You press your face to the window. The leaves on the tree outside are an array of colors. Yellow like the glow of a setting sun. Orange like a flame. Burgundy like a carnation. You watch as the leaves rustle ever so slightly in the wind. Your eyes follow a leaf falling from its branch. It falls to the ground softly.
[<img
src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a0/3a/9c/a03a9c50a51049734c1666ddea157b9b.jpg" width=240 height=240>]
Pulling your face away, you lift your fingers and move your hand, unlocking the window latch. A breeze hits your face; it smells like (link: "wet earth after it has rained")[petrichor].
You sit on the couch and are hit with the aroma of cinnamon and vanilla from the candle you lit a few minutes ago. Wrapping yourself in a blanket, you pick up the remote and put on (link: "a show about a single Mom addicted to coffee raising her daughter")[Gilmore Girls]. You have been addicted to this show since you were a teen and watch it every fall as it’s a classic.
[[Continue]]
A pang hits your stomach. You get up, put on slippers, close the open window, and then walk over to the pantry. Tomato Soup, No. Graham Crackers, No. One can of pumpkin…maybe this is something you can work with. Nothing screams fall more than pumpkin.
You pick up the notebook with the yellowed pages, curled edges, and food splatters throughout the notebook. This book has seen better days, but it was your Grandma's and has her handwriting; you can't get rid of it. Flipping through the book you see grandma’s recipes, many of which were part of your childhood. You stop on Grandma's famous
[[Chocolate chip pumpkin cookies]]
[[Pumpkin cinnamon rolls]]
[[Pumpkin Pie]]
The warm flame heats up your pan and begins melting the butter. Making brown butter is going to take a while, but it’s the secret ingredient of these cookies. While the butter melts, you dump all the wet ingredients into a bowl. First, one can of pumpkin and then vanilla. Next, eggs. You open the fridge and look for your carton of eggs…only it’s gone. Your roommate must have used your eggs.
It looks like you’ll have to substitute some ingredients in Grandma’s recipe. You turn to see that the butter is now browned. You let it cool for a few minutes as you ponder what to use for an egg replacement.
Suddenly, it hits you:
[[Use Yogurt]]
[[Use Applesauce]]
[[Use Oil]]
Doing another sweep of your pantry, your eyes lock on a bottle of applesauce. You’ve used applesauce as an egg substitute before when making pancakes. It should work fine with cookies and may compliment the pumpkin well.
You crack open the jar of applesauce and measure out a ½ cup, dumping it into the bowl of wet ingredients.
[[continue the recipe]]
Doing another sweep of your pantry, your eyes lock on a bottle of canola oil. This makes you think back to the origins of (link: "Betty Crocker") [the nation-loved boxed cake brand. These cake boxes originally only required the baker to add water. However, housewives felt like this was cheating, so the recipe was changed to require eggs and milk]. If Betty’s mixes once didn’t require eggs maybe you should reconsider eggs. (link: "Reconsider.") [On second thought, Betty’s mixes had powdered eggs in them when you only had to add water. The oil is needed.]
You unscrew the cap of canola oil and guestimate a ¼ cup..that sounds about right as a substitute for one egg.
[[continue the recipe]]
Your eyes do a sweep of the pantry, but you see nothing you can use as an egg replacement. You move your attention to the fridge. Opening the fridge, the glow of the lightbulb illuminates the food. The smell of your roommate’s half-eaten, week-old leftovers hits your nose. She definitely forgot about them. Moving ingredients around, you finally stumble on a tub of yogurt pushed to the back of the fridge that you opened…a week ago? Yogurt should work as an egg substitute.
Placing the yogurt on your counter, you pick up a ½ cup measuring cup, take the lid off the yogurt, and dip it into the plain Greek yogurt.
*Plop*
The yogurt goes into the bowl with the pumpkin. Suddenly, a pungent smell hits your nose, worse than your roommate’s leftovers. It smells like rotten eggs, but you don't have any eggs. You pick up the yogurt and smell it. Upon closer inspection, the yogurt expired two months ago and had little specks of mold throughout it.
Picking up the bowl, you dump the mixture into the trash. That was your last can of pumpkin.
You are still craving this recipe; [[go to the store]] for more ingredients.
Starving, go heat up the [[tomato soup]] in your pantry.
