Fall is not my favorite season. I feel like I’m the only one who is passionately obsessed with summer, comfortable with winter, delighted by spring (it means summer is coming) but I dread fall. I don’t love when school starts, things get way too hectic. I don’t love the cooling temperatures. I don’t love the leaves changing. But it’s what it is - fall comes every year.

So I embrace the fall. I buy things that make me happy. I make soup. And stew. And slow cook weird cuts of meat. And I entertain! I love having friends over and making elaborate dinners that impress. Entertaining and making fabulous dinners makes the season pass so much nicer.

Le Creuset Braiser | Candle | Cute Glassware | Candle Holders | Parks Playing Cards | long basket | Soup Bowls | Hand Mixer | Cocktail Napkins

How and why I’m using it all

• I cannot get enough of the shape of the braiser and Le Creuset’s new peach color is actually the perfect color of pink. I’m making these Pork Chops with Apples tonight in one!

• I’m obsessed with my house smelling good. I have three teenagers and a dog. It’s not easy. I burn candles endlessly.

• Every night we have a cocktail. It’s the moment at the end of the night that’s the most delightful. The dishes are done, homework is done, we’ve turned on a show and are relaxing. Turns out cute glassware goes a long way to elevating the moment too.

• I can’t imagine fall without lots of candles. And when I’m hosting a dinner party I can’t get enough of candle holders.

• I play bridge at least once a week. My new obsession is cool playing cards. I’m loving these right now!

• Our dining table is really long and thin and a long thin tray has been perfect most of the year - but for fall I’m obsessing over a basket. It seems warmer for the season.

• SOUP SEASON! Everyone loves soup season. Soup bowls are an amazing addition to your pantry. Highly recommend.

• Sometimes the smallest change makes the biggest difference. I love a hand mixer once in a while - it’s a delightful change from the stand mixer.

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They did the mash, the Monster Mash.

A simple batch of cookies is sometimes the best answer to a problem. Especially if that problem is a class Halloween party that’s coming up this afternoon. These are the literally the best cookies. They are filled with all your favorite things - then you just pop an eyeball on top before they bake! Spooky. Spooky simple.

Monster Mash Cookies

makes 2 dozen

1 cup butter, room temperature

½ cup sugar

1 ½ cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups dark chocolate chunks

1 cup peanut butter chips

1 cup mini m&m’s

eyeball candies

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter and sugars until creamy and lightened in color.

STEP 2

Add eggs and vanilla and whip until light and fluffy.  In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients.

STEP 3

Add in dry ingredients until just barely incorporated.  Then add in the chocolate chunks, peanut butter chips, and m&m’s - mix well.  It’s great if they break up a little bit.

STEP 4

Scoop dough onto a cookie sheet and place an eyeball on the top of each cookie. Bake 8-10 minutes until the edges are browned but the center is still light brown.  Let rest 5 minutes on a cookie sheet then transfer to a cooling rack.

Store in an airtight container for up to a week – but no longer!

I’ve been making this cake for so long I was shocked that it wasn’t on the blog already! Whoops. This is going to be your new favorite cake. I like it for dinner parties because it’s not super heavy. But with the whipped cream and caramel, it’s EPIC.

I use the Salted Caramel in a squeeze from Whole Foods. You can make your own or use your favorite, but it’s the simplest way to impress at Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any dinner party.

Pear Caramel Cake

serves 4-6

½ cup butter, room temperature

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup sour cream

1 cup sliced pear

¼ cup turbinado sugar

caramel sauce for serving

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom of a 9” round pan. Cream together butter and white sugar until light and fluffy.

            ½ cup butter

            1 cup white sugar

STEP 2

Whisk in eggs and vanilla until combined.

            2 eggs

            1 teaspoon vanilla

STEP 3

In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients.

            1 1/3 cup all purpose flour

            1 teaspoon baking powder

            ¼ teaspoon salt

STEP 4

Alternate adding dry ingredients and sour cream starting and ending with dry ingredients.  Add the flour in two batches with the sour cream added in between.  Gently fold in fruit.  

            ½ cup sour cream

          1 cup sliced pears

STEP 5

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the turbinado sugar on top.  Bake 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before serving.  

To serve, top with whipped cream or ice cream and a drizzle of caramel.

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This cocktail is the equivalent of an apple picking adventure at a pumpkin patch while riding on a hay ride. It’s all fall. There can’t possibly be flavors that more embody fall than fresh apple cider and bourbon.

