Cake
21. Silly Pumpkin Face Cookies, Klickitat Street
22. Pretty Painted Pumpkin Cookies, Glorious Treats (you’re already here!)
23. Lalaloopsie Cookies with a Twist, SweetSugarBelle
Happy fall baking!
Chocolate is delicious, coffee is wonderful…. add some rum and you have a flavor combo that is bound to have adults clamoring for seconds! These Chocolate Kahlua Cupcakes are rich, flavorful and delicious! If you’d prefer not to include alcohol, feel free to adjust the recipe (as described below) into Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes.
To make these cupcakes, you’ll first need a batch of my favorite Chocolate Cupcakes.
Prepare the cupcakes as directed (in the recipe linked above), bake and then transfer to a cooling rack.
While the cupcakes are cooling (but still warm), use a toothpick to poke 5-6 holes in each cupcake. Use a pastry brush to brush Kahlua onto the tops of each cupcake. Once you have brushed each cupcake with Kahlua, go back and do one more “coat” on each cupcake. As an alternative, you could brush the cupcakes with espresso coffee.
Once cupcakes are fully cool, and the Kahlua (or espresso) has had time to soak in, frost the cupcakes using the recipe below.
Chocolate Kahlua Frosting
Kahlua (coffee liqueur) adds a wonderful dimmension to delicious chocolate frosting
Yield: Frosting to pipe a swirl on 20-24 cupcakes, or frost and fill a 8" cake.
Ingredients:
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter
4 oz. (1/2 block) cream cheese
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoons Kahlua/coffee liqueur (adjust to your tastes)
(in place of Kahlua, use 1-2 tablepsoons espresso coffee, cooled)
1 tablespoon heavy cream (or milk as a second choice)
Directions:
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter until fully smooth.
Add cream cheese, and continue to beat until fully incorporated and smooth.
Add cocoa powder, and beat until well combined.
Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, while the mixer is running.
Add vanilla, then 2 tablespoons of Kahlua (or espresso) and 1 tablespoon heavy cream. Add additional Kahlua if desired.
Beat until all liquid is fully incorporated and frosting is smooth and fluffy.
If you don't have cream cheese on hand, feel free to replace it with an additional 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) of butter. The cream cheese adds a nice dimmension, but the frosting is still delicious without it.
It is important that your butter and cream cheese are cool or cold, or the frosting may be too soft. If the frosting is too soft, put the entire bowl of finished frosting in the fridge for 20 minutes or so, and it will firm up quite a bit.
Props and details~
I used a Wilton 1M tip to frost the cupcakes. If you need any help with frosting cupcakes, I have a full post (with a video) on How to Frost Cupcakes.
As a decorative (and delicious) topping, I added a few Valhrona Chocolate Pearls. I found these at Whole Foods Market.
Happy Baking!
This summer I made some fun Watermelon Slice Krispie Treats, and it recently hit me that I could use the same general concept to create candy corn krispie treats! I love rice krispie treats, and I’m always drawn to fun desserts that incorporate the look of candy corn, so these treats are a perfect combo!
Although the assembly process does take a bit more time than a traditional batch of rice krispies treats… they are still much quicker to make than a decorated cookie, for example.
Wrap the final treats in cellophane bags, add some fun ribbon and you have an adorable fall or Halloween party favor.
Candy Corn Krispie Treats
Traditional rice krispies treats get a festive update for Halloween.
Yield: 16 servings/wedges
Ingredients:
For the yellow ring
4 1/2 cups rice krispies cereal
5 cups mini marshmallows
3 tablespoons butter
For the orange ring
2 3/4 cups rice krispies cereal
3 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
2 tablepsoons butter
For the white center
2 cups rice krispies cereal
2 1/2 cups mini marshamallows
2 tablepsoons butter
Yellow food coloring
Orange food coloring
Directions:
Assemble your ingredients and gather 2 large bowls (one must be microwave safe), two rubber spatulas, two 8" cake pans and non-stick cooking spray.
Also, have a stick of butter out, which you will need to use to grease your hands as you handle the krispie treat mixture.
Spray the cake pans with non-stick spray and set aside. Also, lightly spray two rubber spatulas with cooking spray.
For the yellow ring-
Add 5 cups mini marshmallows and 3 tablespoons butter to a large, microwave safe bowl.
Microwave the butter and marshallows about 3 minutes, or until warm and very puffy.
In another large bowl, measure 4 1/2 cups rice krispies cereal.
Carefully remove marshmallows from microwave and add yellow food coloring (I used 2 drops of yellow Americolor gel).
Stir the melted marshmallows, butter and coloring until smooth and fully combined. Immediately, pour the marshmallow mixture into the bowl with the cereal. Use an oiled spatula and stir quickly until fully incorporated.
Divide yellow rice krispie mixure between the two cake pans, and use your hands to create a "ring" around the inside edge of the cake pan (as shown below), about 1 1/2 inches wide. Rub a bit of butter on your hands as necessary to prevent the mixture from sticking to your hands. Work quickly, as the mixture is more difficult to mold as it cools.
Wash your bowls and spatulas and repeat the same process with the ingredients for the orange ring, and then the white center.
Once your three colors are pressed into the pans, allow to fully cool and set, at least 30 minutes. When you want to cut the triangles (candy corn shapes), flip over your cake pans onto a cutting surface, and tap pan on cutting board to remove krispie treat round. Cut the round large round in half, then quarters, then cut each quarter in half.
To add a cookie stick, or paper straw (as shown), first create a hole with a wooden skewer.
General recipe by Kelloggs. Candy corn idea and proportions by Glorious Treats.
If you like candy corn inspired treats, you’ll love these too…
Candy Corn Cheesecake Mousse by Glorious Treats
Candy Corn Decorated Cookies by Glorious Treats
Candy Corn Slice and Bake Cookies by Sweet Sugar Belle
Candy Corn Bugle Snack Mix by Cookies and Cups
Candy Corn Push-Up Pops by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen
Candy Corn Marshmallows by Haniela’s
And my Fall/Halloween Pinterest board is full of even more fun and festive ideas!
I’m adding this post to Tidy Mom’s- I’m Lovin’ It post.
