Can you imagine 23 people sitting at a dinner table?
I can't either.
Well, I can imagine twenty-three people at a long banquet table in a cavernous room with candles blazing and servants bending at the guest's elbows. But I can't imagine twenty-three people sitting at a dining table in my little country cottage.
My dinner table sits eight people. Ten when the kids are all home and we squeeze really tightly together in a cozy family way. So the plan for Thanksgiving dinner is to put three or four tables together in our newly constructed house addition and put some chairs and benches around it. The new addition to our home has a roof and four walls but no insulation or electrical power. There is currently three inches of snow on the ground and more in the forecast. Needless to say, people need to eat fast before their food gets cold.
We'll be serving two turkeys, venison roast and ham. No shortage of animal flesh on our feast table!
Every year the Thanksgiving guest list grows. It may be the food but it also may be the shooting session that takes place on the mountain afterwards. People really like filling their bellies with turkey and taters and then shooting shot guns at flying clay pigeons. Usually I'm at home putting my feet up during the annual Annie Oakley shoot-outs, but I may go participate this year (if it isn't raining) just because- well, the more the merrier!
It's been a while since I have shared a recipe on my blog. I've been baking a lot of pumpkins in the last few weeks since it was the one crop that produced abundantly in the garden. I've made pumpkin pie, pumpkins soups and pumpkin bread. I'm still making cookies every day for the Expertec customers so this Thanksgiving week they are getting pumpkin cookies.
I looked at a few recipes for pumpkin cookies on the interwebs then tweaked one to fit my purposes. Most pumpkin cookies have a frosted top. I need to be able to stack the cookies in a jar and not have them stick together. I eliminated the frosting, added raisins and chopped walnuts and came up with a cookie that is like a muffin top. A not too sweet morning treat along side that cup of coffee while waiting for your car repairs to be finished.
The cookie "dough" is more like a batter for pumpkin bread.
Despite its soft quality, it stayed in place when spooned onto a cookie sheet.
They baked up into a nice cookie shape and were soft and chewy.
These spicy fall treats are a hit at the repair shop.
Pumpkin Spice Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together in the bowl:
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
Add and stir in:
1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)
Drop by spoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 12-13 minutes until the cookie is set and the edges are browned.
What are you all doing for Thanksgiving this week? Are you cooking? Are you a guest at someone's dinner table? Will there be 23 shivering people squeezed together trying to spread frozen butter on the rolls?