How to Make Baked Goods

Pumpkin cookies 

Ingredients

•  1 cup unsalted butter

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 1 t baking soda

• 1 t baking powder 

• ½ t salt

• 1 t ground cinnamon

• 1 t pumpkin pie spice 

• 1 egg

• 1 t vanilla extract 

• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree

• 2 cups all purpose flour

Frosting

• ½ cup unsalted butter

• 8 oz of cream cheese

• 3 cups powdered sugar

• 1 t vanilla extract 

Directions

1. preheat oven to 350 F degrees cover a  large sheet with parchment paper

2. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer on high speed for 1 minute. Add sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt,cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice mix well until combined

3. Add one egg and the vanilla then beat well, until yellow streaks are gone, Add the pumpkin puree and beat again until it’s mixed well. Finally add the flour and mix on medium speed until completely mixed

4. Use a large tablespoon or medium sized cookie scoop to place the cookie dough balls a few inches apart on the prepared cooking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the tops are set and no longer look wet. Allow to cool on a cookie sheet for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Cream Frosting

1. Beat together the softened butter and cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth and all of the lumps are gone.

2. Sift in the powdered sugar then add the vanilla. Beat until smooth and creamy, for about 2 minutes. Once cookies are no longer warm, frost with cream cheese frosting.

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients 

• 1 and ¾ c all purpose flour

• 1 t baking soda

• 2 t ground cinnamon

• ¼ t ground cloves 

• ¼ t ground nutmeg

• ¼ t ground ginger

• ¾ t salt

• 2 large eggs

• ½ granulated sugar

• ¾ c brown sugar

• 1 and ½ c pumpkin puree

• ½ c vegetable oil

• ¼ c orange juice 

• ⅔ c semi sweet chocolate chips 

Directions

1. Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350 F degrees (177 C degrees) Grease a metal 9x5 inch loaf pan with nonstick spray

2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and salt together until combined. 

3. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar until combined. Whisk in the pumpkin, oil, and orange juice.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently mix together using a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon. There will be a few lumps. DO NOT over mix. Gently fold in the chocolate chips (if including)

5. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 60-65 minutes, making sure to loosely cover the bread with aluminum foil halfway through to prevent the top from getting too brown. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with only a few moist crumbs stuck to the toothpick. This may be before or after the 60-65 minutes depending on your oven. Begin to check around the 55 minute mark

6. Allow the bread to cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before removing and slicing

7. Cover and store leftover pumpkin bread at room temperature for up to 3-4 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.

What's your favorite fall dessert? We did a survey among the Horizon Middle School students, and they said that their favorite desserts were pumpkin cookies and pumpkin bread. We made both of those and brought them to the school and had 6 students and 2 teachers try them. Here is what they said.

Interviews

When we asked Mr. Clark about how he liked the cookie he said, “This one is really good.” He said that his favorite part of the cookie is the texture, and he said it was a soft cookie. When we asked him about the pumpkin bread, he said  “I think it is good. It reminds me of banana bread but it obviously tastes like pumpkin”.

When we asked Ally (6th Inspire), she said the pumpkin cookie was kind of good, and kind of not. She said her favorite part of the cookie was the frosting. When we asked about the pumpkin bread, she said the pumpkin bread was good. Ally’s favorite part was the entire bread.

When we asked Carson (7th Odyssey), he said the pumpkin cookie was pretty good. Carson said his favorite part of the pumpkin cookie was the pumpkin pie spice on top. Carson said that the pumpkin bread was good. He also said that his favorite part of the pumpkin bread was how soft the bread was.

 When we asked Adesina (7th Quest), she said that the pumpkin cookie was good. She also said that her favorite part of the pumpkin cookie is the frosting. Then we asked her about the pumpkin bread. She said it was good and that her favorite part about the pumpkin bread was the texture.

When we asked Mr. Hamers about the cookie, he said it was okay. The frosting and the flavor were his favorite  but not the texture. “It is too soft.” When we asked him about the pumpkin bread, he said he likes the pumpkin bread better than the cookie because he liked the texture, but didn’t like the flavor as much. 

  We asked Sophia (8th Dream) what she thinks about the cookies. She thought they were good. She also said her favorite part about the cookie was the frosting. When we asked her about the pumpkin bread, she said it was good. Her favorite part of the pumpkin bread was the chocolate chips.

When we asked Tiana (6th Integrity) about the pumpkin cookie, she said it's good. Tiana’s favorite part of the pumpkin cookie was the soft texture. When we had her try the pumpkin bread, she said it was good. Tiana also said that her favorite part of the pumpkin bread was the flavor.

When we asked Teddy (8th Phoenix) to try the pumpkin bread, he said he likes it. He also said, “The pumpkin cookies are good, but I like the frosting and the pumpkin pie spice on top.” When we asked him about the pumpkin bread, he said the pumpkin bread was good. Teddy’s favorite part of the pumpkin bread was the chocolate chips, and that it was really soft.

There are many more recipes that you can make at this time of year. These are just a few of the top voted from Horizon Middle School, so this Fall we highly recommend making one of these recipes or try some other ones.