Pumpkin Toffee Chip and Rolo Chunk Cookies

I have some serious anxiety about sharing these cookies with you guys.

You see, I don't make a lot of stuff with cake mixes, and these cookies contain one. Personally, I just think that baking things from scratch is way more fun than dumping a mix into a bowl, and usually tastes a heck of a lot better. You certainly won't ever catch me refusing a gooey brownie or slice of chocolate cake that's made from a mix, but my favorite chocolate cake recipe is 10 times better, and not much more difficult.

Usually, nothing makes me lose my baking mojo faster than the phrase "semi-homemade," and I think that a certain television chef who considers a store-bought angel food cake sprinkled with Corn Nuts to be a legitimate recipe has no business teaching anyone how to bake. That being said, I'm not a paid Food Network "chef", and I won't call this a recipe. This is just me telling you how to dump 5 items into a bowl, and produce a very tasty fall treat in 20 minutes.

So tasty in fact, that I ate 3 straight from the oven and burned my mouth. I then decided to get over myself, quit being a snob, and share this delicious non-recipe with all of you.

Fellow food bloggers, please don't shun me.

Here's what you'll need for a large batch of cake-like, candy-studded cookies:

1 box yellow cake mix
1 15-ounce can of pumpkin
1 cup mini-chocolate chips
1 cup chocolate-covered Heath Bar chunks (these are in a bag in the baking aisle)
1 1/2 cups Rolos, quartered (about 35 Rolos)

Stick the Rolo chunks in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix the cake mix and pumpkin. Add in the chocolate chips, Heath bar chunks, and Rolos. Using a cookie scoop, place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 15-17 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Keep the bowl of dough in the fridge in between batches for best results.

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Source: Adapted from Picky Palate

Awesome Autumn Recipe Roundup

So, I know I jumped the gun a bit on fall this year by posting a pumpkin bread recipe like, 5 seconds after Labor Day, and the spiced applesauce cake while it was still August. Next to Christmas, fall is my absolute favorite time of the year, and I apparently get a bit over-excited about seasonal cooking.

Before I share any additional fall recipes, I wanted to highlight a few that I've posted over the past couple years that deserve some love, and send you to a few blogs who also have delicious looking fall goodies in their archives. I scoured the recipe indexes of some blogs I love to find their most delicious looking fall recipes, and assembled them below for your baking and cooking pleasure.

Fall favorites from A Bitchin' Kitchen (pictured above):

1. Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup
2. Roasted Butternut Squash Orzo
3. Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
4. Pumpkin Walnut Raisin Bread
5. Sweet Potato Ice Cream
6. Pear Spice Cake with Walnut Praline Topping
7. Pumpkin Pie Cake
8. Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes for Two
9. Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

Fall foods from around the web: 

Pumpkin Crumb Cake from Koko Likes

Chocolate Swirled Pumpkin Bread from Sweet Dreaming

Chocolate-Coconut and Pumpkin Marble Bundt Cake from Ambitious Kitchen

Pumpkin Ice Cream from The Baker Chick 

Maple Pumpkin Pie from The Hungry Housewife

Bourbon Spiked Sweet Potato Praline Pound Cake from Sugar Plum

Salted Apple Caramel Bourbon Glazed Donuts from Eat The Love

Apple Pecan Crumble Bars from Hungry Girl Por Vida 

Apple Toffee Blondies with Brown Sugar Frosting from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

Apple Cider Cookies with Caramel from We Are Not Martha

Southern Comfort Apple Pie from 20 Something Cupcakes 

Sweet Potato Whoopie Pies with Maple Marshmallow Creme from Sprinkle Bakes

Cumin Sweet Potato Fries with Tahini Yogurt Dipping Sauce from Eat Your Heart Out

Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese from Heather Christo Cooks

Pear Cranberry Walnut Bread from Shutterbean

Cardamom Pear Crisps in Jars from Sugarcrafter  

I'm pretty sure there is something for everyone on this list - I've covered maple, apple, pecan, sweet potato, pear, butternut squash, and my personal favorite autumn ingredient, pumpkin. Am I missing anything? Feel free to share your favorite fall recipes in the comments below, and I'll be back soon with some new recipes!

Spicy Sausage Pasta

When you were a kid, did you ever eat cut up hot dogs mixed with a box of Kraft mac & cheese? 

Me too. Actually, I may have actually eaten that concoction as recently as a few months ago, so I don't know who I'm trying to fool with the whole "when you were a kid" qualifier. 

This reminds me of a grownup version of that! However, instead of hot dogs you have delicious smoked turkey sausage, and instead of Kraft you have penne with Monterey Jack cheese and Ro-Tel. The best part? You only need one pan, and 25 minutes to make this dinner. You don't even cook the pasta in a separate pan!

On a spiciness scale of 1-10, with 1 being mild salsa, and 10 being a ghost pepper dipped in sriracha sauce, this pasta is about a 3. If you want it spicier, use the hot version of Ro-Tel, and maybe Pepper-Jack cheese instead of Monterey-Jack. Some crushed red pepper flakes would be delicious too. This is a very forgiving recipe - you really can't mess up cheesy pasta!

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Here's what you'll need:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 14-ounce package smoked turkey sausage, sliced into rounds (I used Butterball brand)
1 1/2 cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 10-ounce can Ro-Tel Tomatoes and Green Chiles, Original Style
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces uncooked penne pasta (about 2 1/2 cups)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
Thinly sliced scallions
Salt, to taste

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a cast iron skillet(or other oven-safe skillet) until smoking. 

Add the sausage and onion, and cook until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add in the garlic, and cook for 30 seconds.

Add the broth, Ro-Tel, heavy cream, uncooked pasta, and pepper, and give the mixture a good stir. Bring to a boil, cover the skillet, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until the pasta is tender, about 15 minutes, stirring once or twice while cooking. Preheat the broiler while the pasta is cooking.

Remove the skillet from the heat, and stir in 1 cup of the cheese. Taste, and add salt as needed. Top with the scallions and remaining cheese. Broil until the cheese is melted and lightly browned - about 3 minutes.

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Adapted from The Best Simple Recipesvia Kevin & Amanda

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