All Things Pumpkin

I can't stand it.  I can't take it.  I've got cans of solid pack pumpkin in my cupboard that are DYING to be used.  What shall it be?

I could go with the ever-reliable Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins... Only a few ingredients, and easy-peasy.

Or I might be tempted to make a season-opening batch of my mom's Pumpkin Muffins... They're my favorite way to bask in the beginning of Fall.

Then again, it probably couldn't hurt to get a little fancy and go with the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins...

But really, how could I resist my maybe-favorite-of-all, Pumpkin Pie Bars?

Heck, if you need me, maybe I'll be busy...making all four. :)

Pink Lemonade Cookies

These little darlings have been in my mom's cookie arsenal for years.  She found them in a Better Homes & Gardens special interest edition called "Christmas Cookies" in 1998.  And they've been surprising, intriguing, and delighting people ever since.  They're far from traditional, and often raise eyebrows at first.  But, the taste of the lemonade in the dough and in the sweet frosting make these a home-run.

Cookie:
1/2 c butter (no substitutes)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1/3 c frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed*
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
pink food coloring
pink lemonade frosting (see below)

Beat butter in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer for 30 seconds.  Add sugar, b. powder, and b. soda and beat until combined.  Beat in egg and lemonade concentrate.  Beat in flour.  If desired, add pink food coloring to tint dough pink.

Drop by rounded teaspoons on parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden.  Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute, then transfer cookies to cooling rack to cool completely.  Frost with pink lemonade frosting.

Frosting:

2 TBSP butter, softened
2 c powdered sugar
2 tsp frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed*
enough water (3-4 tsp) to make of spreading consistency
pink food coloring
few shakes of salt from salt shaker

Beat butter, powdered sugar, and frozen lemonade together.  Add water as needed, and color with pink food coloring.  Add a few shakes of salt from your salt shaker.

Comments from the cook:  Though the recipe does not suggest it, I most recently refrigerated this dough for a few hours before baking it into cookies.  My hopes were confirmed...as the consistency is easier to work with this way (it is a bit gummy otherwise, though still workable).

* You can also use regular lemonade from concentrate, but you'll obviously end up with a different color of dough.  In a pinch, I had to use raspberry lemonade from concentrate once, and it was also excellent. 

Originally found in Christmas Cookies, 1998 - Better Homes and Gardens (r) Special Interest Publications.