You mix all of your wet ingredients and pull out a second bowl for dry ingredients. You measure out flour, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and clove. You search your pantry for baking soda but only find baking powder.
Use [[baking powder instead]].
You need this to turn out perfect, [[go to the store]].
On the drive to the store, you wait in thirty minutes of traffic because of construction. As soon as you are out of the construction traffic, your dashboard starts screaming at you to check your front passenger tire.
Pulling into a gas station, you park next to an air pump thinking the tire pressure is low. You get out and see a huge nail in the tire.
You abandon your plan of going to the grocery store and map to the closest tire shop. You end up spending the whole day waiting for your tire to get patched.
When you get home you no longer feel like baking. You didn't even make it to the store.
(Link: "You should consult Google for conversions") [Google tells you that you can substitute baking soda for 3x the amount of baking powder. You add 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder to the dry bowl and mix together all of the dry ingredients].
You preheat the oven to 350 and begin slowly incorporating the dry ingredients into the wet. Once they are combined you fold in the chocolate chips.
Make a [[cookie cake]]
Make [[2 inch cookies]]
As you lightly grease a cake pan, you hear the oven beep. It’s preheated! You push the cookie dough until it is flat. This cookie cake is going to be very thin!
You put your masterpiece in the oven and set a 30 minute timer. You turn back on Gilmore Girls while you wait.
Your timer never goes off, and you forget about the cookie cake, that is, until the fire alarm goes off. You open up the oven and are met with smoke. Your cookie cake is burnt to a crisp.
[<img
src="https://media.istockphoto.com/id/1169564962/photo/close-image-of-burnt-pie.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=OQercyyiaj73qXvI6dWXoGGYmaj4T9MVE3p5j6MSKEY=">]
No pumkin cookie cake for you :(
As you lightly grease your cookie sheet, you hear the oven beep. It’s preheated! You scoop the cookies and put the tray into the oven.
You put your masterpiece in the oven and set a 30-minute timer. You turn back on Gilmore Girls while you wait.
Once your timer goes off you put on a baking mitt and open the oven. A pumpkin aroma fills the air. You take the cookie sheet out and place it on top of the oven, letting it cool.
[<img
src="https://www.garnishandglaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies-4.jpg"width=240 height=300>]
A few minutes pass, and you decide it’s time to [[take a bite]].
The warm flame heats up your pot as you dump out the contents of the can of //Campbell's Tomato Soup//. You then add water to the pot so you aren't eating a bowl of condensed soup…you’ve done that a few too many times on accident.
The soup takes away the hunger pangs but is nowhere near as good as Grandma's recipe.
You pick up the biggest cookie you see and take a bite, only to spit it out. The cookie is not sweet at all.
You look at the notebook and realize you forgot to add brown sugar. The only thing sweet in the cookie is the chocolate chips, but they're not sweet enough to save the cookies. You dump the whole tray in the trash and resort to the can of [[tomato soup]] in the pantry.
''Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies''.
//1/2 cup browned butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 can pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of clove
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips//
Combine all wet ingredients in a bowl. Combine all dry ingredients into a bowl. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Once combined hand mix in chocolate chips. Preheat the oven to 350 and roll dough into 2 inch balls. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool and then enjoy!
This is exactly what you are craving. [[Start the recipe]]!
''Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls''
//To make the dough:
¾ cup milk.
¼ cup sugar.
1 packet of quick-rising yeast.
1 can pumpkin.
¼ cup butter
1 egg
4 cups flour.
2 tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice
A pinch of salt
Don’t forget (link: "the secret ingredient") [love]
The filling:
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
¼ cup butter
For the glaze:
4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar//
To make the dough: Warm the milk, then stir in the sugar and yeast. Let the yeast (link: "become bubbly")[bloom] for 2 minutes, and then dump the mixture into a large bowl. While the yeast is blooming, melt the butter. Mix the pumpkin, butter, and egg into the milk mixture. After, stir in flour, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Knead until you have dough, approximately 8 minutes. Oil a bowl, place the dough inside and then cover it with a towel. Move the bowl to a warm area and let rise for one hour.
