pumpkin shaped bread bowls and witch finger bread sticks party!

 

Today I made a quick batch of my FRENCH BREAD ROLLS, added some food coloring and came up with some pumpkin shaped bread bowls & witch finger bread sticks. They were delicious served with a caldron of witch's brew (cheesy cream of broccoli soup). My ghosts and goblins were in Halloween heaven!

 The only change in the original recipe is to add food coloring after step number two. I used gel food coloring & mixed red and yellow to make orange. Liquid food coloring would work great too. After step number two, I divided the dough and colored 3/4 of the dough orange and 1/4 of the dough green in separate bowls. Then continue on with the original recipe at step three for kneading, rising, etc.

Shape rolls as desired. The recipe made 4 pumpkin shaped bread bowls and 8 bread sticks. I also baked some dough around a wooden spoon to have vines for the pumpkins. The bread bowls were slightly smaller than my usual bread bowls since I used a lot of the bread dough for the green. The pumpkin stems take very little green dough. For the witch fingers I used sliced almonds for fingernails & brushed a little red food coloring on them for blood.

Bake the bread sticks for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees until slightly browned on the bottom & the bread bowls for about 15-17 minutes. If you make the vine wrapped around the wooden spoon, brush some oil on the wooden dowel before you wrap the dough around it and bake for about 5 minutes. Prop the ends of the spoon onto the edges of the pan so the dough is not touching the pan. After baking and cooling, carefully wrap your hand around the dowel/vines & wiggle until the bread becomes loose, then slide the vine off the stick and break it into spiral pieces. 

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies party!

If you like my pumpkin chocolate chip muffins you MUST try these cookies! This one is the recipe jackpot for pumpkin lovers!

The recipe is from Cutler's Cookies, a much loved sandwich shop & bakery in Utah. When I worked downtown Salt Lake City, Cutler's was my favorite place to eat lunch. 1/2 a turkey avocado sandwich on their homemade honey wheat bread & one of their famously SOFT cookies was such a treat! Cutler's very generously shared their recipe with A Bountiful Kitchen & Si shared it on her blog. Thanks to both of you! Cutler's moved their downtown location to Davis County so if you are ever in Bountiful, Centerville or Layton, UT stop by Cutler's, you'll be SO glad you did! I also love their chicken salad sandwich with cashews and sprouts!

Here is the secret to Cutler's SUPER SOFT cookies: They always use CAKE FLOUR. It has less gluten and less protein and creates a lighter texture than all-purpose flour.

 

Cake flour is sold in a box & can be found by the cake mixes or the baking supplies in your grocery store. I was skeptical that it would make a difference but wow, these cookies are so soft & light & yummy! I'm sure these would be great with all-purpose flour too but try cake flour if you can.

Cutler's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
recipe from A Bountiful Kitchen

makes 36 large cookies-recipe can easily be halved

1 cup softened butter
3 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 cups pumpkin
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
5 cups CAKE flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together for about 2 minutes or until smooth. Add eggs, pumpkin, vanilla and spices. Continue beating for an 2 additional minutes.

3. Add flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda to the bowl & mix just until flour disappears and all ingredients are combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

4. Using a large cookie or ice cream scoop (mine holds 1/4 cup) place dough onto parchment lined baking sheets or lightly greased cookie sheets. These are large cookies. I only fit 6 cookies at a time on my cookie sheets 

 5. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Let cool completely on baking sheet before transferring to cooling rack.

P.S. The original recipe says to bake at 350 degrees but I needed to raise it to 375.