As I sat finishing this week’s column — Over a Cup of Coffee — I couldn’t help but notice the dreary-looking fall scene just outside the window. It’s not that we don’t need the rain, but all of a sudden it looks like what it’s supposed to be — fall. The branches of the crab apple tree, just outside the window, bobbed up and down as rain dropped on the green and yellow leaves. Every now and then a leaf floated to the ground.

I could see the dried cornstalks in the garden, and I thought about the tomatoes just behind them. There are still lots of green tomatoes to pick before it freezes. There are still carrots to be dug, too.

The little pumpkins have been brought into the house and piled in the front entryway, waiting to be gathered up by our daughter-in-law Cindy who will use them for an activity with her first-grade students.

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I have not grown big pumpkins for some years, mostly because I have been planting the garden too late. However, we used to grow great big hundred-pound pumpkins when we lived at Severance, Colorado and our boys were little. We have picture of them sitting in the scooped-out pumpkins.

So, the past couple of years I’ve planted Baby Boo, Jack-Be-Little, and some small striped pumpkins that mature in September. I enjoy watching them grow, but I have no idea whether they can be used for cooking.

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All of these thoughts of pumpkins have inspired me to find more pumpkin cookie recipes. (I featured one a few weeks ago.) This week’s recipe is from my file.

Chocolate Pumpkin CookiesChocolate Pumpkin Cookies

Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies

4 cups flour

2 cups quick oats

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 ½ cup butter or margarine

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups pumpkin

1 cup chocolate chips

Combine flour, oats, soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside. Cream butter and gradually add the sugars, beating until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla. Mix well. Alternate the additions of the dry ingredients and pumpkin. Mix well after each addition. Add the chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until done. Do you have a favorite recipe using pumpkin? If you do, call me at 970-824-8809 or write to me at Box 415, Craig 81626.