This is a version of a Manhattan cocktail, only adding in fresh apple cider. Get it, the Big Apple?!? I know, corny. But so totally no the nose, you can’t help but love it. The bourbon, vermouth and bitters are the so good with the fresh cider.

Fresh cider is critical here. You can find it almost anywhere - even Tree Top juice makes a version of a fresh cider that’s worthy of this cocktail. Just please don’t use apple juice. Gross.

The Big Apple

2 ounces apple cider

1 ounce bourbon (or rye)

1/2 ounce red vermouth

a dash of bitters

STEP 1

Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Fill it with ice and shake!

STEP 2

Strain into a cocktail glass filled with ice and serve with a wedge of apple. Cin cin!

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I know most people think Pumpkin Spice is THE fall flavor. But they’re wrong because that’s disgusting. The flavor of fall is this molasses cookie. Before you say they aren’t, bake them first! I promise it will change your mind.

These have the perfect flavor - they stay chewy - which is mandatory for a molasses cookie. I stick them in the kid’s lunches during these early months of fall - and then make sure there are enough left over for you to have one in the morning with coffee. I cannot recommend them enough with coffee!

Let me know if you make them and what you think. Happy fall!

The Best Molasses Cookies

makes about 2 dozen

3/4 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar + more for rolling

2 eggs

1/2 cup molasses

2 1/4 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars. Whip until the mixture is fluffy.

STEP 2

Whisk in the egg and molasses and whip until fluffy.

STEP 3

Add all of the dry ingredients to the mixture and combine until just mixed.

STEP 4

Scoop out cookie dough and roll in sugar to coat. Place each cookie dough ball on a lined baking sheet and bake 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on the sheet.

Store them in an airtight container for about a week.

HOT TIPS

• This dough is super sticky. It does best when chilled or baked immediately. I like to chill it so it can roll in the sugar easier.

• If your cookies start to spread too much, chill the dough.

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I love cooking bone in chicken. It doesn’t dry out like a chicken breast so you can forget a little bit and not have to worry. That’s a great thing with this dish because sometimes the potatoes aren’t quite done but if you had boneless chicken - then it would be super tough and gross when the potatoes were finally done.

Make sure you use some sweet apples for this recipe too - I prefer Honeycrisp apples because they have the best flavor of all the apples. Cosmic Crisp are a close second. I don’t recommend Granny Smith’s, they are way too bitter.

I love this for a weeknight dinner. You can get it started and help with homework while it finishes cooking. And you can let it sit too - we’ve done this dinner when we know we have ‘late plates’ for kids at activities. It’s just as delicious several hours later!

Apple Roasted Chicken

with bacon and potatoes

Serves 4

4 lb bone in chicken breasts

1 onion, sliced

4 strips bacon, chopped

2 large honeycrisp apples, sliced

2 cups chopped baby potatoes

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 cup white wine

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 425

In a large pan, cook onion and bacon together until onions are translucent.

STEP 2

Place chicken, bone side up, in the pan and let sizzle until browned.  Flip over and season with salt & pepper.

STEP 3

Pour in white wine and top with apples, thyme, and potatoes.

STEP 4

Bake 20-25 minutes until a thermometer reads 160 when inserted into the meat.

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Fall just feels like oatmeal cookies to me. I used to make them for football games, because my mom made them for football games, so I’m sure that’s a part of the reason. This week I started to wonder how I could make them even more “fall” feeling. So I swapped out the raisins for craisins and added butterscotch chips (which are literally what fall tastes like). I think they are a pretty epic fall cookie. What do you think?

Fall Oatmeal Cookies

makes about two dozen

1 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup quick oats

2 cus butter scotch chips

1 cup craisins

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Whip until light and fluffy.

STEP 2

Combine together the flour, baking powder and oats - then blend into the stand mixer. Blend until just barely combined.

STEP 3

Toss in butterscotch chips and craisins and blend until totally incorporated.

STEP 4

Scoop on to a baking sheet and bake 12 minutes until browned on the edges. Let cool on a wire rack and keep in an airtight container for up to one week.

These go perfectly with a cup of hot apple cider. 😉

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Apple Cider Cocktail

4 ounces fresh apple cider

2 ounces bourbon

1/2 ounce allspice dram

Fill two cocktail glasses with ice. In a pitcher, stir together all ingredients. Pour the cocktail over the ice dividing it equally between both glasses

Cin cin!

There’s something about a spicy, smoky margarita that feels perfect for Halloween! These are something you can make in a pitcher too - so you can serve them at a party and not have to keep shaking. Just mix the ingredients and then let guests shake to order. Better yet, find a friend who likes to work the bar - it’s usually someone who wants to chat with everyone, but also needs to keep their hands busy. I know who I always choose - it’s a great friend to have!

