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    Do you enjoying adding a new delicious dish or two to your Thanksgiving Dinner? The traditional food is so good and we look forward to it each year when Thanksgiving rolls around, but it's always fun to have a new dish to talk about when the meal is over and people will only have good things to say about this Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake! 
    This recipe for Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake is a twist on an old recipe that I have had hanging around in my recipe box for years.  The old recipe had a cracker crust and walnuts.  I decided that pecans are more of a favorite at our house and of course a gingersnap crust would go so well with pumpkin! So I decided to give it a try and guess what! I was right! 
​    The ginger flavor and crunch of the gingersnaps make a crust that I may start using in loads of other applications! It is so easy to make in a food processor! It takes a little finesse to smooth it across the bottom and up the sides of the spring-form pan.  (I used a fork and then my fingers.) 

    I mixed the filling in myKitchen Aid.  I learned that it is very important to stop and scrap the bowl frequently or you may end up with some leftover lumps of cream cheese.  (You may notice a couple in my slice of cheesecake, I'm glad this was my test cake.  Although, they didn't detract from the deliciousness of the cake at all!) 

    Do you see that candied pecan topping?  There is no need to cook on the stove top.  You just mix the ingredients in a bowl and then spoon on top of the almost completely baked cheesecake and bake it for 10 minutes longer.  The topping comes out perfectly crunchy and gives a beautiful texture that offsets the creaminess of the pumpkin cheesecake itself!  Lindsey, my pumpkin loving daughter is going to love this dessert! 

    This Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake came together so much easier than I expected that it would for the impact I know it will make on Thanksgiving!  I hope you enjoy it! Let me know! ​

Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake

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This post was originally posted in 2017. It has been updated with this adorable video of my daughter from when we made some today. These Pumpkin Snickerdoodles and the perfect fall cookie.

Do you know what I love about pumpkin? 

Everything. That's what. I know pumpkin spice is all the fall rage these days, and let me tell you something, I will take the blame for it. Way back in 2006 a few friends and I started a tradition of having a pumpkin party. It just so happened to perfectly align with my birthday, and I've had a pumpkin party every year for my birthday ever since.

If you want to know the truth, if it were up to me I'd put pumpkin in my food every day of the year. Since I have a husband who, while he does not object to pumpkin, does not adore pumpkin as I do  I behave myself every year and wait.

​Well guess what! IT IS ALMOST FALL AND I CAN DO WHAT I WANT! PUMPKIN EVERYTHING!

I decided to make you a pumpkin recipe this week and I really got into my head. Should it be sweet or savory? Basic or creative? What else could I do to show you the power of pumpkin? Well, my mom suggested I make my pumpkin snickerdoodles, and since I had volunteered to make cookies for a church function anyway it seemed like a win win.

I'll be honest, I originally found this recipe on Pinterest many years ago (we're talking pre-mission  somewhere around 2012). I can't recall where it originated from, and I am sorry for that, but it is really so delicious. These snickerdoodles are so soft and pumpkin-y and wonderful that if you find who originally created the recipe, tell me. Not only will I give them the credit they deserve here, but I'll find some way to give that person an award.

Fall baking is honestly where I feel in my zone. You see that cinnamon container? We have two of those. I think I have three different bottles of pumpkin spice as well. It might be four. Needless to say, I have a lot of great plans and how-to's for your fall baking, so make sure you come back and see what else I have in store for you. (For example, I realized I never showed you how to cook a pumpkin.) Until next time, enjoy these pumpkin snickerdoodles. If they're not the best snickerdoodle you've ever had, well, honestly I'll think you're confused.

Renny's Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

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      Lindsey and I were talking about Thanksgiving plans for this year and it got me to thinking about a special project to show my family and friends how thankful I am for them.  I decided it would be nice to do a little gift on each place setting this year.  I thought about hand lettering something at first, but that would take a lot of time with questionable results.  Then, I remembered the set of stamps that I purchased from the Target One Spot a couple of years ago.  I hadn't used it yet, but now I knew I had the perfect project to use them for. 

If you can't find these stamps at Target this year, there are of course a lot of others that you can find and use. For example...

     I had some little wooden circles left over from our Christmas in July projects.  I chose 3 colors of acrylic paint that I felt would coordinate with my dishes and tablecloths and painted the circles. Then, I used a black stamp pad to stamp the design on the light colored circles and white on the dark colored circles.  I love how they came out.  Even the spots where the ink is a little missing add to the rustic look. 

I decided to use jute as the hanger on these little ornaments.  I cut about a 6" length of jute and glued the ends with a glue gun to the front of the ornament.  Then, I tied a bow with another length of jute and glued that over the ends.  This way, there are no unfinished ends on the front or the back. 

      Now, on Thanksgiving, I want to slip them in a napkin on each place setting.  I want to use cream colored napkins, but I didn't have any.  I could only find white! So, I purchased some fabric and made my own.  

      A couple of years ago I had to purchase a new sewing machine.  I got a Singer Brilliance (that is a refurb version)  and I have loved using the special decorative stitches that it has programmed into it.  Here is the newest version, called Sew Mate.  These are nice machines at a reasonable price. 
      These napkins were simple to sew.  I just folded over the edges twice and used a decorative stitch to make them special. 

     Once the napkins are sewn and pressed, you are ready to fold them! Here is a gallery of pictures to show you how to do it. 

       If you know me at all, you know that I love dishes!  So, I am using two different dishes to try out a place setting to use these special projects on.  Which one do you like best?  

     If you don't want to wash napkins later, you could always use nicer paper napkins.  But, I am so happy with how these came out.  Here is a close-up of the decorative stitching. 

​Look what I found! 

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Hopefully you guys know by now how much I love pumpkin. I've given you a lot of savory recipes because I feel like pumpkin is not recognized enough for it's versatility.

But, I wanted to share with you something I was finally able to achieve. A chewy, not cake like, pumpkin chocolate chip cookie.

Don't get me wrong, I love me a cakey pumpkin chocolate chip cookie. Sometimes though, you just want a chewy  chocolate chip cookie.

I experimented a little bit with my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I did it!  I made a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie that doesn't make you feel like you're eating cake.These cookies are soft, chewy, with just a little bit of that toffee like crisp that we want out of a chocolate chip cookie. Plus it has that pumpkin-y kick to it. 

As Elle Woods would say, this gives it a little something extra.

The secret is the eggs. Take them out and replace them with pumpkin. The eggs create a lot of whipped moisture which we just don't need when we have pumpkin in the mix.

You guys, I am dreaming about these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies as I write this post right now.

​Make them and love them. They are so ridiculously good!