Day #7 - Pumpkin Cookies and Sarah

Tomorrow is Sarah's birthday, she is going to be 14 years old, it's really hard to believe she is that old!  Sarah is a great kid, she has been in my life since she was born, she doesn't remember, but her dad, my husband Tom, used to bring her to my parent's print shop (I worked for my parents for 16 years) and all of us would just fuss over her, she was and still is a doll.  I re-entered her life seven years ago when Tom and I started seeing each other and we became more than friends, I don't think she liked me too much, because Tom and I took her and cousin Jody to Disneyland and let's just say when we got home, I told Tom he needed to spend some quality time with his daughter and less time with me.  I knew she was feeling like she was loosing her daddy to that "other woman", but I hope she knows that she is the most important thing in his life and mine too.  I love seeing her grow up and how much she changes, it is a lot of fun.  I didn't have kids of my own for very personal reasons, I am just glad I get to be a part of her life.  I love you "little girl" and I hope you have the best birthday ever!

Well tonight I decided to make "Pumpkin Drop Cookies" this was a recipe that I found in the "Armstrong Ladies Aid Cookbook", this was a contribution my grandma made, I will give you the recipe as it is written:
1/3 cup fat
1 cup sugar
1 cup cooked pumpkin
2 cups flour
2 tsp B.P.(Baking Powder)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
Cream together the sugar and fat.  Add the cooked pumpkin and flour, which has been sifted with the dry ingredients.  Drop on greased tin and bake in a hot oven.
My first question is what kind of fat?!? I decided to use butter.  I did not want to cook a pumpkin, so I used canned pumpkin.  My second question was how hot should the oven be and how long do I bake them?!? I decided that 375 would be ok and the cookies should bake for about 15 minutes.  These cookies don't flatten out, they stay in a ball shape and the texture is more "cakey", so in all of my wisdom, I decided that the cookies should be "dressed up" with some cream cheese frosting (because everything is better with cream cheese frosting, right Keli Maddox?).

Cream Cheese Frosting:
4 TBSP butter, softened
8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Cream the butter and cream cheese, add the powdered sugar one cup at a time and the vanilla.

Tom has his route on Thursday's in Santa Cruz/Watsonville/Monterey (I know what a horrible place to spend a day working) and I wanted him to be able to share some goodies with his customers.  I hope they like them!