handiwork

Donut day. Lovely friends, lovely confections.

Kneading.

Rolling.

Cutting.

Assembling.

Cooking.

Best of all...eating.

We also made these lovely corn husk dolls. 

I bought the corn husks from the grocery store.  I found them in the Hispanic foods section.  They had to be soaked in water overnight to make them more pliable.  I think these are wonderful. So simple and sweet.  The girls actually played with these all afternoon. Instructions here.

It was good to put our pencils down for a day and work with our hands.

an early winter?

We woke up to this one day last week.

It began the night before, so I guess were weren't entirely surprised.  There wasn't much- just a little dusting.  But for the girls, it provoked some excitement. 

A simple holiday soon commenced.  Just a little celebration to go with the first snow of the season.

I had been looking for an excuse to make the Sticky Pecan Carmel Roll recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  I mean, how dangerous can it really be to have cinnamon roll dough at the ready any time you get a buttery whim? A cozy snow day was just the right opportunity.

Let me tell you, it can be very dangerous.  There is another lump of dough in my refrigerator waiting to be transformed (the recipe makes enough dough for TWO pans of sticky buns, so knock yourself out).  I used the challah dough recipe.  Also, I didn't have pecans on hand so I just chopped up some walnuts and they worked fine. I did most of the work the night before. I made the dough, let it rise, rolled it out, filled it, and cut them into rolls.  Then, I put it in the fridge overnight (covered in plastic wrap). In the morning, I let it rise on the counter for about 40 minutes, then baked them. I'm thinking these would be perfect for Christmas morning. They were gooey and flaky all at the same time, and I'm sure that we won't wait for the next snowfall before we eat these again. Pure heaven.
 

leaves, squash, and cookies

This was the view over the mountain pass as we traveled over to visit family last weekend. 

This picture was taken through the car window, at 70 mph, no photoshop...we were in total awe.  Our normal route was plagued with construction, so we went a different way across.  I'm glad we did.

 

A visit to the pumpkin patch, looking for just the right one.  It was quite a search.  Her pumpkin required just the right stem.

 

I required that we eat butter saturated, freshly plucked corn....and take several silly pictures.

(Uncle Alex and Aunt Marsha- or is it the other way around?)

Silly, borderline inappropriate pictures.

Hannah was not amused.

And now for the cookie recipe some of you requested, there is butter involved. Lots of it. You've been warned.

Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Cookies:

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 baking soda

1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I always just use cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves- a pinch of each)

1 cup butter

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

16 oz can of pumpkin

1 tsp vanilla

12 oz chocolate chips

Mix dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Next add pumpkin and vanilla.  Gradually add dry ingredients and mix until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon onto a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes or until done.

Enjoy!!