The BEST Fall Cookie EVER!

Happy Monday Everyone!

Friday is the start of fall! I personally cannot wait! I love when leaves change colors, it's so cool that you can leave the back door open so Sophie can go in and out, football is on all weekend long, the crockpot comes out once a week for soup/stews, and my most favorite-PUMPKIN EVERYTHING! I typically do not cook with pumpkin any other time of the year with the exception of fall. I have hit the JACKPOT of pumpkin this year! 

I recently was reading the blog BAKER by NATURE whom I am obsessed with! She had a Chewy Cinnamon Chip Pumpkin Cookie recipe! As soon as I saw it-I knew I had to make it! I changed a couple of the rations of the ingredients just a little!

The best part about this recipe is that it is so easy to make and throw together if you need to take a special treat somewhere,give as a gift, or take to a tailgate! The ingredients are super simple also!

Trusty Assistant!

My trusty assistant also wanted in on the action of baking today. Unfortunately, he didn't need these butter and sugar filled cookies. He got his own cookie of spinach, apple, and kale! They are made by PLUM Organics! They are seriously SO good. He loves them!

Back to the baking-  The hardest part of this entire recipe was finding cinnamon chips. It took me a while to find them. I finally found them at my Target. However-when I went back to get more....they weren't there anymore! So if somebody sees them somewhere-let me know where you find them!

The BEST part about this cookie recipe besides the taste is that this cookie dough does not have to refrigerate for an hour or two. You simply make the dough and scoop it out onto a pan!

 Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
16 tbs butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cup of light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp Vanilla
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 1/2 cups cinnamon chips

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. I used two baking sheets that I had lined with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in a medium to large size bowl. 
3. In a kitchen aid beat the softened butter until it is smooth. Add the vanilla and sugars and beat until fluffy. You don't need this on high speed. Add the pumpkin puree and beat until it is combined. Very carefully fold in the flour mixture into the wet ingredients a little at a time. It is best to use a spatula for folding in the flour. Fold this until you can barely see the flour anymore. This took a little longer than expected for me. Don't over work the batter but know it will get there one day. Finally-fold in the cinnamon chips.
4. I used a medium cookie scoop to roll the dough into balls. Make sure to leave room in between each cookie on the cookie sheet. They will spread out quite a bit.
5. I baked my cookies for about 15 minutes or until they had darkens on the tops and edges.

 I seriously cannot wait to make these cookies again! Somebody else cannot wait either....

Happy Reading!

Favorite thing Fridays!

I have decided that since Fridays are already awesome! I am going to make a Favorite things Friday list every week. Until I run out of favorite things! Might be a while!

For the first Favorite Fridays list I am going to be talking about food. Everyone loves food right!?!?!

1.  Cookies: Now I have recently discovered these amazing cookies. No, they are not new. No, they are not a new brand. When you have a child browsing through the grocery store doesn't happen as often anymore. This new obsession comes from the brand Immaculate. This particular brand did not start too long ago but have taken the market by storm. Scott Blackwell is the maker of these amazing cookies. I blame him for still not being able to fit back in my pre-pregnancy pants. This brand is certified organic, gluten free (Does anyone really know what this means? I know its a type of flour? As far as I got on my research), and non GMO. They make a variety of cookies, brownies, and crust. I have only gotten my hands on the refrigerated cookies thus far. However-I am looking high and low at other places for the box brownies. I ABSOLUTE favorite are the Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies. It says to cook them for 14-18 minutes. HOWEVER-I am a half cooked cookie kind of girl. And DON'T mess it up. So about 11-12 minutes are the perfect time for myself! Chad and I ventured SO FAR this week and decided to buy the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. They were definitely good, but I liked my chocolate chip ones better!