In a small bowl, make the filling by combining softened butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
After an hour, roll out the dough, add in the filling, and then tightly roll the dough into a log. Take a bread knife and cut out 12 rolls. Bake at 350 in a 9x13 baking pan for 30 minutes.
While the dough is baking, make the glaze. Combine cream cheese and powdered sugar.
[[Begin the recipe]].//For the filling:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs
1can canned pumpkin
12 ounce can evaporated milk//
In a large bowl, combine eggs and pumpkin. Then mix in sugar, cinnamon, salt, and clove. Slowly stir in evaporated milk. Pour into an unbaked pie crust and bake at 375 for an hour. Let cool and Enjoy!
//For the pie crust:
2⅔ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon sea salt
2½ sticks of butter
Ice water//
In a blender, slowly combine the flour, salt, and butter. Once combined, you should have a crumbly mixture. Dump the mixture onto a lightly floured board and slowly add water while kneading. Knead until you get a firm dough. Chill in the fridge until ready to use.
This sounds delicious! [[Get started]].
As you read Grandma's recipe, memories come flooding back from your childhood of walking into Grandma's house and smelling the sweet aroma of freshly made cinnamon rolls. While this recipe is time-consuming, it is well worth it.
Placing a small pot on the stove, you turn on the burner, watching as a yellowish-red flame hits the bottom of the pot. Grabbing your glass Pyrex measuring cup and milk carton from the fridge, you measure out ¾ cup and dump it into the pot. You grab a wooden spoon and mix the milk to ensure it doesn’t burn. Seeing the milk begin to boil, you quickly turn off the burner, extinguish the flame, and dump in ¼ cup of sugar and a packet of yeast that you hope is still active.
Bubbles begin forming in the pot, causing you to let out a sigh of relief. Even though this packet has been in your pantry for two years, it’s still good.
You open the fridge, grab a stick of butter, cut it in half, remove the parchment paper wrapper, place the unsalted butter in a bowl, and then microwave it for 45 seconds. Dumping the butter and milk mixture into a large bowl, you open up the fridge and look for your carton of eggs…only it’s gone. Your roommate must have used your eggs.
It looks like you’ll have to substitute some ingredients in Grandma’s recipe. For an egg replacement, you’ll
[[Use Yogurt]]
[[Use Olive Oil]]
You’ll [[go to the store]] and buy a new carton.
Doing another sweep of your pantry, your eyes lock on a bottle of canola oil. This makes you think back to the origins of (link: "Betty Crocker") [the nation-loved boxed cake brand. These cake boxes originally only required the baker to add water. However, housewives felt like this was cheating, so the recipe was changed to require eggs and milk]. If Betty’s mixes once didn’t require eggs maybe you should reconsider eggs. (link: "Reconsider.") [On second thought, Betty’s mixes had powdered eggs in them when you only had to add water. The oil is needed.]
You unscrew the cap of canola oil and guestimate a ¼ cup..that sounds about right as a substitute for one egg.
[[Add in the pumpkin]].Looking at your can of pumpkin, you realize that it doesn’t have a pull tab. That would be fine if you had a can opener, but you don’t.
Open the can
With a [[knife]].
By [[banging the can on the counter]].
Use a [[screwdriver]].
Despite almost cutting yourself multiple times, you keep trying with the knife. You're not one to back down when given a challenge. It takes some time, but you eventually get the can of pumpkin open.
[[Continue the cinnamon rolls]].
(Link:"Hanger")[A feeling of hunger and anger] sets in, and you pick up the can violently banging it on your counter. With each bang, the can becomes more dented, but it’s still not opening. Trying again, the can hits the counter and suddenly explodes. You, your kitchen ceiling, and your counter are covered in canned pumpkin.
You give up on making Grandmas Recipe as it looks like a pumpkin was murdered in your kitchen.
Starving, after an hour of cleaning, you go heat up the [[tomato soup]] in your pantry.
You rummage through your hall closet and eventually find your screwdriver. Firmly holding the screwdriver, you place the head on the lip of the can and bang until you’ve created a hole big enough to get the pumpkin out.
[[Continue the cinnamon rolls]].
You dump the pumpkin into the bowl and add in pumpkin pie spice, then a pinch of salt. Finally, you mix in the flour.
To knead the dough, you
[[Knead by hand]]
[[Let your Kitchen Aid do the work]]
As you are kneading the dough, your hand begins to cramp up, but you push through until you have a perfect ball of dough.
