The city is alive with the sound of tourists

     It is officially October in Salem. The streets are crammed with tourists, monster mash music radiates throughout the city, and a destination that took 2 minutes to drive to now takes 30 minutes. Halloween has become a buzz kill for most of Salem residents and all of our usual weekend spots are unattainable until November 1st. Rather than fighting off masses wearing witches hats, I stayed in and baked.
     I wanted to try a few recipes that I was not very familiar with, but that many of the family members had been asking about. For my cousin Alison, I made Mary's Filled Cookies..

Filled Cookies
(written on a recipe card with a Dutch Couple holding cooking utensils?)

Filling:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1tsp vinegar
1 1/2 cups raisins
2 tbsp flour mixed with a little water

Mix together and boil slowly until mixture thickens. Cool

Cookie
1 cup sugar
 1/2 cup shortening
1 egg beaten
1/2 cup milk
 3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
dash of salt

Mix ingredients together and roll out dough. Cut 2 inch circles and place on cookie sheet. Fill each cookie with raisin filling and top with another cookie to make a sandwich. Bake for 12 minutes at 375 degrees.

Makes very best cookie (written on bottom of card)

I had never had these cookies before so I don't have anything to compare them to, but they were tasty. My husband said that they taste like pop tart...OK, but no.


I also made Pumpkin Raisin Bread. This was my first attempt at a yeast bread without Mary so I was a little nervous, but it came out great! While making this recipe, I noticed that for the first time since starting this endeavor, the kitchen smelled just like Mary's. For me, her house always smelled like a mixture of yeast, flour and pumpkin.

Raisin Pumpkin Bread
(cut from newspaper and glued onto a recipe card adorned with fruit)

1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup margarine
1 cup pumpkin
2 eggs (at room temperature)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 packages active dry yeast
1 cup raisins
6-7 cups flour

Combine milk, water, and margarine in a saucepan and heat until lukewarm. Pour into mixing bowl, add eggs, pumpkin, sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, yeast, and 1 cup of flour and beat for 2 minutes with electric beater. Add raisins. Stir. Then, stirring by hand, gradually add the balance of the flour until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl.
Place dough on lightly floured board and knead for 7 to 8 minutes, adding only enough flour to the board to keep the dough from sticking. Place in greased bowl, turning over to grease top, cover and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk. Punch down, remove from bowl and cut into 2 or 3 pieces, depending upon whether you want to make 2 large or 3 small loaves. Place in greased bread pans, cover, and let rise until double in bulk. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until done. Remove immediately from pans and cool on a wire rack.

YUM!

A little cocktail note as well. When we were having dinner a few weeks ago at the home of my bestest and her hubby, they whipped us up a wonderful autumnal treat:

1/2 bottle of Sam Adams October fest

 mixed with 1/2 bottle of Woodchuck Hard Cider

It was delicious! Not light on the thighs by any means, but it was worth the splurge!