Feeling Fallish

Sorry the posting has been a little scarce. Things have been a little hectic, and this has been a really terrible week. I'm ready for it to be over. Anyway, this past Saturday, when I was feeling much more chipper, I decided to get myself into the kitchen and do a bit of baking. I have been waiting all year for autumn. All summer long, telling myself that it would be crazy to indulge my craving for pumpkin bread when it's time for berries and things. But the time had finally come, so I pulled out my Grandma's recipe and got to work. The recipe makes two loaves, so I sent one to work with Josh this week. It went over well, as his tiny office ate it all that day. Guess I'll have to pull the recipe out again real soon.

Pumpkin Bread
Family recipe; Makes 2 loaves












3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1 can pumpkin puree
2/3 cup water
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream sugar and oil together. Add eggs and pumpkin and mix well. Sift together dry ingredients; add dry ingredients alternately with water.
• Pour into well greased and floured 9" x 5" loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 90 minutes, or until tests done. Let stand 10 minutes. Remove from pan to cool.

My notes: The only thing I have to say is that this is probably one of the things I most looked forward to my grandmother making at Thanksgiving and Christmas, so it makes me really happy that I'm able to make it now too.

Family Recipes

Lately I've been trying to go through my grandmother's old recipe boxes to see if I can find any interesting things to try. A couple weeks ago I had a strong craving for peanut butter cookies. The last time I attempted to make peanut butter cookies I followed a Martha Stewart recipe, and things didn't come out so well. Call me crazy, but I just don't see why the recipe has you bake them for 18-22 minutes. I kept reducing the cooking time with each batch, but they almost all burned. They were edible, but nothing I even bothered blogging about, I don't think. This time around I decided I should find the cookie recipe my grandmother used. My mom told me she didn't know exactly where it was, but once I found Aunt Minnie's recipe I had the right one. Luckily it didn't take too much searching to find it. These cookies came out much, much better than the previous attempt. I should have added more flour, I think, as the cookies spread to the point that you could barely tell I had fork-pressed them. That didn't affect the taste though, and as soon as I took a bite I new these were the cookies from my childhood. Josh really loved these cookies, and his dad liked them a lot too. I'm going to try and make some more soon, half a batch with peanut butter chips and half with chocolate chips. I didn't even think to ask my mom who the heck Aunt Minnie was until after I had made the cookies. Turns out she is my great, great aunt- my great-grandfather's sister. And turns out she made a mean cookie.

Aunt Minnie's Peanut Butter Cookies
3 cups sugar- half white, half packed light brown
1 cup shortening
1 cup peanut butter
3 eggs
3 cups of flour or more
2 teaspoons baking soda dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water

• Cream shortening and sugars together. Add peanut butter and mix until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add flour slowly, mixing after each addition. Add baking soda water. Add any additional flour needed until dough is desired consistency.
• Roll dough into small balls, place on parchment lined baking sheet, and press out with fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Cool on wire rack or paper towels.

My notes: I don't really understand the whole soda/hot water thing, but I did as it says and the cookies came out good. I described the way I mixed the dough together because the actual recipe just said roll into balls, press with fork, and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. These cookies are honestly different, not to mention better, than any of the other peanut butter cookies I've ever had. I don't bake enough to be able to tell you what it is about the recipe that makes them that way. But really, give them a shot and see how you feel about them. I don't think you'll regret it.