Anatomy of A Monster... Happy Halloween!

These really should be called Clean Out The Pantry Cookies, because that's exactly what I did. These cookies have it ALL- peanut butter, Reese's Pieces, oats, raisins, chocolate chips, white chocolate chunks, candy coated Kisses, pecans, toffee and a small left over bad of trail mix. Waste not want not!

I thought I would make these after Halloween, using leftover candy, but I decided to use what I had on hand that wasn't going to trick-or-treaters and I'm glad I did. I buy candy or get a lot of it as gifts and I never eat it. My husband loves Hershey miniatures, but we never eat the Krackle. Those would be perfect in this. I bought homemade toffee a couple months ago and I forgot in the back of the pantry :-( so I threw that in here too. It was kind of soft and not crunchy as it should be, so it melted like buttah in the cookies. Oh so good.

There are no rules, whatever you have, however much of it you have- it all works! Follow the basic recipe and throw stuff in and you'll have a different cookie every time. Now that I think of it, I have chocolate mocha truffles and marshmallow in the pantry too. Ooh, that could be good.

Monster Cookies adapted from King Arthur Flour

• 3 large eggs
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 c. granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. corn syrup
• 2 tsps. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/4 c creamy peanut butter
• 4 c. rolled oats
• 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 3 c. add ins (chopped nuts, chocolate chips, toffee, raisins, coconut, butterscotch chips, m&m's, chocolate chunks etc.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line baking sheets with silpat or parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, both sugars, vanilla, corn syrup, baking soda, and salt. Stir til combined. Next add melted butter, then peanut butter, oats, and flour. Mix thoroughly. Stir in 3 total cups of add-ins. Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes to allow the oats to absorb the butter.

Drop the dough onto baking sheets by the rounded tablespoon full. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes about 4 1/2-5 dozen cookies.

NOTE: If you want "monster" size cookies, drop the dough by the 1/4-cup. Slightly flatten the dough before putting the cookies in the oven. This size will yield you about 2 dozen 4 1/2-inch cookies.

I used a small ice cream scoop to shape my dough (about 1 1/2 tbsp). They took 15 minutes to turn golden, so bake yours accordingly. Using this size, I made 4 1/2 dozen 3-inch cookies.

If you want the unadapted version visit here or here. I made these with 1 c. creamy peanut butter and 1/2 c. chopped pecans instead of 1 1/2 c. chunky peanut butter. I also added 1/2 c. less oats, so I could add other goodies without the batter being so thick :-)

These cookies are very rich, but I think next time I might lower the amount of salt in these cookies by half. There's salt in the nuts and peanut butter and I think they were slightly too salty for my liking. Those of you who like sweet and salty will love these!

Pumpkin Dreams

My husband and I got in a car wreck about a month ago. Our doctor prescribed us an anti-inflammatory drug to keep the swelling down. It has helped, but I've noticed when I take it at night right before bed, I have the strangest dreams.

The other night, I dreamt of pumpkin all night long. Even when I woke up to go to the bathroom and went back to bed, the vivid dreams continued. They were filled with pumpkin pie, pumpkin tarts, pumpkin cake, pumpkin bread etc. Needless to say, I woke up craving pumpkin.

I found this recipe in Everyday Food several months ago. I was attracted to it because it had a thick purely white layer of buttery cream cheese frosting on top. I bookmarked it but never made it. Many months had passed but after the dreams I had, I no longer had an excuse, it had to be made.

Last fall I made pumpkin bread and a Cinderella pumpkin cake. Both very good, but in different ways. I also spoke about my favorite pumpkin bread- it's rich and spicy, and dense and very pumpkin-y. The cake recipe I made only has one cup of pumpkin in it, this 9x9 cake has an entire can, so the flavor is not masked, it really stands out. It was so darn good. This would also be awesome to make into a loaf without the frosting. I can't wait to make it again.

Pumpkin Spice Cake With Honey Frosting from Everyday Baking

For the Cake:

• 1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
• 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. pumpkin-pie spice, (or 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 3/4 tsp. ginger, 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, and 1/8 tsp. each allspice and cloves)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 (15 ounce) can solid-pack pumpkin puree*

For the Honey Frosting:

• 1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 bar (8 ounces) cream cheese
• 1/4 c. honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin-pie spice. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, butter, and pumpkin puree until combined. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture, and mix gently until smooth.

Turn batter into prepared pan, and smooth top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool cake 10 minutes in pan, then turn out of pan, and cool completely, right side up, on a rack.

Make Honey Frosting: In a medium bowl, whisk 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cream cheese, and honey until smooth. Spread top of cooled cake with Honey Frosting. Cut cake into squares to serve.

NOTE: *Be sure to use canned pumpkin puree — not pumpkin pie filling or fresh pumpkin puree.

You can also use a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan: Increase baking time by 25 to 30 minutes (tent loaf with foil if it browns too quickly).

I didn't melt the butter for the cake because apparently I didn't read the entire recipe before I started, but it didn't seem to make any difference. It was still very good.

Chex Mate

I have been making this for years, usually around Halloween. It's become a fall tradition, of sorts.

I never followed a recipe, I just went with the flow. I never measured anything out, I just put chocolate chips and a big hunk of smooth peanut butter in a bowl and microwaved til creamy. I never added butter or vanilla, but it's a great addition. Then I tossed in the cereal (I prefer the corn) and shook the heck out of it in a large ziploc bag til it was fully coated in powdered sugar. I never measured out the sugar either. I just kept adding til it was white and resembled little mummy squares.

I'm a fan of throwing all kinds of stuff in a bowl til it turns good-peanuts would be good in this. Can you imagine chocolatey-peanut buttery-sugary coated nuts? Mmm! I call it Mummy Mix, but Chex calls it Muddy Buddies.

Mummy Mix from Chex

• 9 cups Corn, Rice or Wheat Chex®
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside. In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

NOTE: I added about an extra cup of powdered sugar, an extra half stick of butter and another handful of chips. No wonder these were so good :-)