Fall

(This post is a look into the inner workings of Kimara. Avert your eyes if you are squemish.) So, we all know about my hour long phone call yesterday, and how it turned in a bit of a paint debacle, which proceed into some colorful doodling, which, given the fact that it could, resulted in a blog. With me so far? Okay, so Hootie comments saying the 5 pumpkins on the wall reminded her of her MIL because she was a preschool teacher and use to do this poem all the time. Which, because I lead a very small life, tickles me senseless, because being an ex-preschool teacher, that's exactly what I was thinking about when I lined up those 5 pumpkins. Which, naturally made me want to share the poem, so I popped on FaceBook and posted the poem... which was received quite well I may add. Okay, so a paint spill now becomes two different postings. So... there's always a so, isn't there... sooooo.... I'm sitting there this afternoon thinking about the pumpkin thumbprints, which gets me to thinking about our Christmas Thumbprint cookies, which makes me think that there is no reason in this entire world why I shouldn't make of batch of Pumpkin Thumbprint Cookies to go along with... you guessed it... a doodle.

Now, it's not like I don't have anything else to do, but I want Pumpkin Thumbprint Cookies... nay, I MUST have Pumpkin Thumbprint Cookies to blog about. I decide I can put everything else on the back burner for a couple hours. So, I start playing with a few recipes, combining this, deleting that, adding a little more of this, until wah-lah... Pumpkin Thumbprint Cookies. I must admit the recipe kinda morphed as I was making it BUT I just had a completed cookie, not to mention the fact that I was already on an unnatural sugar high from licking my fingers, which will go a long way to explaining the content of this blog, but I had a Pumpkin Thumbprint Cookie and it was delicious. If you like pumpkin... if you like cheese cake... you are going to be in heaven when you taste one. Besides, they are so darn cute, even if they tasted like spinach that had turned orange, (and I've seen that happen) they would be worth making just to look at. So... this was my introduction, into what I think will become, one of my Favorite Fall Recipes! (BTW... the napkin in covering the plate is one of my Rip and Tear Halloween Napkins.)  

PUMPKIN THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Ingredients

Cookie:
1 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup apple sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cup oatmeal
2 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 tablespoon cinnamon
optional 1/2 - 1 cup butterscotch chips (if you add chips omit the 1/2 cups white sugar)

Frosting:
1 - 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
optional - if you want to make pumpkins, enough orange food coloring to make a deep orange
optional - butterscotch chips for stems

Directions
Mix pumpkin, sugars, vanilla and applesauce. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together. Add dry ingredients to applesauce mixture. If adding butterscotch chips, mix them in now.

Drop tablespoon of dough on cookie sheet, leaving 2" between cookies. (I love to use cookie scoops!) Depress your thumb into the middle of the cookie. If you thumb is sticking to the cookie dough, dip it in flour first.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minute (until brown). Allow the cookies to cool completely before frosting.

To make frosting, cream all ingredients, except butterscotch chips. For regular cookies, spoon frosting into your thumb's indentation. If making the pumpkins, use a cookie scoop, and mound the frosting on each cookie. Top with a butterscotch chip for a stem.

Recipe makes 5 dozen cookies. If you are making pumpkins on top of the cookies, you will only have enough frosting for 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

Note: Since there is cream cheese in the frosting, I would refrigerate until time to serve.

I used a recipe found at http://www.grouprecipes.com/24254/pumpkin-oatmeal-thumbprint-cookies.html as the starting point. Check out her original version.

What happens when you combine a compulsive doodler, orange paint and an hour long phone conversation? A gaggle of pumpkins, of course! Seriously, I'm on the phone and there was my cheese box of paints sitting next to me. I was playing with the paint bottles... because compulsive doodlers are also world class "fidgeters". So, I'm popping the top of the orange paint and some squirted out. While cleaning it up with some scraps from the wastebasket, I noticed I got some on my thumb. Naturally, I needed to clean my thumb (BTW... all the while talking on the phone) so I went to rub it off on scrap paper, and although smeared, left behind a thumbprint... true story. Well, you can imagine where it goes from there!

While on the phone, I made a garland, a wreath, and a brick wall of pumpkins, and, with the help of a thin point black magic marker and a brown and gold Sharpie, turned those little pumpkins into Jack-O-Lanterns. So, this really isn't a tutorial, per se, but rather the sharing of a process. (BTW... a craft blog is the ONLY place in the world where I would share this story, believing many of you have done the same type of random crafting... in one way or another. Crafters do that, right?) Anyway... what to do with the Jack-O-Lanterns? Put them on invitations, make note cards, decorate a brown sack lunch, decorate a picture frame OR just amuse yourself during an hour long phone conversation. Here are the totally simple directions!

