Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies

Ok y'all.  A bunch of you requested the recipe for Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies, so here goes.  Sorry I don't have photos to go with this post, you'll just have to imagine.

Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies
Oven at 375*
Yield: approximately 25 sandwich cookies.

1 cup sugar
1 c cooked pureed pumpkin (or canned pumpkin)
1/2 cup shortening

Blend together.  Then stop mixer to add:

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon

You can add chocolate chips, raisins, and/or nuts if desired.

Mix together.  The batter will be a bit on the thick side.  That is a good thing.

Bake for 8-10 min on greased cookie sheet.

These cookies are kind of hard to tell when they are done.  They will get that "golden brown" look, but it is hard to see because they are already kinda dark cookies.  In my oven, they take a full 10 min.

For making the sandwich cookies, you won't want to "drop" them onto the sheet.  They turn out too fluffy, and you'll end up with pumpkin cookie balls (fun, but kinda dangerous in the wrong hands).  So, what I do to get around that problem is to fill a ziplock freezer bag (the freezer bags are a little sturdier and won't be so prone to bursting; I'm speaking from experience here) halfway full of the batter.  Yes, the batter is supposed to be a bit on the thick side.  Then seal the bag, cut a corner off the bag, and make pretty little circle patties on your cookie sheet.  They can be fairly close together, the cookies don't "grow" much at all.  I like my circles to be roughly 2" in diameter and about 1/2" thick, though the thinner you make them the faster they bake, and the more cookies you'll get.

On a side note.  I have tried using oil to replace the shortening and the cookies ended up really sticky once they were baked off.  They would stick to each other, our hands, the ziplock bags, everything.  So use shortening and you'll get lovely cookies each and every time.

Once you have all your cookies baked off, make the filling.  Which just happens to be cream cheese frosting. 

8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
powdered sugar

Blend well until you have a thick frosting.

Put frosting in freezer ziplock bag (sound familiar?).  Cut corner off.  Frost the underside of one cookie and stick it to the underside of a second cookie.  Eat first one, then make more.

There you have it!  Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies.

Something very very cool happened at our little school.  We (our school) just happen to fall in the top 5% of grade schools in the state.  Yeah, you read correctly.  We're in the top 5%, out of the entire state.  WooHoo to our amazing teachers!  And high fives to all our parent volunteers who help, there are lots of them. 

The high school marching band came down to help the grade school celebrate the achievement.  It was a really fun end to our day.  The kids absolutely loved it!

On a side note, I love living in a small community.  I know most people at the school by sight, if not by name.  I know, me, really bad with names, knowing quite a few people by name.  Pretty cool.  I digress.  I love knowing most of the people who live around us.  It is just nice.

Did I Fail To Mention?

I'm afraid I just do not have guest accommodations for dragonflies.  So sorry to be such a bother.  But when you just fly in out of the blue like that, you really can't expect a person to have dinner ready and waiting.

This beautiful dragonfly flew in while I was doing dishes.  It then tried to fly out the closed window at full speed.  That did not go quite as well as it had hoped.  I finally managed to get it into a jar so that it could be safely transported back outside.  The kids loved seeing this giant of an insect up close. 

It did make a full recovery, and was last seen swooping in on a mosquito.

Timing is Everything

So this last weekend, for the first time in 10 years (I think), we (as in our little family of 4) made the trek to the other side of the state for the big family cider press.  It is a yearly tradition, one that goes back before I was born.  Great Grandpa had a cider press.  We still use that same press. 

So much fun!!  Two crates of apples, lots of willing hands, and two cider presses. 

Whee!  Busy day!  Since my cousin brought along his press, it made the work go so much faster.  Allowing us to finish both crates of apples in about 4 hours. 

Total cider pressed: a few over 70 gallons (we didn't get an exact count before some people needed to take a few and head out).  And it is really yummy.  Spicy and sweet.  MmmmmHmmm!

No Really, I'm Serious

Or as serious as I can be while my daughter has a handlebar moustache on her lip.

One Last One

I got one last pretty picture of my roses before the rain storm hit.

For those Unshiney Days

At this house, we have a plan to combat the rainy season.  In other words we have lots of alternative activities for the 8 months of the year that we cannot count on the weather to be nice.  We play in the rain, but after a while we get wet and cold, and then it's time for inside fun.  So we have Legos.  Lots and lots of Legos.  And we all like to play with the Legos.  No really, it is a family activity. 

We all teamed up on making farm equipment.  When it was finally time to be done (it was dinner time), we had a tractor, spray rig, drill, 2 quads, trailer, and some other miscellaneous farm stuff (barn, shed, house, horse stall, etc.).

Boy oh boy was that fun!!  I really do love it when we all sit down like that.  Having family time is so nice.