Chocolate-Marshmallow Whoopie Pies

What exactly is a whoopie pie? Is it a cake? Is it a cookie? Does it really matter? It's delicious, whatever you consider it. I used to make these all the time when I worked at the coffee shop, and the older customers especially would snatch them up, saying that they tasted like childhood. I think that's a pretty apt description no matter who you are. These whoopie pies have a simple, classic taste that almost has the flavor of a homemade Oreo, though the texture is quite different.

Snickerdoodles

This has never happened before, but for some strange reason, this season I'm somehow associating football with cookies. I'm not sure why that is, but on Sunday we'll make it halfway through whatever one o'clock game we're watching and I'll get the irresistible urge to bake cookies. It's so weird, but who am I to say no to baking cookies?

Football also makes me want true fall weather so badly that I'll do anything I can to emulate that fall feeling. In this case, that means I'm making the quintessential fall cookie--snickerdoodles! Justin, however, insists that snickerdoodles are a winter cookie because that's the only time he ever got them as a kid, but I told him he's crazy. They're coated in cinnamon; they're a fall cookie.

Frosted Sugar Cookies

Justin's mom makes the most amazing frosted sugar cookies every Christmas. You know those sugar cookies that you can buy in every grocery store in the country? They're basically the homemade version of those but better because they're just a pinch less sweet. (I think that the store-bought ones can taste like just sugar sometimes, whereas these actually have some flavor beyond that.)

Pumpkin Pudding Cookies

If you like your cookies crisp and crunchy, walk away now; this recipe is not for you. Sometime a few years ago, Justin found something that said that putting pudding mix in cookie dough will make the cookies turn out more cake-like. Doing that resulted in some of my favorite chocolate chip cookies ever. No matter how long you store them, they're still wonderfully soft.

The other night Justin felt like having dessert and settled on cookies, but we were low on supplies. No chocolate chips. No nuts. Nothing fun. We did, however, have 4 boxes of pumpkin pudding mix. (Justin stocks up when it's available in the fall.) Add in some pumpkin pie spice, and voila, pumpkin pudding cookies. He says they have a nice, strong pumpkin flavor, even though the only pumpkin flavor in them comes from the pudding mix. For a little extra goodness, you could shape the dough into balls and roll them in cinnamon before baking to give them a snickerdoodle kind of feel.

No-Bake Cookies

I can't recall ever having no-bake cookies before I moved to Indiana, but in Indiana, they're everywhere. Have a bake sale, and you're guaranteed to have at least one person bring a batch of no-bakes. They're as prevalent as chocolate chip cookies. They're by far not my favorite cookie, but Justin loves them, especially if he can get to them as they're coming out of the pot, before they've had time to actually set. They're warm and runny, all chocolate and oats and tastiness. If he has to eat it with a spoon, he's happy.