Grabbing your biggest bowl, you coat the inside with oil and place in your ball of dough. Then you cover the dough with a clean dish towel and place it in the oven to rise.
[[Make the filling]]
Grandma gifted you this KitchenAid; she would be okay with you using it to knead the dough. Placing the dough into your KitchenAid you put in the dough hook. You lower the lid, turn on the lock, and place the speed to three. Setting a time for eight minutes, you begin to clean the kitchen.
BingBing
When the time goes off, you have a cleaned kitchen and a perfect ball of dough.
Grabbing your biggest bowl, you coat the inside with oil and place it in your dough ball. Then you cover the dough with a clean dish towel and place it in the oven to rise.
[[Make the filling]]
The sweet smell of brown sugar tickles your nose as you open the bag. Holding the ⅔ measuring cup, you scoop brown sugar and dump it into a small bowl. Then, eyeball the cinnamon. Finally, you add half a stick of butter. Stirring together the concoction, you decide to eat a small spoonful and the mixture melts in your mouth.
As you wait for the dough to rise, you turn back on Gilmore Girls and wrap yourself in a blanket.
After an hour, you pause your episode and put flour on your cutting board. You realize you don't have a rolling pin. Instead, you will use a
[[wine bottle]]
[[water bottle]]
[[vase]]
After preheating the oven, you grab a wine bottle from the fridge and roll out the dough until you get an even sheet of dough. Next, you spread your cinnamon butter mixture onto the dough and then roll the dough into a tight log. Finally, you cut the log into twelve pieces and stick those pieces onto a tray. You hear the ding of the oven signaling it’s preheated and place the cinnamon rolls in.
The house is quickly filled with the sweet aroma of sugar and cinnamon.
After 30 minutes, you [[pull the cinnamon rolls from the oven]].
After preheating the oven, you grab a waterbottle from the cupboard and roll out the dough until you get an even sheet of dough. Next, you spread your cinnamon butter mixture onto the dough and then roll the dough into a tight log. Finally, you cut the log into twelve pieces and stick those pieces onto a tray. You hear the ding of the oven signaling it’s preheated and place the cinnamon rolls in.
The house is quickly filled with the sweet aroma of sugar and cinnamon.
After 30 minutes, you [[pull the cinnamon rolls from the oven]].
After preheating the oven, you grab a vase and begin rolling out the dough. Suddenly, you hear a crack and look down to see the vase shatter all over your dough. Defeated you, throw away the dough, turn off the oven, and heat up the [[tomato soup]] in your pantry.Opening the oven door, warmth hits your face, and you smell the irresistible scent of cinnamon and sugar. The rolls are golden brown with a slight hint of orange from the pumpkin. Using a potholder, you carefully lift the pan and place it on top of the oven.
You grab a medium-sized bowl and quickly mix together cream cheese and powdered sugar. The mixture slightly melts as you spread it across the cinnamon rolls.
[<img
src="https://i.pinimg.com/236x/bb/a9/e2/bba9e22d34b7a8a5f426775d41c2a6e4.jpg">]
Your eyes scan the tray and lock on the biggest cinnamon roll. This is the one you want.
Biting into the cinnamon roll, you close your eyes. The dough is soft and pumpkiny. The filling is cinnamony, and the cream cheese frosting gives the perfect amount of savory to contrast the sweet.
You slowly blend flour, butter, salt, and water together until you have a crumbly dough. Your hand reaches into your flour canister and grasps onto a handful before sprinkling it across your counter. Slowly, you knead the crumbly dough until it comes together into a ball and then place it into your fridge to chill.
After placing a large bowl on the counter, you open the fridge and look for your cartoon of eggs…only it’s gone. Your roommate must have used your eggs.
It looks like you’ll have to substitute some ingredients in Grandma’s recipe. You turn to see that For an egg replacement, you’ll
[[go to the store]] and buy a new carton.
[[Use Yogurt]]
[[Use Canola Oil]]
Doing another sweep of your pantry, your eyes lock on a bottle of canola oil. This makes you think back to the origins of (link: "Betty Crocker") [the nation-loved boxed cake brand. These cake boxes originally only required the baker to add water. However, housewives felt like this was cheating, so the recipe was changed to require eggs and milk]. If Betty’s mixes once didn’t require eggs maybe you should reconsider eggs. (link: "Reconsider.") [On second thought, Betty’s mixes had powdered eggs in them when you only had to add water. The oil is needed.]
