Saturday, October 31, 2009

An Autumn Tradition

Caroline Joy Photography is having a fall contest! Write a blog post about your favorite fall tradition and mention her in your blog, linking back to it, and be entered in a drawing for a $50 Anthropologie gift card. Read all about it here.

One of my favorite fall traditions is baking. Of course, I love to bake all year round, but there's just something about cooler, crisp air, and fall flavors that makes it more enjoyable, and almost more appropriate. Coming in from the cool weather outside to a house full of the smells of spices seems so...perfect. Now, seeing how it's fall, there's just something about baking with pumpkin. Is it just me, or does pumpkin pie just seem...wrong...at a 4th of July picnic, or even at a New Years party? Pumpkin belongs with fall like watermelon belongs with summer.


Back in 2004 when I lived in Poland, finding canned pumpkin was (and probably still is) impossible. Fresh pumpkins were almost impossible to find, but I found one, just in time for Thanksgiving!


Pumpkin Pie coffee creamer is only available during select (read: fall) seasons. Just like pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks, pumpkin muffins at The Moose is Loose, and fun-sized bags of Snickers bars. Sigh.

Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, and even pumpkin-flavored coffee have always been a part of my fall baking repertoire. But this year, for the first time, I ventured into the unknown: baking pumpkin pancakes. Last fall, Shannon and I went out for breakfast one morning and I tried pumpkin pancakes. They were so good that I wanted to make my own, but the craziness of the fall semester prevented me from ever trying to make them. This year, with leftover pumpkin in the fridge and a free morning, I conquered my fears and emerged victorious.


My first attempt at pumpkin pancakes. The result: delicious!

So...pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin cheesecake. Anyone out there have any other pumpkin recipes? Biscotti or scones, perhaps? Pumpkin cake or soup? We still have almost a month until Black Friday when fall is officially over, ushering in the Christmas season. So I still have a month with my friend the pumpkin before holly, mistletoe, and mulling spices take over. Please, bombard me with your favorite fall flavors!

4 comments:

  1. I'm with you! I love making all kinds of recipes using pumpkin! I've tried both pumpkin biscotti and pumpkin scones. I'm still on a hunt for a better scone recipe than what I made. The biscotti recipe I used was this one: http://www.christmas-cookies.com/recipes/recipe366.pumpkin-pie-biscotti.html
    They are VERY good!!
    I also came across a pumpkin chocolate chip muffin a few years ago. Give it a try. It's good too!!
    http://www.myrecipes-online.com/Tina/recipe/3974

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  2. I'm not a pumpkin pie fan, but everything else sounds and looks lovely! =oD

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  3. Hi. This is entirely unrelated to the topic of pumpkins but can you tell me what shirt you're wearing in the picture where you're holding the pumpkin? Thanks.

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  4. It says "Proud to Farm" shirt made by American Eagle. I found it in store in Poland with like 3 other American Eagle shirts...totally random, but I liked it. :-)

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Thanks for commenting!