Autumn Recipe: Soft Pumpkin Cookies - Paired w/ Cynthiana

Looking for a quick, easy way to please the pallets of loved ones (especially the kiddos) while at the same time your own?  These soft, pumpkin cookies are simply wonderful!!  

Soft Pumpkin Cookies

Prep: 10 min.

Cooking: 18 min.

Level: easy (peasy)

Cooling: 15 min.

Yields: about 36 cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  1 teaspoon baking soda
  1 teaspoon baking powder
  1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  1/2 teaspoon salt
  1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
  1 cup 100% Pure Pumpkin
  1 large egg
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
  
  
  Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease baking sheets.

COMBINE flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl. Beat sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.

BAKE for 15 to 18 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Drizzle Glaze over cookies.

Route du Vin's Wine Diva Weekend

The Route du Vin wine trail throws so many great events throughout the year. 

On the weekend of November 16th & 17th, Route du Vin will be helping to bring out the WINE DIVA in everyone! Grab your winery hopping buddies and head to Ste. Genevieve for two days full of fabulous wine pairings. All 6 wineries will be participating and have delicious wine and food pairing planned that highlight their Missouri wines. The event runs for 11am  -5pm each day and costs $25 per person. 

Buy your tickets here!

WINERY MENUS

CAVE VINEYARDS
Semi Sweet White Chambourcin paired with Chocolate Wine Cake

CHARLEVIELLE WINERY
Corn and green Chili pudding paired with Off Dry Chardonel

CHAUMETTE WINERY
Crispy County Line Farm sweet potato Samosas with cranberry chutney paired with Mosaic wine

SAND CREEK WINERY
Sand Creek Sweet Chardonel served with Flaky Apple Turnovers topped with caramel glaze

SAINTE GENEVIEVE WINERY
Cranberry wine paired with Cranberry Turkey Pinwheels

TWIN OAKS VINEYARD
Decadently sweet Wolf Creek wine with rich Brownie, Chocolate Mousse and whipped cream cups

The Hunt for Pumpkin

I do consider myself a connoisseur of pumpkin beers from the various microbreweries here in Missouri, but pumpkin wine...now that is something you have to hunt for.

Why is it that a state that is perfectly capable of producing pumpkins on a wide scale has yet to produce a popular pumpkin wine?  Perhaps it is the amount of change one must do to the pumpkin with regards to additives to get the yeast really pump(k)in'.  It's really hard to imagine why though a winery wouldn't at least try a seasonal wine such as this.

It already is a norm for a winery to go as far as to add spices to their wines during the holiday season.  This addition of what most wineries refer to as "mulled spices" can be pleasant, but for me can be  overwhelming and sometimes barely tolerable for more than a taste (in my opinion).  Though I will say we have had a few mulled wines that were palatable for at least a glass (Blumenhof is our favorite), however, I do not recall ever finishing a mulled wine bottle of any kind.  Endless Summer Winery in Hermann has posted they'll have a mulled Apple Wine (while supplies last) and they also have a Pecan Wine that is "fallish".

Some wineries do have seasonal wines that they carry, and that are primarily purchased during the fall and winter seasons.  St. James Winery for example carries a fall seasonal, their Cranberry Wine.   Also, Sainte Genevieve Winery has their Christmas Plum Wine that is made from fresh plums and is only available from November to December (though I have seen it lurking around a little before and a little after at times).  The Campfire Mead from Windy Wine Co. is also one that could be enjoyed in the fall and winter.

So far, we've only heard of a few wineries in Missouri that have attempted pumpkin in wine and that is Hemman Winery & Windy Wine Co., 7Cs Winery, and Wenwood Farm Winery's "Pumpkin Pie" that  I hope we have the opportunity to taste theirs before they run out of this seasonal rarity.