Pumpkin Pie Spice

For October 2nd, I went with a simple recipe – do it yourself pumpkin pie spice. I figured I'm going to need a lot of this over the next month, so I may as well make my own instead of buying it at the store. Anything homemade is better, right?

Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons all spice
1 1/2 teaspoons cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Combine all ingredients, sift and store in an airtight container.

Adapted from Martha Stewart via Annie's Eats.

Pumpkin Rocks

I'm making a pumpkin treat a day for the entire month of October! I recognize it's a somewhat ridiculous venture – many, many people have implied as much – but, what with my major obsession with pumpkin and all, I figured it could be fun. (I'll assess this thought again on November 1st.)

For October 1st, I made my mom's Pumpkin Rocks. (I imagine they're named as such because, well, pumpkin rocks!) My mom has made these cookies since I was a little girl, and they're everything fall to me. They make me think of crunchy leaves underfoot, crisp cool days, my birthday... The cookies themselves are moist and fluffy, studded with juicy raisins and crunchy nuts (pecans in this case, as I had no walnuts on hand). They, of course, are full of pumpkin spices – cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves – and a couple generous cups of tasty pumpkin, too.

It seemed a natural choice to kick things off, don't you think?

Mom's Pumpkin Rocks
Yield: 48 large cookies

2 1/2 cups sifted, all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1 stick unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

2 eggs

2 cups canned pumpkin (one 15-ounce can)

1 cup raisins

2 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 375ºF and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and allspice. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter. Beat in both sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well. Beat in the pumpkin. The batter will look curdled - it's okay. Beat in the sifted dry ingredients slowly. With a spoon, stir in the raisins and walnuts. Drop rounded teaspoons of dough onto cookie sheets, about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake about 16 minutes, or until lightly browned and spring back if gently pressed.

Hello? Is this thing on?

Seeing as I last blogged nearly a year ago, I bet you thought I would never return. Well, ha! I fooled you! I could go into lots of excuses and reasons and so on, but I don't really feel like it, and I imagine no one feels like reading about that, anyway.

Let's see... to bring everyone up to speed on my life... I am back in the newspaper business. John and I are still living in our lovely little house. Piper is still super loyal and super ill-behaved. I'm very content and happy, something I certainly wasn't this time last year (mostly due to job woes that infiltrated every aspect of my life). And that about covers it!

I'm going to be revamping the blog. My sweet sister-in-law is designing a new banner for me. I want a whole new look. Of course, I'll be blogging regularly, too, which - let's face it - will definitely be a "whole new look" since last year.

 So. Yeah. I'm back!