Early Fall Mania

Hellooo! The leaves are changing, the temperatures are dropping... Summer is over and Autumn is approaching! Even though the temperatures drop below 60 one day and get close to 80 the next, Atlanta is thisclose to Fall and I'm so happy. While I'm not a personal fan of Pumpkin Spice Lattes, I can appreciate many other fall-themed things. On Saturday, Alex and I had a "FALLAPALOOZA" with our friends Alyssa and Graham down the road. We drank (hard) cider, carved pumpkins, and watched Halloween episodes of our favorite TV shows. I also made iced pumpkin cookies! I combined and altered two recipes I found on Pinterest for some delicious results. Scroll to the bottom for the recipe!

I also appreciate any excuse to decorate! Here I am enjoying last night's unusually warm weather on our balcony-- note the Deathly Hallows pumpkin.

I am a huge fan of fall decorations-- which is why I'm so excited to introduce these new Fall Wreaths to my Etsy Shop! Right now there are two variations available.  Check them out! 

Iced Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

Cookies

Original Recipe from Creme de la Crumb

• 1 cup butter, softened
• ½ cup canned pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 cup sugar
• ⅔ cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Icing

Original Icing Recipe from AllRecipes

• 1 T butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 T milk (I used almond milk)
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1-2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

To make the cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl mix together butter, pumpkin, sugar, powdered sugar, vanilla, and eggs until smooth.
3. In another bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.
4. Gradually mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients until smooth.
5. Roll dough into balls and place on baking sheet. Flatten with the bottom of a glass. If you make 2-inch balls, recipe makes 24. I made lots of smaller cookies with excellent results!
6. Bake for 10-14 minutes or until cookies start to look "dry". Cool completely.

To make the icing

1. Melt the butter. 
2. Combine butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice to taste. 
3. Use a spoon to ice the cookies or just do what I did-- dip the cooled cookies upside-down in your bowl of icing.