Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Well, it's fall. Any normal year, this is my favorite time of the year. In Alaska, we have a limited amount of time to enjoy the fall colors before winter gets here and I try to make the best of it. Alaskan scenery is gorgeous all the time, but I love when the leaves turn yellow up again the light blue sky. This time makes for some of the prettiest here in AK.

However...this year hasn't been cooperating. I believe I told you about the record snow fall last winter (beating out the record from the 1950's!)? Well, the record breaking winter was followed by one of the rainiest summers I have ever experienced, followed by a series of hurricane-force wind storms this fall. Winds were over 100 mph in the higher elevations. Thousands of people lost power which resulted in us losing our hot water heater for days. (Lucky for me my mom lives a few miles away and they had hot water!) I am blessed that the worst part of the damage for us was the lack of sleep and showers, others are still fixing the damages caused by the random Wednesday storm.

 These pictures are in our parent's backyard. Because the ground was so wet (record rainfall) when the wind started blowing at 80+mph the trees just tipped right over, pulling the root systems right out of the ground. The first picture is our dad, he is 6'3", so that shows you how tall those roots stood up.

 

 

 

THEN, this past Saturday, September 29th, that's right SEPTEMBER....I woke up to it snowing outside! I don't mean a little bit of frost on the ground that makes it appear to look like it snowed, I mean it was full on shaken snow-globe style snowing!

 

Determined that it is still technically fall (contrary to what the Alaska weather thinks), I made some yummy pumpkin snickerdoodles that I pinned from Six Sister Stuff. The snow eventually subsided, the sun came back out and there are minimal traces of snow left....for now.

Here is the recipe to make your house smell of wonderful fall:

Pumpkin Snickerdoodle
adapted from Six Sister Stuff blog

Ingredients:

For cookie dough
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 large egg
3 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

To roll the dough in:
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Dash of nutmeg

-Cream together butter, shortening, and sugars.
-Add egg and pumpkin puree, mix until blended.
-Add in flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt & cinnamon, mix until combined.
-Chill dough. (30 minutes in fridge or 10 minutes in freezer).
-Meanwhile, combine sugar, cinnamon and spices of your choice in a bowl.
-Scoop dough using cookie scoop of your choice, roll the dough in the cinnamon/sugar mixture and place on cookie sheet.
-Bake for 7-9 minutes.
Cool and enjoy!!

What do you bake to make your home smell like fall?

-Amanda