Fall is in the air!  Fill your kitchen with the aroma of fresh
baked apples.  Here are some easy autumn apple recipes that your
family is sure to enjoy.

When I was a kid growing up on our dairy farm in Wisconsin 40 years ago, cookies with a date filling were my dad's favorite kind. Here is the recipe.

3/4 cup butter or margarine (softened)
3/4 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
several tablespoons of milk if the dough seems too dry
Jam: blackberry, black raspberry, strawberry, red raspberry, ......  etc

How about trying your hand at painting your Christmas cookies this year? While at first glance they may seem difficult to accomplish, painting Christmas cookies is easy enough for children to help with. Christmas cookie paint is actually a simple mix of egg yolk, water, and food coloring. After you've rolled out the dough and cut the shape you want, just paint on some playful designs, and bake your cookies as always. A couple of techniques can be used to place the designs on the dough. You can paint freehand or take a smaller cookie cutter and gently imprint or press the design to paint.