Vegetarian Ranchwife

We had a corral day yesterday, bangs vaccinating our heifer calves. The vaccination protects the calves against Brucellosis, a bacterial infection that causes cows to lose their calves, usually after 5 months of gestation. While we have them in the chute, we give them a pour-on to prevent parasites.

I loved it! You might think it’s the chance to spend a crisp, sunny, windless morning outside; maybe it’s getting to do some real ranch work, or seeing the heifers, the future momma cows of the herd who will be with us, God willing, for the next decade or more.

But really, it’s all about the pumpkin cups.  

Pumpkin cups are a seasonal favorite. I made them a couple of weeks ago at preg testing, and, with no more big work days coming up, I probably won’t make them again until next fall.

If you’re thinking they’re not for you because you don’t like pumpkin pie, I bet I could win you over. A couple of years ago, a ranch hand said he wasn’t going to try them because he doesn’t like pumpkin spice anything, but I converted him with one bite. He ate four yesterday.

There’s no way you can’t like them. They’re a chewy, nutmeg spiced cookie into which I press a spoon while they’re still warm and fill with a lightly pumpkin-spiced cream cheese frosting.

I didn’t make up the recipe. Like all the great cookies I make, and there are a few of them, I found the recipe somewhere, followed it, and because I always come home with an empty pan, I keep following it.  You can find the pumpkin cup recipe here, if you want to absolutely rock your Thanksgiving guests’ world. (Pro-tip: I find the frosting needs significantly more powdered sugar than the recipe calls for. It makes it stiff enough to work with and increases their addictiveness.)

I also brought out chocolate chip cookies, always a crowd-pleaser. So when the guys get a little spiced out after a couple pumpkin cups, they can grab a chocolate chip cookie as a palate cleanser.

I have a dozen great chocolate chip cookie recipes, but most of the time I just follow the recipe on the back of the Nestle bag. Solid, traditional, it’s never let me down.

Sitting on the back of the truck stuffing our faces after we’d finished vaccinations, one of the ranch hands anointed me the cookie queen. Me, the lady with recipes from the back of the bag or pilfered from the internet, the Cookie Queen. I’ll take it!