A Brighter Candle ~ Austin's perfect pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookie, pumpkin muffin, pumpkin treat recipe

The Publix Snickerdoodle dough comes in a thick rectangle already cut into small blocks. (Note: if you use the Sugar Cookie dough that comes in a tube or roll, you'll have to do this by estimation.)

Spray your muffin tins lightly with the baking spray, and start lining each cup with dough. For the mini muffin pans, half a block of dough works well. For the larger muffin cups, use 1 1/4 blocks of the dough. Place the sugar-and-cinnamon side of the dough downward in the muffin cup and gently press the dough into the cup and up the sides of the cup toward the top.

Don't go past the top of the tin. The dough will expand as it bakes. I use both packages of dough, and if some of the little blocks of dough are smaller than others, I equal it out. You'll get the hang of this part; it's easy and fun! (And maybe you can even take a pinch of the dough to sample to see what it tastes like before it's cooked. Just ask Mom or Dad first.)

For the next part, I like to use a 1/4 cup measuring cup. Take a cup of

the pumpkin mix and pour it into each muffin cup. The mini muffins use about that amount and the regular sized muffin cups take a little more than twice that much. Careful, now; don't overfill. Both the cookie dough and the pumpkin mix will expand while cooking.
Do you know why that is?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Visit the folks at SCIENCE OF COOKING to find the answer and instructions for lots of cool food experiments.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I only fill the cups I'm going to put into the oven right away. So, I fill two pans and put them into the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes for the mini muffin pans and 20 minutes for the larger ones. To test for doneness, look for these signs:
            *darkly golden edges at the tops of the treats
            *a kind of "puffy" center to the pumpkin
            *a really, really nice smell coming from the oven
You may need to turn the timer back on for 2-5 minutes to get the treats done exactly as you want. Every oven cooks a little bit differently, and what your pans are made of changes cooking time, too.
What do you think those changes might be if you cooked in a glass pan or a ceramic pan instead of a metal pan?

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

To get all the ingredients sifted, I either shake the sieve -- you can use a small spoon to help mash the sugar and spices through, too -- or I grind the sifter handle until the fine, fine PUMPKIN POWDER starts to come out and collect on the waxed paper. You'll notice that there is a special shape to the pile of sugar after you sift it through (especially if you don't move around too much while you're sifting).
Can you think of why the pile of sugar has this shape?

After your sugar and spices are sifted -- and you can resift if you want to -- carefully (!) pour all the PUMPKIN POWDER into the glass jar and screw on the lid. The powder will be light and very fluffy. It's great on top of these treats, but save the extra to put on top of waffles or french toast. Austin thought of other experiments to do with the PUMPKIN POWDER, like mixing some in water and freezing it to see what happens. Maybe you can try that, too. How do you think it would taste mixed in with apple juice and frozen?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Read my original article:
"Why I Celebrate Halloween"