Iced Pumpkin Cookies

We make these delicious cookies at the restaurant every year. They are delicious and easy to make at home, and they'll make your house smell like heaven!!
Enjoy,
Sonia Bertolone.

ICED PUMPKIN COOKIES RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

Roasted Butter Nut Squash & Sweet Potato Lasagna

Growing up at my house, the seasons were always celebrated by the produce and foods that mamma prepared for us.  She loved the fall season; winter squash, chard, pumpkin and potatoes were often her staples.  Mostly, with squash and pumpkin, she prepared a hearty minestra, a thick soup full of whatever she had readily available. Sometimes though, we'd luck out, and she'd make us something extravagant, like torta di zucca con cioccolato (squash and chocolate cake) !!!!!!!!!!

Mamma was a genius in the kitchen, always using what she had at hand, always producing

the most amazing blend of textures and flavors. 

Roasted Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato Lasagna 

2 sweet potatoes
1 butter nut squash (2 lbs appx)
3 cups ricotta cheese
3 cups mozzarella Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup fresh minced parsley
1/4 cup minced garlic 2 packages Barilla (no boil lasagna)
Salt
Black pepper
Nutmeg
Roast butternut squash and sweet potatoes in oven at 375° for approximately 45 minutes
Mash sweet potato and butternut squash to paste like consistency
Add salt pepper and nutmeg to taste
Add garlic also to taste
Add parsley Spray 9 x 13 casserole dish with Pam or any equivalent non stick cooking spray
Line bottom of baking pan with lasagna sheets
Add layer of sweet potato & butternut squash mixture
Add layer of Ricotta cheese
Add layer of mozzarella cheese
Repeat lasagna butternut squash mixture ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese layers one more time Bake at 400° with the aluminum foil for 45 minutes
Remove aluminum foil and bake for another 15 minutes
Let sit for 10 minutes
Serve with fresh grated Parmesan cheese


Written, and produced by Sonia Bertolone-Carrillo, owner & operator of Joe's Italian in Alabaster, Alabama.