After much deliberation, I decided on some pumpkin cookies with brown sugar frosting. It was not an easy decision, but I have zero regrets.
But, first, I have a confession.
I used a can of pumpkin.
My sister brought it as a present when she visited earlier this year (oh, yeah, still haven't shared those trip details yet...). I was impressed by everyone's hard work with REAL pumpkins, I didn't have the courage to admit to using a highly-in-demand can of pumpkin puree. But I did. Sorry girls!
This is the recipe I used for Melt-in-your-mouth Pumpkin Cookies. Obviously my cookies look nothing like the picture, but boy did they taste good -- with and without frosting. Side note, the frosting also tastes good with or without the cookie. Strange fact, I froze some to stop me from eating them all...but they didn't really freeze! They tasted really good cold...
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| Discovering a mixer in my apartment was great for my poor hands. |
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| Two American-expat-musthaves -- thank you to the best sister ever. |
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| It's a frosting river basically. |
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| A little cinnamon on top for fun. |
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| The recipe actually yielded 60 cookies. I'm afraid how many I ate. |
I decided to also offer a Halloween cocktail. After a lot of searching, I ended up with the Enchanted Cocktail because it sounded simple and good...and it had the least amount of ingredients. But first I had to infuse vodka with some of my precious candy corn (limited stash!). Actually, BUT FIRST, I had to buy vodka. Which I decided to do on a whim...post run...while stopping at the store for Rice Krispies. Basically, long story short, if you try to Rice Krispies and a small bottle of vodka while wearing workout clothes, a pony tail, and no makeup, you will carded...even in Germany. I did not have an ID on me, so I left with just the cereal that day.
Fast forward to buying vodka, realizing it wasn't enough, and buying more, infusing vodka with candy corn is probably one of the easiest things to do. You just have to let the candy corn soak in the vodka and shake it every now and then. It look about 30 minutes. Then you pour some in a glass and top it off with Prosecco. To be honest, it wasn't as good as I expected, but it wasn't bad. I am assuming everyone else tolerated it too because there were no empty glasses.
As far as decoration, I used things I already had on hand. My friend, Erica, gave me the most awesome-smelling candle while I was home: Pumpkin Cupcake. Since my mom's Halloween package arrived too late last year, I was able to use my "lab" sprinkles, paper plates, and napkins. Plus, she send me the most fabulous Halloween card, I saved it and put it out again this year! My grandma is a big sticker fan, so she sent me back with a load of Halloween stickers. I cut some of them up into batches of three to four stickers and used them a table deco with the added bonus that everyone could take some home. And, I finally, bought a bunch of my favorite flower, dahlias.
Finally, my guests arrived! I was a little worried because I invited more people than I've ever had in my apartment at one time, but sadly a few people couldn't come at the last minute, so it all worked out for the best in the end. And for those of you that have been to my apartment, I moved my desk into the open area as a big table. It worked really well, but even I don't recognize the space in pictures! We talked and ate and played Catchphrase and then ate some more. It was a wonderful celebration of the pumpkin season. Even if we did overdo it just a smidge ;)
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| All eight of us! Bottom right is a giant bucket of home-made "America" whipped cream. |
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| Now I want to make pumpkin soup! I watched the master :) |
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| My fave - pumpkin pie! |
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| Should have taken a picture before we dug in ;) |
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