I saw this canning jar lid pumpkin and knew I had to make one. Ryan and I have tons of jar lids lying around. I really love how simple this craft was. If you’re short on time, it can only take about three minutes.
Take a piece of ribbon or string and lace it through all of the lids. Ensure all of the lids are facing the same way. Tie off at the end.
I used a few cinnamon sticks as a stem. If you’re looking to spend a little bit more time on this craft, you can give the lids a paint of coat. Well, actually it took three, if you’re using water-based acrylic paints. Wait an hour between coats.
I wrapped it with some brown ribbon and used a drop of hot glue to secure the ribbon. This craft took between 25-33 lids.
What do you think? It’s great for Thanksgiving decorating.
I couldn’t pass up a $1 pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter from the craft store. Normally, when I buy cheap cookie cutters, well, you get what you pay for – sloppy edges and rounded corners that resemble some type of cookie shape. You’re just not sure what. At least it’s still a cookie. That’s the great thing about baking.
I had a really great feeling about this cookie cutter. And while I know I’ll only use it once this year, it was worth it, because these cookies were fantastic.
See below for ingredients and printable instructions.
In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter and sugar together until you get a custardy look.
Add the egg and the vanilla extract. Continue whisking.
Once blended, begin mixing in the melted chocolate chips, until they’re fully combined and you get a nice, smooth chocolate texture.
Slowly fold in the flour mixture until well combined and you get a thick dough ball.
I switched to a wooden spoon here. You want your dough to look something like this.
On a piece of wax paper, roll the dough flat. You want it to be about 1/4 inch thick. Then let it firm up in the firm up in the fridge for about fifteen minutes. If you’re having a hard time rolling the dough flat, stick it in the freezer for a few minutes.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
After the dough has set, pull it out of the fridge and get to work with that cookie cutter.
You can ball up the extra dough and roll it out flat. If it gets too gooey, just stick it back in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes.
Place them about an inch apart on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. These cookies spread a little. Bake for 20 minutes.
Let them cool before you add the frosting.
I added about a tablespoon in the middle and Smush!
For the Filling Beat all of the ingredients until they are soft and creamy. Add food dye until it looks like this (or desired color).
These cookies are great for Halloween. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good picture of the baked pumpkin shapes. I was too busy eating them.
pumpkin-shaped sandwich cookies
Author: heidi
Yields: 12 3-inch sandwiches or 24 cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
½ cup cocoa powder
2 cups flour
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, melted
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips, melted
1 egg
Frosting
½ cup butter, softened
1½ cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. milk (I used almond milk)
red and yellow food coloring
Other Things
Whisk
Wax Paper
Parchment Paper
Cookie Cutter
Instructions
For the Cookies
In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter and sugar together until you get a custardy look.
Add the egg and the vanilla extract. Continue whisking.
Once blended, begin mixing in the melted chocolate chips, until they’re fully combined and you get a nice, smooth chocolate texture.
Slowly fold in the flour mixture until well combined and you get a thick dough ball.
On a piece of wax paper, roll the dough flat. You want it to be about ¼ inch thick. Then let it firm up in the firm up in the fridge for about fifteen minutes. If you’re having a hard time rolling the dough flat, stick it in the freezer for a few minutes.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
After the dough has set, pull it out of the fridge and get to work with that cookie cutter.
Place the cookies about an inch apart on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. These cookies spread a little. Bake for 20 minutes.
Let them cool before you add the frosting.
For the Filling
With an electric mixer, beat all of the ingredients until they are soft and creamy.
I know everyone is inhaling pumpkin at every opportunity, because, let’s face it, it’s only an acceptable practice for two and a half months out of the year.
So here are some tasty looking pumpkin treats from around the web.
It’s not Fall yet in Tallahassee. We’re still wearing white and flip flops. But we hope if we drink enough pumpkin beer and light enough pumpkin scented candles and eat enough pumpkin foods, Fall will come any day now.
So, enter the pumpkin chiffon cake – the first autumnal food of the wannabe season.
This one comes from Rachel Ray Magazine (recipe link).
I had all of the ingredients in my house (bonus!), including pumpkin, which I hoarded from the great canned pumpkin shortage of 2010.
Sorry if you had a hard time finding pumpkin last year. I could have been at fault. I grabbed the last 5 cans at Target and didn’t look back. Then I generously gave them out to my friends. “Oh, you couldn’t find any pumpkin? I have pumpkin, but you see…My car could really use a wash…”
The hardest part of this recipe was whipping the egg whites.
My biggest first-world problem is that I don’t have a stand mixer. This electric hand mixer and I have been through some really though (read: emotional, angry, martial) times. And although I would drop it in a second for a stand mixer, I believe this hand mixer and I were meant to be together – mostly because I’ll never be able to afford the alternative.
So when a recipe says whip the egg whites for ten or fifteen minutes (a.k.a. eternity on a hand mixer), I just don’t. I whipped it for a few minutes before my arm fell off.
So the cake didn’t rise. Oh well.
It was a tasty cake, say my friends. I didn’t have any since I don’t like pumpkin flavored things. That probably makes my pumpkin hoarding story even more ridiculous.
This one comes from Rachel Ray Magazine (
My biggest first-world problem is that I don’t have a stand mixer. This electric hand mixer and I have been through some really though (read: emotional, angry, martial) times. And although I would drop it in a second for a stand mixer, I believe this hand mixer and I were meant to be together – mostly because I’ll never be able to afford the alternative.