You unscrew the cap of canola oil and guestimate a 1/2 cup..that sounds about right as a substitute for two eggs.
[[Continue the pumpkin pie]]
You can’t make pumpkin pie without pumpkin! Looking at your can of pumpkin, you realize that it doesn’t have a pull tab. That would be fine if you had a can opener, but you don’t.
Open the can
With [[a knife]].
By [[banging the can on the counter]].
Use [[a screwdriver]].
Despite almost cutting yourself multiple times, you keep trying with the knife. You're not one to back down when given a challenge. It takes some time, but you eventually get the can of pumpkin open.
[[Continue the pie]]You rummage through your hall closet and eventually find your screwdriver. Firmly holding the screwdriver, you place the head on the lip of the can and bang until you’ve created a hole big enough to get the pumpkin out.
[[Continue the pie]]With the pumpkin in the bowl, you slowly hand mix until the eggs are incorporated. You take out your measuring cup, measure out ¾ cup of sugar, and dump it into the bowl with the pumpkin. Not wanting to add to your growing dish pile, you eyeball the cinnamon, salt, ginger, and clove. Once combined, you slowly mix the evaporated milk, which luckily does not have a pull tab.
With the filling ready, you pull out the chilled dough and preheat the oven. Digging through your cabinets, you realize you don't have a rolling pin. Instead, you will use a
[[bottle of wine]]
[[vase]]
The bottle is cool. You dust the dough and wine bottle with flour. You slowly roll out the dough, making sure to sprinkle flour when the dough becomes sticky. After two minutes you are happy with the thickness and place the dough into your (link: "pie dish") [red pie dish. Grandma gave you this pie dish because she knows how much you love making this recipe in the fall].
To make this pie look perfect, you crimp the edges and then dump in the pumpkin mixture.
It’s now time to [[bake]].
Carefully, you stick the pumpkin pie into the middle tray of your preheated oven.
After setting a time for 1 hour, you turn back on Gilmore Girls and wrap yourself in a blanket. Before you know it, 30 minutes have passed.
[[Check on the pie]].
[[Keep watching Gilmore Girls]].
Opening the oven, the earthy aroma of pumpkin and the sweetness of sugar and cinnamon tickle your nose. The crust of the pie is beginning to brown past your liking. To stop this, you take tinfoil and cover the crust before closing the oven door and letting the pie cook for another thirty minutes.
After thirty minutes, you open the oven and find a perfectly made pumpkin pie. Once the pie has cooled for a minute, you cut yourself a slice and finish your episode of Gilmore Girls.
[<img
src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/9f/b0/8a/9fb08a65aba8c9932d1c20098e3a3a82.jpg" width=240 height=300>]Opening the oven after an hour, the earthy aroma of pumpkin and the sweetness of sugar and cinnamon tickle your nose. Suddenly, the sweetness is overpowered by the smell of burnt crust. The crust of the pie is black. You let the pie cool and take a bite of the filling, but it tastes bad.
[<img
src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/11/27/19/2EDC076000000578-3336385-Rough_around_the_edges_Amanda_s_pumpkin_pie_came_out_of_the_oven-a-35_1448651528920.jpg" width=240 height=300>]
Starving and disapointed, go heat up the [[tomato soup]] in your pantry.
↶↷You press your face to the window. The leaves on the tree outside are an array of colors. Yellow like the glow of a setting sun. Orange like a flame. Burgundy like a carnation. You watch as the leaves rustle ever so slightly in the wind. Your eyes follow a leaf falling from its branch. It falls to the ground softly.
Pulling your face away, you lift your fingers and move your hand, unlocking the window latch. A breeze hits your face; it smells like wet earth after it has rained.
You sit on the couch and are hit with the aroma of cinnamon and vanilla from the candle you lit a few minutes ago. Wrapping yourself in a blanket, you pick up the remote and put on a show about a single Mom addicted to coffee raising her daughter. You have been addicted to this show since you were a teen and watch it every fall as it’s a classic.
Continue