Pumpkin Pie

Ok, I feel like I haven’t gotten creative with recipes lately. But to be honest, I’ve been trying out a lot of things that are new to me, and I am slowly learning the lesson that I don’t want to tweak any recipes of dishes that I’m unfamiliar with. Sorry, but this recipe is no different. As the second pie on my list and a Thanksgiving classic, there’s just not a chance I’m going to screw around with this thing the first time out. Get real.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

My Cake #3 has not been made yet. It was going to happen last Sunday and taken to work on Monday, but I wasn’t feeling so hot after a Saturday night of Halloween high jinx. Let’s just say, the lady-like composure that eluded me last Halloween in Vegas did not deem this year’s festivities appearance-worthy either. And now that I’m on my pie-making adventure, Cake #3 might not happen for another couple of weeks. That’s ok though, because I’m still getting in a few easy treats mid-week that are exceptional.

One such treat is the Pumpkin Snickerdoodle. I made a full-sized batch to take to the costumed crew last weekend, and they were thoroughly enjoyed. The half-batch that I took to work a couple days ago didn’t even make it to lunch (it pleases me that some of my coworkers enjoy their sugar in the morning as much as I do). The cookies are incredibly soft with a mild fall flavor, definitely not too pumpkiny, and both times I made them I got more cookies than what the recipe called for (3 dozen for a full batch). I would have gotten a few more if I could restrain myself from eating the dough, but you know what, I’m not concerned about exercising restraint in the confines of my apartment where no one is able to watch me. Deal with it.

Lemony Chess Pie

I am determined to get good at making pies this fall. I have made a couple before, and they never really turned out that well. Usually, filling sloshes over to the floor or things just don’t turn out that pretty, but with my luck with cut-out cookies, I feel like I got this.

I made a list of ten pies to make before Thanksgiving, and my first one up is Chess Pie. Admittedly, I didn’t know what this pie was until a couple days before I made it, but once I investigated, I knew it would be a great one to start with. Simple crust, simple ingredients, and not only does it taste good, you get to use your best Southern accent when you tell people what it is (“It’s jes’ pie!”). Bonus, Homesick Texan totally had it in her book/on her website, so I knew I would be getting this from a great source. It came out really well, and this version tasted quite a bit like lemon bars in pie form. Never, ever a bad thing.

Halloween Cookies

I always love decorating cookies for whatever holiday is coming up, but this is one of those activities where I just let others take care of setting up and I have all the fun. The one time I tried to make cut-out cookies in the past, I just used refrigerated sugar cookie dough and it was kind of a spread-out mess. But really, if all of these other people can make normal cookies in fun cut-out shapes for my decorating enjoyment, is it really THAT hard to get them to come out right? No, it’s not that hard. I just have to follow directions and not “wing it” the first time I try to do something new.