recipe: pumpkin whoopie pies

I had a can of pumpkin purée burning a hole in my pocket for days - actually since last year.  It's been sitting, patiently waiting for its time to shine ever since I bought extra cans of pumpkin in my effort to make my first ever pumpkin pie.  Turns out, first time was a charm on the pumpkin pie and I didn't need the extra can o' pumpkin puree.  And so it sat.  Waiting. Wishing that I would find some recipe to try so that the pumpkin puree can shine in all its autumnal glory (sometimes I get a little dramatic with my fall words as it is my favorite season.)   

So after pinning about 75 different pumpkin recipes on Pinterest, I finally settled on pumpkin whoopie pies. I spooned the cookie dough onto the cookie sheet about the size I typically make chocolate chip cookies ~ this here was problem numero uno. ~ Next time I make these I will be sure to scrap that idea, fight my urges of the typical cookie ball and make dough balls that are about a teaspoon in size. Otherwise the entire Duggar family will be able to feast on one whoopie pie. Not only do the cookies puff up, but the cream cheese frosting for the middle is so incredibly good / rich that I could really only handle 2 bites.

The good news is that my mom freezes pumpkin bars all the time; she is the queen of freezing everything. Seriously. I do not kid on topics such as freezer foods.  It's serious business. 

Cheese? In the freezer.

Crackers? In the freezer.

Pumpkin bars? In the freezer. And they are so incredibly delicious even once they spent some time in the freezer, frosting and all.

So I knew that even though these seemed to be way too many cookies for Mike and I to enjoy on our own over the course of a few days, that my efforts would not go to waste.  I frosted some into sandwich cookies but then froze the rest as individual cookies.  In the future, I think I'll make the frosting and keep in a container in the frig and then we'll take out just what we want to eat for dessert that night, let the cookies thaw and then frost them with the oh-so-delicious maple cream cheese frosting.  They defrost quickly ~ typically if we have a light dinner, I'll snag a few cookies out of the freezer as I'm cleaning up the kitchen after dinner and voila they have thawed by the time we want a little snack.  Had we not froze them, we might gain 30 lbs in 2 days just by having them available to us.  This dessert is like the gift the keeps on giving for us ~ I am pretty sure that we'll be enjoying this treat all fall long. 

The freezer is a good thing, my friends, a very good thing.  

Click here to get the recipe for the Brown Eyed Baker's Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. 

smell of fall

Soup on the burner, pumpkin spice coffee drank this morning, new fall TV shows about to start, the pumpkin spice & amaretto candle burning.  All signs point to the arrival of fall...

Now, could someone please tell the 90+ degree temperatures to leave?!

PS - the pumpkin spice & amaretto candle is from *Target - from the Melt collection (which I think is relatively new, I could be wrong, but I am known to frequent the candle aisle in search of a new candle and this brand jumped out at me a few weeks ago).  Literally leapt off the shelf.

No, not literally.  Candles can't jump.


*Target has not sponsored me in any way, but it sure would be cool, if they would! 

cornucopias need not apply

This year, I felt the need to decorate for fall. There are a few stipulations to decorating in this household however - with very little storage space, things must either be able to be kept up all year long (Valentine's wreaths have remained up for 2 years...it's ok though because they are pretty non-valentiney, just red and made of feather boas, frankly what living room wouldn't need a feather wreath? hello?) Other stipulations include: things that are edible or cheap and can be used as raccoon food after a few short months, or are just plain old super cool.  We can always find room to store super cool things in this house.

Ok, now onto the fall decorations:

I walked into the grocery store recently and found these gourds for 99 cents a piece.  It was still 105 degrees out, so when the lady at the checkout counter asked me what I was going to do with these, I politely replied. It's fall...somewhere, therefore it's time to decorate.  I have no idea why that check out lady was judging me but apparently I was the first person to use food products for decorating in 105 degree heat...I'm not sure, either way, I'm a big fan of fall, even if it doesn't quite feel like it here.

