Fall is in the air

I love this time of the year in St George. It's considerably cooler than our summer but it hasn't turned cold just yet. Kids can still get away with shorts if they wear a hoodie in the morning. Since it is the desert, we don't get a lot of foliage changing, and I have to admit I miss that. But I can't complain; we went on a walk tonight, all of us in shorts, and we weren't the only ones. It's fun to see families out enjoying this glorious time of year.

Something I love most about Fall is cooking. I feel like I can turn my oven back on without turning the rest of the house into an oven as well. I've made an apple pie and two batches of soup already. It might not be called for yet, but hey, the calendar says it's Fall, so I'm pretending it's chilly.

I've decided that through November I'll post my fav Fall recipes each Sunday. You might notice pumpkin as a recurring theme. I discovered about 10 years ago that it's good for other things besides pie. So here's my first entry and it was a huge hit.

Colonial Pumpkin Squares
3/4 C butter
2 C white sugar
4 eggs
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
2 C all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 10x15 jellyroll pan or large sheet cake pan with non-stick spray.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the pumpkin. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir into the pumpkin mixture. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 30-35 min, or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz cream cheese (half a bar), softened
1/3 C butter, softened
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 C powdered sugar

Mix together cream cheese, butter and vanilla, until smooth. Slowly add sugar and beat until smooth. Spread over pumpkin squares. Cut into bars.

It has a very cake-like texture and is perfect to plate up and share with friends. It also has a mild pumpkin flavor, so if you like things with more kick, go ahead and play with the spices or even add more pumpkin. Convincing my kids to try anything new is a miracle, so I wasn't going to push it this time. And I can't take credit for the recipe, it's from allrecipes.com, a site I regularly frequent. I've tweaked the frosting for my own pallet, and I'd love to hear what you think if you make it.

What are your favorite things about Fall?