From there, we rode home, finished some cooking and headed off to Greensprings to visit with Grandma, Krissy, Casey, Sue & Patrick. We took along some Pumpkin cookies (recipe courtesy of Pat Hurst & Molly Gearke) and Cranberry White Chocolate Blondies - Yum.
It was good to catch up with everyone - Patrick was recently in Metamorpheses (school play) - you can read the review. Look for him in the next school event, the Musical Annie. (Just kidding about him being in it - although it is the school play...)
Then off to give the horses Thanksgiving dinner - fairly similar to the daily regime of grain :) Meanwhile, the temperature was dropping about 20 degrees with wind and rain to boot. At long last, we were off - to go to Kristy & Linwood's for dinner. Twice Baked Potato Casserole and
Pear/Cranberry Pie were our contributions. Kristy did a great job with readying all of the standard goodies - turkey, sweet potatoes (topped with pineapple and marshmallow, of course), green beans, rolls, salad and DELICIOUS stuffing. All went great. The girls were adorable - Kate is so interactive and loves her little sister :)
The pie was okay, kind of fell apart - it should be GREAT on vanilla ice cream. Cookies and Kristy's pumpkin pie saved dessert. Then out in the cold to drive home. It was a long, full, wonderful day - of remembering how thankful we are for our family, our health, our friends and each other.
And just in case you care to replicate any recipes ...
(I make no promises, though as I tend to tinker with recipes when I make them)
Cranberry Blondies (Preheat 350) -
courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens (November 2007)
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt (I end up leaving this out)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (and then I added 1/4 tsp almond extract)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dried cranberries (I used a mixture of orange flavored craisins and plain craisins)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate (I used white chocolate chips)
1 cup fresh (mine were frozen) cranberries
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 9x9x2 inch baking pan with foil. Coat foil with cooking spray or butter and set aside.
2. In large mixing bowl beat butter with wire whisk or electric mixer until softened. Whisk or beat in sugars, baking powder, soda and salt. Whisk or beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. With whisk, or with electric mixer on low speed, beat in flour.
3. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate. Spread batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle with fresh cranberries, press in lightly with a spatula (don't stir - this will leave red streaks). Bake 25-30 minutes or utnil toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. (Mine took almost 45-50 minutes to bake).
4. Cool on wire rack 1 hour. Lift with foil to remove from pan, cut into bars.
Recommended to serve with cinnamon whipped cream (mix 1/2 cup whipping cream and 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon - beat with mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form)
Molly's Pumpkin Cookies - courtesy of Molly Gearke (via Pat Hurst)
Ingredients
2 1/2 c flour (I used a little more - maybe 1/4 cup?)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp gr cloves (I omitted, but added ginger instead)
1/2 cup soft butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
3T milk
1 cup canned pumpkin (I used a bit more since a small can is more than one cup)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt (I omitted)
Frosting
1T melted butter
2 c powder sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1. combine flour, baking powder, soda & spices - set aside
2. cream butter & sugar - add pumpkin, egg & vanilla to creamed mixture, beat til creamy.
3. mix into butter mixture the flour ingredients
4. drop on cookie sheet -
5. Bake 15 - 20 min - Cool - Frost
They are rather cake like, but delicious.
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