Frosted Ginger Cookies

These cookies are YUMMY!! They also make your home smell so good!

1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling cookies

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature

1 egg

3 Tbsp molasses

2 cups flour, sifted

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp each salt, ground cloves and ground nutmeg

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream 1 cup granulated sugar with butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg and molasses.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and spices. Add to the butter mixture and blend well.

Fill a shallow bowl with granulated sugar. Break off walnut-size pieces of dough and roll into balls; roll balls in sugar. Arrange on greased cookie sheets and bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Transfer to cooling racks.

Meanwhile, make glaze: Combine powdered sugar with 1 Tbsp water and stir until smooth, then stir in lemon juice. Drizzle glaze over cookies

Makes 40 c00kies

Pumpkin Apple Dip

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Apple slices

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, brown sugar and pumpkin with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add cinnamon, and beat until smooth. Cover and chill for 1 hr. Serve with apple slices.

Baked Apples with Cranberries

1 bag of cranberries (about 2 cups)

3-4 firm apples, peeled and chopped (about 3 cups). I used two Granny Smith's and two Braeburns

2 Tbsp flour

1 cup sugar

2 pkgs Instant Cinnamon & Spice Oatmeal (I did not want to buy this so I just put in about 1 - 1 1/2 cups Oatmeal and sprinkled in cinnamon and a little extra sugar)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 stick melted butter

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl mix the cranberries and apples together with 2 Tbsp flour. In a second bowl mix sugar, oatmeal, brown sugar, and flour together. Combine fruit mixture with dry mixture. Put in a 9X13 baking dish. Pour melted butter over the top. Sprinkle nuts on top. Bake 30-40 minutes or until apples are tender. Top with whipping cream or ice cream.

Pumpkin Apple Spice Muffins

I LOVE anything with pumpkin in it. So I was really excited to try these muffins and they were fabulous!!

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice**

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice**3 tablespoons sugar

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine pumpkin, butter, and eggs in another bowl and add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Fold in chopped apple and spoon into greased muffin pans, filling two-thirds full. Combine 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice; sprinkle evenly over muffins. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from pans immediately, and cool on wire racks.
**Tip: if you don't have pumpkin pie spice, use the following combination: 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ginger and 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon cloves. Mix together and woila! - you have the equivalent of 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (and it is much cheaper than buying it premade).