I should rename my blog...

... "The things I make from Pinterest". Because seriously, I feel like every post is a recipe or a crafty thing that I have tried. This post is no exception. I have done a few Pinteresty things lately. My friends, Brooke and Charley had a baby last week, a beautiful girl named Emily. I went over this weekend to see her and bring presents and food. Presents and food = Pinterest! Brooke loves cats so I crocheted a kitten hat and 3 little amigurmi kitten toys. I think they turned out pretty cute.

And since I am slightly obsessed with Fall food, I made homemade chicken noodle soup, homemade bread, and caramel apple cider cookies. 

The bread was awesome! It is the easiest thing to make, you don't have to knead it or anything. Just stir the ingredients together, let sit overnight, dump in a pot, and bake. It was crusty on the outside and light on the inside. Perfect! I found a winner of a recipe. Thanks Pinterest!

Crusty Bread

3 cups flour
1 3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. yeast
1 1/2 cups water

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast.  Add water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12 - 18 hours.  Overnight works great.  Heat oven to 450 degrees.  When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a pot with an oven safe lid in the oven and heat the pot for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, pour dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball.  Cover with plastic wrap and let set while the pot is heating.  Remove hot pot from the oven and drop in the dough.  Cover and return to oven for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes.  Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool. DONE!

I also found another recipe that looked good for the season - Caramel Apple Cider Cookies. They are very good but the caramel center is very caramely so the texture is pretty chewey. 

Carmel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 box (7.4 oz) Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink mix
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla 
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 cups flour
1 14 oz. bag Caramels 

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. With your mixer (or an energetic spoon) cream together butter, sugar, salt and all 10 packages of apple cider drink mix powder, until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well. Gradually add flour mixture to butter/egg mixture. Mix until just combined.

Unwrap your caramels. Scoop out cookie dough ball about the size of a walnut. Flatten the ball of dough slightly in the palm of your hand. Press the unwrapped caramel into the center of your dough and seal the dough around it, covering it completely. Place on parchment covered cookie sheets 2 inches apart.

Bake for 12 minutes, or until very lightly browned around the edges. Once the cookies are done, slide the parchment off of the baking sheet right out onto the counter. Allow cookies to partially cool on the parchment. When cookies are cool enough to be firm but still slightly warm, carefully twist off of parchment and allow to finish cooling upside down (either on the parchment or on a rack.) If you forget about them and they cool too much and stick to your parchment, put them into the freezer for a few minutes and they’ll pop right off.

Christmas is coming up and I am inspired to make gifts for my nieces. I think I am going to buy a sewing machine this week (it's about time) and go to town. Yay for Christmas time!