Fall Bucket List: Fall Fun Rained Out

Well this weekend ended up being a bit of a let down. I had planned out a trip to the pumpkin patch but it rained on Friday then again on Saturday, Sunday and it is still raining right now.
 Doesn't the weather realize we have a fall bucket list to work on. 

Since we couldn't do most of the things we have left on our list we decided to make the best of being stuck at home and do some indoor Halloween/ Fall activities
First we headed outside, thanks to our big front porch, to read a book. We chose our favorite Halloween book: This Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything.

We have made this an interactive book thanks to some free printables from toddler approved.

Next up we did a little baking. If there is one thing that we have been doing PLENTY of it is fall baking
From Easy Pumpkin Bread, Creamy Apple Squares, Pumpkin Bagels, Pumpkin Sugar Cookies With Maple Frosting, Pumpkin Pancakes, Pumpkin Waffles and Pumpkin Muffies and maybe a few more. All of these recipes are fantastic.
The husband keeps asking me what else I am going to try and add pumpkin to. I just can't help myself, sorry dear. 
I have been saving these miniature pie tins for a while now the girls were so excited to get a chance to "make" their own crusts. They quickly discovered it wasn't as easy as they thought it would be. But, with a little teamwork we had the crusts ready in no time.

And I bet you will never guess what flavor of pie they wanted to make. 

Pumpkin wins again.
With our pies baking in the oven we worked on a quick craft, hand print spiders.


And then we watched one of our favorite Halloween movies.

It may not have been the weekend that I planned on or the fall activities that I hoped for by but we made the best of it and had fun.

Let's just hope that the rain holds off next weekend, I have some exciting things planned that I don't want to miss. 
Linking up with Courtney

Stephanie & Desiree

Pumpkin Sugar Cookies With Maple Frosting {Recipe}

The only thing that I love more than fall is the seasonal baking. Apples, pumpkin, cinnamon and caramel are some of my favorite flavors. 
Yesterday I decided to attempt a pumpkin sugar cookie dough. I spent the morning tweaking and adjusting another recipe seeing how I could improve it. I couldn't be happier with the results.


Ingredients:
Dough 3/4 Cup Unsalted butter 1/2 Cup Sugar

1/4 Cup Brown sugar

5 T Canned pumpkin

2 tsp Vanilla

1 tsp Pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp Salt

2 1/4 tsp Baking Powder 2 1/4 Cup Flour
Icing
2 1/2 C Powder sugar 2 T Softened unsalted butter.
1 1/2 tsp Maple extract 3-4 Tbsp Milk

Directions: 1. Cream butter and sugars together. Mix in pumpkin and vanilla until well blended. Add pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking powder and flour. Mix until dough comes together and forms a ball. 

2. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

4. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, or lightly grease. Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon to scoop small, smooth balls. Gently flatten the tops slightly. Bake for 10 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

5 Mix powder sugar and butter together until the butter is evenly mixed in. Add the extract and slowly add the milk until the icing is your desired consistency.

6. Ice the cookies, the frosting will set up quickly so if you wish to add sprinkles don't waste any time!
Enjoy!

I had so much fun with this recipe. My only regret is that it doesn't make more! It made about 2 dozen small cookies. I strongly suggest that you don't mess around and just go for a double batch right away. I had extra icing so you probably wouldn't even need to double that!

The girls really wanted to add some sprinkles to the cookies. Apparently they "needed" them.

I hope that you love them as much as we do!

Creamy Apple Cinnamon Squares {Recipe}

There are few things that I love more than baking during the months of September through December. Pumpkin, apple, and cinnamon are some of my favorite smells and flavors that are just more temptation than I can stand. 
Today I want to share with you a super easy, creamy apple bar recipe. The magic starts with a couple apples and a cake mix. You can whip these bars up in a matter of minutes and nobody will have a clue how easy they were to make, until they ask you for the recipe.
 And trust me, they will. 

Ingredients: 1 Box yellow cake mix 1/2 C. Unsalted butter softened 2 Apples, peeled, washed and sliced thinly
1 C. Greek yogurt 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1 egg 1/2 C. Brown sugar Cinnamon sugar (optional)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cut together the cake mix and butter then set 1.5 cups of the mixture aside for later. 

3. Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of an un-greased pan. I used a 7x11 pan.

4. Lay the apple slices on the cake mixture evenly.

5. Mix the egg and the yogurt together, pour over the top of the apples and evenly spread.

6. Put the 1.5 cups of cake mixture back into a bowl and cut in 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon.

7. Sprinkle the remaining cake mixture over the yogurt, gently pat down and lightly sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

8. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

 Typically I store these in the refrigerator, if they last that long. 
What is one of your favorite fall recipes to make?
 Feel free to leave the link in the comments so I can check it out!