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Ready for the Fall season and Halloween?  Here is an updated post from Maddy to get you inspired! 

    Fall is arguably the best season. It's cozy, but not freezing cold, there are beautiful colors everywhere you go, and it's the start of the holiday season. And now at the end of September, it's finally socially acceptable to get totally immersed in it. We thought we'd kick off October with 3 easy crafts to bring a little Fall into your home.

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Who has heard of Crumbl Cookie? I haven't tried them out yet, but I have friends who seem to constantly rave about them and love them. I honestly feel like when I go to places like Crumbl and test out their product I just feel like I could have just made it myself.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on Crumbl. Like I said, I've never had a Crumbl cookie. Maybe someday I'll have one and think, "wow was I wrong! I could never emulate this delicious chewy cookie goodness!"

It did get me intrigued though. See, I had just gotten a giant cookie scoop and I wanted to try to make some big, bakery style cookies. I got on Crumbl's website and saw that one of their offerings was pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Guys. You know how I feel about pumpkin.

Hello, it's why I'm doing this pumpkin cookie series.

So, I made these giant, bakery style, chewy, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

These cookies are amazing. They're soft and chewy, but not cakey like many pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are. They taste like chocolate chip cookies, but with pumpkin in them.

The secret? Don't use eggs. The pumpkin is so moist, it replaces the egg. The result is a delicious, soft, chewy cookie that just tastes like fall.

With my large cookie scoop I can make twelve. It's easy to double the recipe to get 24. I made a double batch of these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to give to people as a thanks for all that they had done for us shortly before Elodie was born, and after she passed away.

So, without further ado, here is the recipe. Please make it, and if you're a Crumbl cookie fan, tell me if you think I should work for them as a recipe formulator... or something.

Large Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

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With 2020 being what it is, I have been secretly thinking about Halloween for months. What will happen to the usual festivities of trick-or-treating, parties, haunted houses!? Many of these aren't conducive to social distancing guidelines (though I have heard many communities are putting out suggestions for safe trick-or-treating). And if you are trying to not engage in social activities because you're high risk or are in contact with someone who is high risk how will you keep the magic of Halloween a thing for your family?

​If you have young kids It's likely they won't realize Halloween isn't the same, but your older kids and teenagers may be a little sad to miss out on the festivities. That's why I have put together this post of fun ways to celebrate Halloween at home in quarantine: Quaranween!

Three years ago I wrote a post about what you need for a perfect Halloween party. I think this would be a great place to start. Throw your own family Halloween party. On that post I give suggestions for treats, decor, costumes, and music for your party.

Today I would add this fun spider candy dish as part of your decor, so easy to do but makes a spooky statement.

You could also include more than sweets at your family party and make the whole night a fun and spooky evening starting with dinner. Here's a list of yummy appetizers with a Halloween theme. 

And for dinner what could be more festive than a pumpkin themed dinner?! Lucky for you, Lindsey is the Pumpkin Queen and has made NUMEROUS pumpkin recipes for all tastebuds (pasta, chili, baked chicken, etc etc). You're sure to find one your family will love.

What if I told you you don't have to give up trick-or-treating? Even when you're staying home. All you need is some decorations (the Dollar Tree is a great place for decor), costumes, candy, and however many doors you have in your house!

Both of my sisters have birthdays close to Halloween, and Madalynn especially loves the holiday. When she was younger, some of her birthday parties were Halloween themed. We would take the kids trick-or-treating around our house. The older kids and adults would be in costume behind the doors in our home and the kids would come knocking. It was fun for everyone. And I think your family could have fun with it too!

Older kids could help decorate and create characters to greet the younger kids. If you don't have enough adults or teens to greet the trick or treaters at all the doors, try just decorating behind the door with a bowl of candy there to greet them. Wouldn't it be fun to have one of those bowls that reacts when you grab for the candy?

Another riff on this would be to have your house turned into a haunted house. You can divide into teams and each take a room or space and try to make it spooky for people to walk through. 

If neither of those things seem appealing, try these ideas:

• Make Pill Bottle lights that can double as decoration
• Try these 3 Easy Crafts would be perfect for all ages.
• Make wreaths.
• Play Games
• Decorate Cookies
• Have a costume contest

As you can see, my little family had fun with Quaranween this year and I hope you can use some of these ideas to have a fun Quaranween this year. And who knows maybe you will come up with some new traditions for your family to do every year!

How  will you be celebrating this year?

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Since the temperatures are finally starting to cool down here (don't get me wrong, temps are still in the hundreds here, but lower hundreds feel better than where we were) I feel like it's time to inundate you with all of the pumpkin things I can think of.

I've been baking a lot of cookies lately, and I am going to share them all with you, starting with these delicious, fluffy, soft pumpkin chocolate cookies!

I had a little leftover pumpkin from another recipe, and I decided to try and add it to a chocolate cookie recipe, because fall is the time you're allowed to add pumpkin to everything and nobody can get mad.

There are no regrets! These cookies are so soft and tasty. We shared them with family after dinner. I did decide that the next time I make them, I'm going to top them with cream cheese frosting. I'd probably add a little pumpkin extract and a teaspoon of pumpkin spice. I think that would taste amazing with these delicious, chocolate, pumpkin, soft, fluffy cookies!

Now, for all you weirdos that don't like the taste of pumpkin (I mean, I love you, but I'm worried about you) the pumpkin taste is not overpowering. The chocolate is definitely the star of the show. These cookies have no eggs, the PUMPKIN takes the place of the egg. Did you know pumpkin is an eggcellent solution to any "I can't have delicious chocolate cookies because of my egg allergy) problem anyone might be suffering from? 

Well, it is. Use pumpkin and don't use eggs, and your chocolate cookies will be amazing, and still so light and fluffy.

So, without further ado, here is the eggless pumpkin chocolate cookie recipe you need!

Eggless Pumpkin Chocolate Cookies