I love the fall. The air gets crisp, the leaves explode with color, and as you all know, fall in the Northwest is pretty much our last opportunity to get a glimpse of the sun. However, I think what I love most is the food. Food in the fall is hearty; designed to warm from the inside out. There is something so homey about meals enriched with the deep, earthy flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, and curry. These spices enhance my food with just the right amount of substance. Anyway, I promise I have a purpose for this entry beyond rambling about the benefits of fall and its food.

I have a couple fall-centric recipe I'd like to share with everyone. Lately I've had a lot of 8-hour training days for our new POS system. I spend a lot of this time either looking for recipes, or thinking about my mom's recipes. Will this lack of listening bite me when I have to actually do my job? Most likely. But I have a lot more fun, so I consider it worth it.

The first recipe is something I tried making for the first time a couple weeks ago. I found it on a wonderful cooking blog, Smitten Kitchen (www.smittenkitchen.com). This woman has a ton of wonderful, inventive recipes that are usually rather easy to make. While this one takes some time, it's actually a lot of fun, and as she says, they are so friggin cute...

Apple Pie Cookies (as adapted from Smittenkitchen.com)

First of all, here is the link to her blog post. I encourage anyone wanting to try this recipe to go to the source, http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/10/apple-pie-cookies/

Now, I pretty much followed her recipe, but I'll add my own suggestions to what I would add to make them even more delicious. All of my comments will be in green.

Crust
2 1/2 cups (313 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting surfaces, dipping fork
2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar (doubled from my standard pie dough to make this more cookie-like)
1 teaspoon (4 grams) table salt
2 sticks (225 grams, 8 ounces, 16 tablespoons or 1 cup) unsalted butter, very cold
1/2 cup (118 ml) water, very cold (I pour 1 cup and add ice while I work, then measure 1/2 cup from it when I need it)

When you read her blog, take note of what she says about working with chilled pie dough. She isn't kidding. I had to put mine in the refrigerator several times as I was making these. I would also add that you should work the dough as little as possible. The more dough is worked, the tougher and drier it becomes. Since the crust is at the forefront of flavor for this recipe, you'll want to avoid that.

Filling
3 medium apples, whatever you like to bake with (I use either Fuji or Granny Smith since they are crisp and won't get mushy as they cook)Squeeze of lemon juice (optional)1/3 cup (67 grams) granulated sugar (I used brown sugar, since I think it adds to the flavor more than granulated)
1 teaspoon (2 grams) ground cinnamon
Few gratings fresh nutmeg
A pinch of any other spices you like in your apple pie (I added about 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla powder (Market Spice at Pikeplace Market has a delicious version), and just a smidgen of ground cloves)


To finish
1 large egg
Coarse or granulated sugar for garnish (I used brown sugar mixed with cinnamon)

Something I'd like to try:

- melt down (or make your own) caramel and add it to the filling or drizzle it over the top of the finished cookies.

You can find the rest of the recipe at smittenkitchen.com (just click on the link I provided above). You all really should peruse Deb's website. She is a home cook, and her recipes reflect the kind of innovation and simpleness that most homecooks need.

If any of you do try this, please let me know how it goes.