Fall Baking

I decided it was finally time for fall baking for a few reasons:
1) I picked up one of those impulse-buy recipe books by the grocery store checkout that was filled with delicious fall baking recipes,
2) The temperature in El Paso finally dropped into the 60's (but only for a few days), so I could use the oven without sweating, and
3) I got a KitchenAid mixer for our wedding and I wanted to play with it

So I decided to make a couple treats and document my ever-increasing housewife skills:

Apple-Spice-Oatmeal Cookies

These looked somewhat healthy and gave me the chance to use my mixer. It is SO much easier than using a hand mixer and trying to keep everything in the bowl. This recipe has chopped apples and walnuts in the cookies, so I chopped those up while the rest of the batter was mixing.

They turned out really chewy and soft. I tried making the glaze, but it didn't seem to come out right. When I poured it on the cookies it soaked in instead of actually glazing the cookies. Even after I thickened it and stuck it in the fridge...oh well it tasted good. Mom, I know I've made frosting with you before, I must need a refresher lesson.

Streusel Pumpkin Muffins

These looked delicious with the crunchy topping and almonds. I like pumpkin, but I don't love pumpkin so as long as it has crust, crunch, or cream cheese frosting it's usually ok in my book.

First was the pumpkin mixture which really was quite orange. It included buttermilk, which I had never bought before, and it smells not so great. And the only can of pumpkin I found at the commissary had like 3 cups of pumpkin in it, so it looks like I might be making more of these this weekend to use up the buttermilk and pumpkin. (I just wrote pumpkin a lot in this paragraph) I was wishing I had better muffin pans for this because mine are pretty old school.

Next came the topping which was made with gingersnaps and brown sugar - YUM. My food chopper was wonderful for crushing them. Sprinkle this on the muffins and pop them in the oven...

And when they come out, top them off with some sliced almonds, and then they look all tasty! Here is the recipe from Betty Crocker.

I was pretty proud of myself that they turned out so well. And my Pampered Chef products got some good use from 3 hours of measuring, mixing, baking and cooling :) Next on my list are the stoneware muffin pan and more stack-able cooling racks.

I also got ingredients for making wheat bread with the mixer, so that's on the agenda for next week!

In case the recipe links are not showing up in blue as a link, here they are again:
Cookies: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/apple-spice-oatmeal-cookies/925f2bbe-f80d-40eb-a5e8-7b190f9ce1a2#?st=7&term=apple-spice%20oatmeal%20cookies
Muffins: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/streusel-pumpkin-muffins/00c51458-842e-44ab-9c9e-914812cae2a0#?st=7&term=pumpkin%20muffins