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This is one of those cookies that you can’t eat just one. Pumpkin Cookies with brown-butter icing is a favorite fall cookie for our family. They are soft and tender with a nice balance of cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg spices mixed in. Each cookie is topped with a layer of sweet browned butter icing. I discovered this recipe about ten years ago in a Martha Stewart Living magazine. Over the years I have changed and adapted the recipe just the slightest to suite my taste.
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As I was putting this blog post together my intention was to share a recipe from one of Julia Child’s cookbooks, but things don’t always go as planned. I have expanded from one recipe to four and added some personal stories relating to Julia Child. I hope you enjoy this blog post and maybe be inspired to try one of her recipes. Bon Appetit!
My earliest introduction to Julia Child was during my childhood years. My parents would tune to her television cooking shows on PBS and often times I was there to watch it with them. Having followed her over the years, I didn’t attempt to make anything she featured on her shows or from her cookbooks until my later years when I started to cook for Bill and I. Early in our marriage, Bill noticed I was missing one particular cookbook and surprised me with a brand new copy of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking“. The cookbook became my resource for basic cooking questions such as how to boil eggs, cook vegetables, and bake simple desserts. I can’t recall which particular recipe was my first attempt, but one I do remember well was trying to follow all the steps to the recipe on how to make the perfect scrambled eggs {oafs brouillés}. The recipe called for 8 eggs…I might have reduced the quantity by half for the two of us and I think it came out well and we ate it. I have expanded my repertoire since then, but there are still many more recipes that I look forward to trying. Julia Child published her first cookbook in 1961 and her last book came out in 2006, “My Life in France“. To see the entire collection of all her cookbooks, the Julia Child Foundation has on their website a page chronicling them all and when they were published.
· print recipe, Scrambled Eggs ·
Transform ordinary cookies, doughnuts, and cupcakes into something spooky and slightly creepy for Halloween. Whether they are homemade or store bought treats, with the addition of little googly eyes will instantly turn them into little monsters and creatures that the kids will have fun eating. A little dab of royal icing onto the back of each one of these eyes will hold it in place. These adorable candy eyes can be homemade with royal icing or purchased at the grocery stores or specialty stores. The royal icing recipe is available at the end of the blog post.
Pears are in season and I’ve been serving up homemade Pear Muffins for breakfast. For this particular recipe, I used Bartlett pears, but any other type of pear will be just as delicious. It is especially nice to bake a batch of it during the weekends and enjoy it with the family.
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The farms are officially open for pumpkin picking. Last weekend, Bill and I decided to go out for a drive and visit the nearby farms to see what they have for us this year. The kids had other plans and wanted to stay home and rest. They will probably go with me at a later date to get their carving pumpkins. It worked out great for us to have some time together on a little excursion even if it was just out looking for pumpkins. We had country music playing on the radio as we talked and had great conversations about things. When we arrived at the farm, it was still early in the morning and the fields had not been disturbed. I could see the different colors scattered throughout the fields, and of course my eyes went directly to where the blue, gray, and white pumpkins were growing. We had the whole field to ourselves. Each pumpkin was just as beautiful as the next one. I had the hardest time deciding which one to pick. We walked through the fields and wondered back and forth many times. After two hours, our wheelbarrow was full. It was a successful trip. We came home with over 150 pounds of pumpkins in the back of the truck. They were cleaned and trimmed of extra vines and leaves before I placed them inside the house.
