Fall Comes in on Little Pumpkin Feet

Overnight, fall blew into northwest Florida. We went to bed in the 80/80s—80 degrees and 80 percent humidity—and by the next afternoon the air was clear and cold. Fifty-seven degrees cold. For many of you, 57 is balmy, but for us of the thin blood, it’s cold.

Not that I’m complaining. After a humid summer comparable, as my husband says, to walking around in someone’s mouth, we welcome this cold front with jeans and sweatshirts and the first closed-toe shoes we’ve worn in months.

We also welcome fall with baking. These pressed cookies, both rich and crisp, are a family Christmas favorite. Butter, sugar, vanilla—those are the scents of the season. But because 12 discs came in the cookie press box, I see no reason not to enjoy them any month of the year. For October we chose, naturally, the pumpkin, tinted the dough orange, and sprinkled the pressed shapes with chocolate jimmies.

Cookie presses are notoriously finicky; for this particular batch, the pumpkin stem would not come out with the rest of the pumpkin. With a forefinger I removed each square bit of dough clinging to the disc and tapped it into the top of each pumpkin on the sheet. It was a time-consuming, frustrating chore, but important, for without a stem a pumpkin is nothing but a gourd with goiter.

Pressed Cookies

If you don’t have a cookie press, you can still make these cookies. Simply roll teaspoonfuls of the dough into balls and flatten with the bottom of a drinking glass or the tines of a fork dipped in flour.

3 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 ½ cups butter (3 sticks)

1 cup sugar

2 egg yolks, lightly beaten

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, combine the flour and baking powder; set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add beaten egg yolks and vanilla extract; beat well. Gradually add the flour mixture, stirring until all is incorporated.

Fill cookie press fitted with disc of your choice. Press cookies onto baking sheets, leaving about an inch between cookies. (Because the dough does not expand much, you can fit a lot of cookies on one sheet.) Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until cookies are set and have just the faintest bit of golden brown along the bottom edge. Of course, you can cook them a minute or three past the golden state if you like. Some in our family like them quite brown and crisp.

Remove from pan and cool on racks.