Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

Happy Fall everyone.  This is one of my favorite seasons and it somehow always ends up feeling like the shortest season of the year! This year we are celebrating from the get-go and for the first day of fall we celebrated by making our very favorite fall treat, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars.  I actually had to do a search on the blog because I couldn't believe I'd never posted about them before.  Friends, they are so, so good.  They are a Martha Stewart Recipe and the only change I made was to swap out semi-sweet chocolate chips for dark chocolate chips.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

2 cups flour

2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

12 oz. dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line bottom and sides of a 9x13 baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda and salt.

In an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until smooth.  Beat in egg and vanilla until combined.  Beat in pumpkin puree (it might look curdled but it's fine).  Mix in dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips.  

Spread batter in pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.  Cool completely in pan.  Lift cake from pan, peel off foil and cut into squares (approximately 24 squares). 

A little letter to fall

Fall 2007

Dear Fall,
Why did you abandon us?  For a few glorious days you teased us into buying cider, wrapping up in quilts and pulling out our flannel pajamas.  Your mysterious disappearance has prompted a warm, damp and very humid substitute to take your place, but he is not welcome here anymore.  Nats and mosquitoes are taking advantage of your absence.  Windows have once again been shut.  Shorts and sandals that had been given time off have been called back into service.  The massive amounts of moisture are causing pumpkins and gourds, your very symbols of the season, to rot on their stems (not to mention making it very difficult for any work to get done on my house).  People who are normally cheerful beings have turned grumpy and lethargic.  You, and you alone, can turn this tide around. Please, please come back and reclaim your rightful place!  We miss you.

Love,
Anna, Bryce, Harris and Grace

Apple Cider

I'm so happy that fall is here. To celebrate the chill in the air I've been making batches of my favorite apple cider. It's scrumptious and delicious and I thought I would share it with you! It is a recipe from Susan Branch (love her!) and this is the perfect time of year to make it.

To take the whole experience to the next level, enjoying sipping your cider with a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie. Heaven!

Fall Deliciousness

Three years ago when we moved here several people told me that it would take 2 to 3 years for this to feel like home.  I thought they were crazy.  Now I know they weren't.  While it hasn't taken us three years to put down roots and make friends, it has taken that long to really start appreciating all that is around us.  First, we live in an awesome town.  Think Norman Rockwell.  Secondly, we have access to a lot of neat things.  Last week I discovered two things that I can't believe I haven't explored before.  

A friend brought this fabulous apple juice to a gathering that we had.  It was so good that the adults were drinking it over ice.  It is made locally and sold at a farm stand that is right outside of our town.  I stopped by and couldn't believe what a treasure I had been missing!  Not only was it cute but it sold flowers, produce and locally made things such as the apple juice.  I bought three things and plan on going back.  Happy October!

Now It's Fall

I had big plans for the children and I to usher Fall in today.  After school we were going to the apple orchard to pick apples and read some books about fall and Johnny Appleseed.  

Then Grace threw up at school.  Harris and I had walked up to the library, and I had forgotten my cell phone.  I strolled home to find Bryce and my mom both pulling in the driveway. Apparently since I was unreachable the school called Bryce, who called my mom- who was waiting for an appliance repairman.  When he left my mom set out to pickup Grace.  Meanwhile, Bryce also left to pick up Grace.  Mass confusion (for me) ensued.  The moral of the story is to try really hard to bring my phone with me everywhere I go.  I'm really bad about that.

What did our parents do before cellphones?  

Even though we couldn't go to the orchard we read the sweetest book, "Now It's Fall" by Lois Lenski.    The book is the size of your hand and the pictures are very vintage, which of course they are because the book was first published in 1948.  The verse of the book covers pretty much every aspect of fall in a really sweet and gentle way.