Squirrel candle - gift from my big sister - Isn't she the best? Well, one of the best, I have 3 big sisters and I like to be politically correct.  So, you are all the best. (bonus points however, if any of you read my blog...hmm.)

Walking around Target one night, I found acorn potpourri...hello! match made in heaven! ladies and gentlemen, we have a bingo! fall decorating. check.

what a day!

 bliss.  83 degrees. sunny. fall colors everywhere. 

I hereby decree that anytime I complain about the winter rain or the summer heat, you must remind me about today. What a wonderful day.  Just the day for a walk.  Barkley and I did just that.

Fall

It's Fall!

Yippee, yahoo!

This is my most favorite season!

[photo credit]

Now, could someone PLEASE tell the weather gods to remove the triple digit temperatures from Northern California! Puh - lease, this girl has got to store her shorts already! Now, I know what you are thinking, AnnE, Hello! You live in NORTHERN California, everyone knows that it's always chilly. Haven't you ever heard that quote from Mark Twain?  "The coldest winter was a summer in San Francisco"?!?! Let me tell you, Mr. Twain, if you would had just gone over the Bay Bridge and through that Caldecott Tunnel, it's hot as Hades in the East Bay. 

Pardon my rants on the micro climates.

Now where was I?  Oh yes, Fall.  Tis the season for pumpkin spice lattes, football and chicken tortilla soup.  Throw in our wedding anniversary and you've got three glorious months! 

 [photo credit]

Go Badgers! This picture just makes me want to Jump Around!

mmm...honeycrisp...

[photo credit]

We LOVE fall. We love fall so much we got married in the fall (except it was 90 degrees that day but the leaves were changed so it was still fall). We love college football. We love baseball playoffs, we love crisp cool evenings and sweaters and jeans. Everything about fall is wonderful.

Our most favorite part of fall though has to be eating a HONEYCRISP apple a day. We are addicted to those expensive little apples that were born in Minnesota. Nothing says fall more than a honeycrisp apple. Since this is our first fall of not living in the midwest, we were concocting ways of getting shipments of honeycrisp apples sent directly to us and then one wonderful day in September in the produce section of the grocery store we find a light shining down on the most glorious food in the whole wide world...WE GET HONEYCRISP APPLES in NORTHERN CALIFORNIA!!! woo-hoo!

San Francisco's Fleet Week

I've never seen an air show.

I've never been to Fleet Week.

Wow. Coolest thing ever.

[don't you think you would throw up if you did this? i would.]

[yikes! blue angels]



[4 jets that performed before the blue angels. they were really great.]

[this big plane moved with such grace]

[tall ship. this guy always is in the bay, but i just love it.]

The blue angels along with biplanes and some other jets entertained us for a few hours and it was wonderful. I thought that each trick was better than the last. People around me said, just wait for the Blue Angels, they are The.Most.Amazing. So we waited. We waited for a few hours in not enough clothing because I always seem to misjudge how freaking cold San Francisco's wind can be. It seriously could rival Chicago. Seriously. Anyways, the Blue Angels made their entrance and went directly over our heads. Never in my life have I heard anything so loud. So loud in fact, I felt as if I understood every dog that was cowering behind their owner. I cowered behind Mike for a moment. The Blue Angels made two or three passes and then were gone. We waited around for a half hour or so until a nice little Park Ranger told us to go home. The fog was coming in too low for the Angels to continue safely. The end. Too bad. Mike and I were pretty bummed, but understood that it needed to be done. We were just happy to experience the few minutes of Military awesomeness. Seriously, Fleet Week is awesome. And I also love to see all the sailors walking around. Such a great day.

If there were any weekend in specific that I would recommend someone to visit San Francisco, it would be Fleet weekend. Fall is so spectacular here. Yes, it's a bit chilly, but if you dress properly it is perfect...and aren't a wimp like this girl from Minnesota! This event was so cool and really celebrates the diversity of city, because you can really tell that this event really brings out the locals. The people watching in San Francisco is like no other place I've ever been and having hundreds of thousands of people to watch today at Fisherman's Wharf was just the reminder I needed to say, "Wow! Look at where we live! This is fabulous."