Try a few mezcals before you settle on one. Everyone likes something a little different and mezcal is unique because it’s so smoky. Like when you pick a scotch, they all taste a little different. It’s handy to buy the tiny little bottles first to try out the varieties. Those big bottles seem even larger when you don’ like what’s inside!

Mezcal Margarita

serves 2

4 ounces mezcal

1/2 ounce jalapeno syrup

1 dash triple sec

juice of 1/2 a lime (2 ounces)

lime wedges

coarse sea salt

STEP 1

Rub the ridge of one glass with the lime and dip half of the rim in salt. If you dip the whole thing, you can end up with a mouth full of salt and no one needs bloated fingers tomorrow. Fill the glass with ice and set aside.

STEP 2

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, pour mezcal, jalapeño syrup,, triple sec and lime. Shake aggressively for a few seconds. Strain the cocktail into the salted glass. Squeeze a lime wedge over the top and serve.

ALTERNATIVLY

I often will not fill the glass with ice in the beginning, but pour the ice the cocktail was shaken with into my glass. There’s a little melt that happens when you shake and I like to capture all of the flavors. But it’s not traditional, so you do you.

to make the jalapeño syrup

Combine together in a saucepan, 1 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 jalapeño, sliced but not seeded. Simmer until the sugar has melted and the liquid has reduced. Let cool before using.

This is one of my favorite cakes to make this time of year! When you have cute cake molds, you need a cake that doesn’t need a frosting so you don’t cover up the design. I found this cute skull mold earlier this year - Pearl’s favorite holiday is Halloween - so I had to buy it when I found it!

This cake can be made in any shape. I usually choose a regular round cake mold. But you can change it up for the holiday. I hear there are turkey molds so this could be darling for Thanksgiving too.

APPLE CIDER CAKE

½ cup butter, room temperature

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

½ cup apple cider

½ cup chopped apple

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons apple cider

STEP 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the skull mold cake pans and dust them with flour. It’s super important to flour the pans when there are details like this!

In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, and spices.  Set aside.

STEP 2

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugars.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Whip together until it lightens slightly in color (about 1 minute).

STEP 3

Add half the flour to the sugar mixture in the stand mixer.  Stir until just barely combined.

STEP 4

Pour in apple cider and mix.  Add remaining flour and stir until just barely combined then incorporate the apples.

STEP 5

Pour the mixture into a greased 9-inch round pan.  Pop into the oven and bake 35 minutes – or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool. Mix together the powdered sugar and cider - then pour it over the top of the cake slowly and let it drip off the sides.

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In Seattle, our window to grow tomatoes is short. If you don’t have your plants in the ground by early May, there’s no chance you’ll have very many ripe tomatoes. And then if it’s a cool summer, a rainy summer, or just a short summer, then you’re also out of luck. It’s a real risk to be a tomato farmer in the Pacific Northwest.

But totally one worth taking if you love tomatoes.

There’s a sunny side to this short season - green tomatoes! They are quite similar to tomatillos. So one year I tried making this salsa verde from our green tomatoes and I was pleasantly surprised at how delish it is! It’s just like when it’s made with tomatillos. And since I have a proliferation of green tomatoes - I can make a whole bunch of this to save for the winter.

Usually I freeze this sauce once it’s made. I have been known to can it as well, but that can be challenging. So why not just freeze it?!

Do you love Pork Verde as much as I do?! Here’s an easy weeknight dinner ready to go. Just defrost the sauce, simmer the pork in the sauce and serve with rice and beans.

green tomato salsa verde

5 pounds green tomatoes

2 jalapenos, sliced

1 large (or 2 small) onions, peeled and sliced

5 cloves garlic, peeled

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large bunch cilantro

2 teaspoons cumin

1/2 cup chicken stock

salt

STEP 1

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Chop the tomatoes into even pieces and spread them on a baking sheet. Add the onions, garlic and jalapeño to the sheet. Pour the oil over the top of everything and toss gently. Sprinkle with a healthy amount of salt. Pop it into the oven. Roast about 20 minutes until bubbly and toasty brown.

STEP 2

When the tomatoes are bubbly and getting a tiny bit brown on the edges, pull them from the oven. Scoop the entire pan of tomatoes, onions, jalapeños and garlic into a blender. Add the broth, cilantro, cumin and a bit more salt. Blend well.

STEP 3

Pour it over chicken, pork, or veggies. Or freeze for up to a few months! If you’re into canning, you can can this and keep it in the pantry.

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