Cinnamon Roll Pumpkin Sheet Cake

I can't even begin to give an excuse for putting off posting about this for about a week. Sometimes, y'all, I procrastinate. There. I said it. Sometimes, it's the bane of my existence. Luckily for you people, this post was deeeefinitely worth waiting for, and you didn't even know it! This recipe was a case of having left over canned pumpkin. I had enough to do a half recipe, but not the whole, so FYI, if you want to half it, it works great in a 9x9 pan.
Also, if you like pumpkin but not pumpkin pie, I would seriously consider using this as a substitute on Thanksgiving.
I will preface this recipe by saying that I left out a vital ingredient... By some trick of fate, it still turned out to be delicious, despite the majorness of this ingredient. I'm anxious to make it again WITH the forgotten ingredient, to see if I like it better with or without. Do you want to know what I left out? Well first maybe you should read the recipe:

Cinnamon Roll Pumpkin Vanilla Sheet Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk or buttermilk
3.4 ounce box Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix
1/2 cup sour cream
15 ounce can pumpkin
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream (start w 1/4 cup and add a little more cream if needed)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and spray a jelly roll pan with non stick cooking spray.

2. Place cake mix, eggs, oil, milk, pudding, sour cream and pumpkin into a stand or electric mixer, beating until well combined, about 1 1/2 minutes. Pour into prepared pan, spreading evenly.

3. Place butter into a microwave safe bowl and melt, about 30-40 seconds. Add brown sugar and cinnamon to bowl, mixing until combined. Drizzle mixture evenly over cake then take a knife and run it through to swirl.

4. Bake cake for 30-35 minutes, until cooked through and remove. Place powdered sugar and cream into a large bowl and mix until creamy and smooth. Drizzle over warm cake then let cool for 20 minutes before cutting into squares. Refrigerate if not serving same day.  Enjoy with milk!
Makes 16 to 20 squares

Alright, so here's what I left out: the eggs. Do you want to know what's so hilarious about me leaving out the eggs? I made this on a Sunday and as I was taking inventory of my ingredients (I didn't want to start and then not have everything because I couldn't run to the store. It was the Sabbath people!) I distinctly remember thinking "Oh good, if I do half then I'll still have 2 eggs left for breakfast tomorrow." Twice I thought this. I guess I was just so overcome by how awesome this was going to be that I totally left them out. You know what? It was delicious. SO, if you don't have eggs, or if you're in the middle of baking this and you forgot them, never fear. It still works. 6 out of 6 Roughtons agree.

I am, however, definitely making this again. WITH eggs. (How funny will it be if I end up liking it better without?)

Post-swirl, pre-bake.

At about this point I was thinking "This is really thick cake batter..." I suppose that happens when you leave out the eggs...

This is what it should look like out of the oven! 

At this moment, I would like to invite all of you who make this, to take the time to lick the white drizzle bowl clean. How come I never thought of mixing powdered sugar and heavy cream?!!?!? AMAZING!!!

Recipe Source: Picky Palate

Cake Mix Cookies

Oh man. Okay. So I know I've shared a cake mix cookie recipe with y'all before, but these blow them out of the water. I got this recipe from my friend Sandy. Good name right? It gets even better. We have the same last initial and our husbands are both soldiers. Truly our friendship was foreordained. Anyways, one day we were talking about how we both have cake mix cookies recipe and how great they are and the more we talked about them the more I realized that if this was a contest then hers would've won because mine doesn't call for a pound of butter and hers does and a pound of butter wins every time right?

One of the things I love about this recipe is that it's probably the most versatile recipe I've ever worked with in my life. And for that reason, the recipe is going to be very very long. Don't worry, it's only all of the different variations :) Really, I think, your imagination is the limit with these.



Cake Mix Cookies

1 package white cake mix
2 3/4 cups flour
1 pound (4 sticks. That's right, 4) butter or margarine, divided (do not use vegetable oil spread)
Milk or beaten egg white (optional)
Optional decoartions: colored sugar crystals, sprinkles, chopped nuts, frosting, melted chocolate, powdered sugar, chocolate chips, toffee chips, dried fruit, etc.

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl, microwave 2 sticks butter on high 1 minute, or until melted. Slice remaining butter into 1/2 inch pieces; add to melted butter, tossing to coat. Allow to sit for 3 to 5 minutes or until softened.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine cake mix and flour; blend well, breaking any large lumps. Whisk butter until smooth and free of lumps. If necessary,microwave butter an addtional 10-20 seconds or until creamy and pourable. Do not melt completely. (It should be a creamy yellow consistency. Not liquidy and transparent like normal melted butter.)

3. Pour butter all at once into dry ingredients, scraping butter from bowl. Mix until dry ingredients are incorporated and dough is smooth. (If dough is too stiff to stir, knead by hand)

4. Form cookies as desired. to decorate cookies before baking, brush unbaked cookies lightly with milk or egg white and sprinkle with sugar crystals, sprinkles or finely chopped nuts.

5. Bake cookies 15-17 minutes or until very light golden brown. Cool 3 minutes on sheet; remove to cooling rack. Cool completely. To decorate after baking, use frosting or melted chocolate or sprinkle with powdered sugar.



Here come the variations! GET EXCITED!!!

Flavor variations:
Chocolate cookies: Substitute one package devil's food cake mix for the white cake mix.
Peanut butter cookies: substitute one package yellow cake mix for the white cake mix. Add 2/3 cup peanut butter to softened butter in step 2. Whisk until smooth. Add to dry ingredients as directed in step 3.
Spice cookies: substitute one package yellow cake mix for the white cake mix and add 1 TB cinnamon spice blend. (I also think you could probably substitute a spice cake mix and have a nice result)
Forming cookies:
You can make these as spritz (pressed) cookies, roll out the dough and cut it with cookie cutters, or make them drop cookies.
Color variations:
Tinted cookies: Add food color, one drop at a time, to mixed dough in step 3. Knead into dough until desired color is achieved.
Marbled cookies: Add food color, one drop at a time, to mixed dough. Knead just until color streaks throughout the dough.
Multi-colored pressed cookies: Divide dough into 2 or 3 portions. Tint dough as directed for tinted cookies to make 2 or 3 contrasting colors. Roll each section into a 1 inch thick log; place side by side and form into one large log. Place log barrel into a cookie press. Form and bake like pressed cookies.

This is how stiff the dough is going to be. It will be able to stick together as a ball.

I just made these as drop cookies. I mixed in chunks of Andes mints and they were SO GOOD! I flatted them slightly with my palm, before baking, because they won't spread much.

There really is a ridiculous amount of possibilities with these cookies. You can make them year round and change them for different holidays/seasons/occasions/etc.

Have some fun!!