First treat day of 2007...

Now that Jeff has gone back to work (and none to happy about that he is! I think someone got a little comfortable being able to get up late...) we will be continuing with the weekly Wednesday Treat Day tradition. I've been anxious to get started again and picked a different type of cookie to make today than what we would normally make.

We tend to prefer cookies that are more crisp, but I knew that would not happen with these Pumpkin Spiced and Iced Cookies - I'm glad I decided to make them anyway! Cookies with a lot of moisture in the ingredients (applesauce or in this case, mashed pumpkin) will typically always be softer or even cake-like. These spicy cookies fall into the soft, moist yet still have a bit of chew to them category. The wonderful rich aromas of cinnamon, ginger, fresh grated nutmeg and allspice compliment the mild flavor and moist texture the pumpkin adds. Just enough chocolate chips are added so each bite gets one, but not so much that all you taste is the chocolate. Plain these were pretty good, but when drizzled with a sweet vanilla scented glaze, it seemed to cajole the spiciness out of the tender cookies. You could bulk up these cookies with different nuts, chips or dried fruit to play with flavor combinations or even add something like orange zest to add a fresh background.

Tonight's dinner, Mini Bacon and Potato Frittatas, would be a perfect make-ahead appetizer that could be easily re-warmed right before serving. Even though we just served these with some baked tortilla chips for us tonight, it was fun to eat them in bite-sized servings. The original recipe called for peeling, chopping and parboiling potatoes, but I already had some refrigerated shredded potatoes that needed to be used up - so we skipped those steps. We first cooked up a few slices of bacon until crisp so we could use the drippings to begin cooking the potatoes and onions. Once they had started to turn golden, we removed them from the heat and let them cool down a bit. To form the frittata base, eggs and egg whites are whisked together with the potato mixture, the bacon we crisped up and sharp Parmesan cheese. While you could take the more laborious route and portion these into mini muffin tins for tiny bites, we opted to bake them in a 9" x 13" baking pan and use a small biscuit cutter to form little rounds. You could do multi-tiered towers with different sized cutters or just cut them into squares.

We added a dollop of sour cream on each for a tangy bite. Don't skimp on the bacon and be sure to use the drippings as the gusto it adds makes this dish. This only took a few minutes to cook as it was a pretty thin layer in the pan - you want the center to be set with the top just beginning to turn golden; any more than that and you risk them turning from tender to rubbery.

Recipes

Pumpkin Spiced and Iced Cookies
Mini Bacon and Potato Frittatas