2. Cinnamon Rolls: While I am still thinking about sweet things that our Good Lord blessed us with, I will tell you about the second favorite sweet item that I always have in my refrigerator these days. Annie's Cinnamon Rolls. Yes-I switch back and forth from Annie's and Immaculate all the time. This company is also organic and has been around for awhile. They have stormed the grocery store scene also. I buy their mac and cheese all the time also. Grafton loves it! Anyway- Yall these cinnamon rolls are so delicious. They should totally be on that show on Food Network- The Best Thing I Ever Ate (Refrigerator Edition). Something like that. They have the best gooey center of any brand of cinnamon rolls I have ever had. My brother and my dad love cinnamon rolls also. We have eaten lots in my lifetime. They are really "sturdy" if you will, around the outside of the cinnamon rolls. I don't know how you eat your cinnamon roll, but the proper way to eat one is to untwist the entire cinnamon roll until you are left with the golden prize, THE MIDDLE! The icing for these crazy things are so delicious! Yall HAVE to go try some of these! There are only 5 to a pack. So buy two cans if you are sharing with someone! ;)

3. Coffee: The perfect way to round out this Friday's Favorite Things list is to eat cookies, cinnamon rolls, and drink your coffee while you stuff your face! I really love coffee. I drank it every morning before I found out I was pregnant. Then I stopped cold turkey. I didn't want to have caffeine while I was pregnant. Totally my own choice and to each his own. I quickly began to miss it, especially those early mornings going to school. I began to start bring decaf before long. I really enjoy all coffee but my all time favorite coffee is at Fresh Market. It is the Butterscotch Caramel Bliss. Sweet bliss it is. Every time I buy it the check out person is always like, "This coffee smells so good. I want to drink it but I don't like coffee." Although I am still breastfeeding I do enjoy my cup of coffee every morning now!

Caramel Butterscotch Bliss! THE ONLY LEGIT SUGARY COFFEE!

I hope everyone enjoys their Friday and Labor Day Weekend!

Happy Reading!

Mortgage Companies can be the death of a home buyer!

The title of this post is seriously how I feel. After dealing with all of our summer drama about our house this is what I thought about mortgage companies. I feel as though mortgage companies have ONE job.....give people who are qualified and deserving a loan to purchase a home.

Chad and I had a very interesting experience when buying our first home. We decided on Wyndham Capital Mortgage who is based in Charlotte, NC. Chad stumbled across them while he was doing his research back in May. We were connect with a man named Dennis Mccoy. Chad absolutely loved him, and I believe that the feeling was pretty mutual for Dennis also. Chad being an accountant knows numbers and can talk that language that not many of us can follow much less have an intelligent hour and half long conversation about. Chad and I were so thrilled about this company. They gave us everything we needed.

After we found a house, everything continued to go really smoothly until the night of July 3rd. We were told by our real estate agent (Szana Marr- who is AMAZING) that due to an unpermitted bathroom we would not be able to purchase the home. These were the rules of our mortgage company. I was DEVASTATED to say the least. I cried the whole weekend. Of course, we could do nothing about anything that we needed to do because it was a holiday weekend. When Chad and I got back into Atlanta that Monday we quickly set out to call Dennis. Without boring you with all the details of the process, Dennis went out of his way to find a way to get us our loan and it HAPPENED (obviously because you all know we got our house...keep reading though...this post has a reason.)

Dennis and our real estate agent Szana made our dream come true by finding us the perfect house! If you are buying a home in the Atlanta area...I SERIOUSLY recommend both of these people! Now that we are settled in...I had not given much thought to Dennis until last night. About 7:00 pm my doorbell rang. I went to the door to get it and found a package. Chad and I quickly opened up the package to find that Dennis had sent us a tin FULL of some of the most amazing cookies! They are from the Carolina Cookie Company. Y'all....these cookies are AMAZING! There were an assortment of oatmeal raisin (my fav.), Chocolate Chip (my fav.), and Sugar (my fav.)!!!!! You guys should seriously check this place out!

http://www.carolinacookie.com

They would seriously make the best little gifts EVER! You can thank me by posting in the comment box and letting me know what you think about them once you have had them. You will not regret it.

Now all I need is a glass of milk and some trash TV! ;) Have a great Friday!