Monday, November 1, 2010

An attitude of gratitude, and the birth of a cookie.

I know, it's a random post title...humor me...
:o}
First, let's talk gratitude. It seems somewhat surreal that today is November 1st. {How did that happen?} As we celebrate Thanksgiving in America at the end of this month, November is a month for giving thanks, for being grateful for the many blessings we have. For the most part I think I'm pretty good at being mindful of my blessings, but November just seems like the time to step up the gratitude gig.


Yes, November is the time for an attitude of gratitude.
And food made with pumpkin.

I've been wanting to find a good pumpkin cookie recipe so this past weekend I did a little internet searching and found one {here}. I changed it up a bit by adding extra vanilla and cinnamon, used 1/2 brown sugar and 1/2 white sugar, and I added a sprinkle of ground cloves.

I wanted to try the recipe with a few variations ~ different things mixed in ~ and Doug was assigned the taste-testing duties. {Poor Douglas...I do ask a lot of him at times...}

The first batch I made a larger cookie, and frosted them with a cream cheese frosting a friend of mine had made. VERY yummy!!! (Doug ended up liking this version the best.)

Second batch: same as the first, just a smaller version and not as much frosting. These were good, but after the first batch with all that yummy frosting they seemed a bit weak.

Third batch: I mixed in some chocolate chips thinking this would be the winner. Never in my life have I made this statement, and I pray that I will never have cause to make it again, but here it goes: the cookies tasted awful with chocolate mixed it. ~sigh~


Fourth batch: Doug protested when he heard that I was putting butterscotch chips on top. "I'm not really crazy about butterscotch chips..." Turns out they were really good and Doug changed his mind after the first bite!
Fifth and final batch: These had raisins and pecans mixed in, with a little frosting piped on top. These were really good and ended up being my personal favorite.

A big thank you to my accommodating hubby for all that exhausting tasting. This recipe is a winner and I'll definitely be baking these again during the holidays. I plan to tie them up in pretty packages for door-to-door gift giving with our neighbors.

How about you? Are you starting to think about holiday baking?

I plan to end every November post with a little gratitude. So:
* I am grateful that I have the means to buy groceries to make cookies whenever I want.
* I am grateful for an oven that works really well.
* And I'm grateful for a sweet husband to help eat the goods.

10 comments:

Maria Ontiveros said...

I love your gratitude list. Karen was doing a weekly gratitude post for a while, and I liked how it made me pause and reflect.
Rinda

M.L. @ The House of Whimsy said...

What a great idea. I've also heard of Gratitude Journals that you write in each night before going to bed.
These cookies look delish!!
And your Snap, Crackle, Pop costumes below must have been a HUGE hit at work last Friday. So original! : )

Sian said...

I love random posts - though this one seems very well thought out and carefully researched with all that testing! They do look delicious, and I love anything with raisins in so that version would be a winner for me too I think.

Beverly said...

Oh how unselfish of your dh to put up with testing all these cookies :) If you want to try another variation, a local bakery makes white chocolate chunk pumpkin cookies and they are sooooo good!

Stephanie @ La Dolce Vita said...

It was good of Doug to man up and eat the cookies! And wow Deb, that was a lot of cookie dedication on your part! Love the gratitude post too!

Mom said...

Oh, yum! Save me one! I'm partial to raisins in pumpkin things!

Some nights when I'm having trouble sleeping, I start listing and counting all my blessings. I usually fall asleep before I get half-way through. What a wonderful life when your blessings far out-number your problems!! Thanks for a great post, Sweetie! xo

humel said...

They all look delicious (though obviously the nut variety would be out for me, and shame about the chocolate) - lucky neighbours! :-)

And I love your idea of including gratitude in each post xx

MarleneMAZ said...

These look delicious! I love how you share your recipes and even give step by step instructions. The only reason I do not bake any more is that I would be the only one eating them!

Margaret said...

I'm grateful for your blog, which is always so warm-hearted and pretty to look at.

Anonymous said...

Love the look of those cookies and love the gratitude at the end of your post.

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