Materials:
Orange paint or ink
black and brown markers - thin or ultra thin points

1] Get paint or ink the fingerprint portion of your thumb.
2] Press your thumb on paper.
3] Wait for the ink or paint to dry completely then draw on faces, stems and lines. 

That's all there is to it. Got kids around? Super great and easy craft to do with them. Although this is a humble craft indeed... enjoy :) 

I was just revisiting some crafts the kids and I did together last fall and wanted to share them with all our new readers (my how the site has grown in the past year). Over the next couple weeks I will be highlighting some of our favorite Crafting with the Kiddos Activities from last autumn.

First up are these Handprint Sand Candles that make a fun addition to your Halloween decor.

This year we will be celebrating our 19th Annual Pumpkin Carving Party. Although the guest list and the location have morphed over the years, there are many traditions that have come out of it that are constant. One thing is my dear friend Linda's Potato, Cheese and Olive Casserole. I am rather ashamed to admit (uh... not really) the couple of times Linda was unable to attend, I rather diplomatically suggested that she should still provide us with her yummy potatoes! So, for the past 19 years, this casserole has been a standby and always disappears quickly! I would like to thank Linda for being such a good sport and for, without fail, feeding the masses, and for sharing this recipe with us. If you have a Favorite Fall Recipe you would like to share with us, send it to weefolkart@yahoo.com. Include a little snippet about the recipe, and if you have a blog, make sure to include a link so we can all stop by!

INGREDIENTS
8 medium potatoes, cooked, peeled and diced
1/2 pound sliced bacon cut in 1"  pieces
1 pound processed American cheese cut into 1" cubes
1 cup mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup sliced green olives

DIRECTIONS
Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish. Fry bacon until limp. Drain and set aside. Combine potatoes, cheese, mayonnaise, onion, salt, and pepper. Pour into prepared dish. Sprinkle with bacon and olives. Bake uncovered in a preheat 350 over for1 hour or until heated through.

Squirrel Acorns and Wee Folk Art started about the same time over a year ago. In that past year, Tina has shared several recipes. I have made most of them, and I can personally attest to the fact that each was yummy. Today, I am very pleased to share Tina's recipe for Caramel Apple Pie. I haven't made this yet, (I can guarantee I will), but going on past successes, I'm sure this is going to be delicious... and more than slightly decadent! Thank you so much, Tina, for sharing this recipe. Make sure to visit Tina at Squirrel Acorns and have a look around! There is still plenty of time to share one of your favorite fall recipes. Just send it to weefolkart@yahoo.com, include a little bit about the recipe, and if you have a blog and would like a link back to it, make sure to include your site info!

My favorite cooking has always been baking, so of course my favorite fall recipe is a baking recipe! For me, fall is all about apples. Yummy apples. A nice apple crisp is a wonderful, tasty, quickie fall dessert. But sometimes, it’s really nice to just go all out and make an awesome pie. I like to prepare several pies using disposable pie pans, and then wrap them up and freeze them (before cooking). Then, you can pull a pie out of the freezer and have a delicious apple pie at any time of year. Although, they are usually gone by Christmas. I use the same instructions to bake them from the freezer, they may just take a little bit longer. This pie has a lot of filling, so definitely use a deep dish pan. I think I got this recipe originally from a magazine a long time ago, but to be honest, I’m not sure where.

Also, my new-favorite way to make crust from scratch is from Cook’s Illustrated. It’s a butter+shortening version, and you use part vodka instead of all water. It’s awesome. The additional vodka allows the crust to be pliable enough to easily roll out, but it then evaporates during cooking so you’re left with a really flaky crust. Mmm…..I think I need to make pie this weekend.

Caramel Apple Pie

Prep time: 1 hour

Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes to 1-1/2 hours

1 prepared 9” pie crust

Caramel Streusel Topping
9 Tbs. butter or margarine, room temperature
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup almond brickle chips or toffee bits (e.g. Heath bar bits but not the kind with chocolate)

Filling
6 or 7 apples (I like two or three varieties, Granny Smith+Cortland+another) – 2 ½ pounds
3/4 cup almond brickle chips or toffee bits
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbs. cornstarch
1/8 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine butter, flour, sugar and brickle bits for topping. Form mixture into two balls and refrigerate.

Peel and core all apples. Cut each apple into quarters, then halve each quarter (so you end up with eight slices per apple). Toss apples with brickle chips, sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Spoon into crust. Cut butter into 1/4 inch pieces and place over apples. Break topping into pieces over apples.

Bake 20 minutes. Loosely cover pie with tent of foil with a quarter sized hole in middle. Continue baking 1 hour or until bubbly and crust is golden.