Yummy Applesauce Cookies

I was cleaning my bedroom the other day and discovered this delicious recipe under my bed. I'm not quite sure how it got there, but I do remember going through some of my mom's recipes there a couple of months ago, and I'm assuming this one escaped from the basket. It seemed like a nice autumnal (love that word) recipe, so I made some and they were delicious. My one error was using sea salt to replace regular salt, since I seem to have no salt that isn't in huge chunks. As I was doing it I was thinking just skipping the salt would be a better idea, but I do love an experiment. It's a little odd to bite down on a chunk of salt in a cookie, but they are still tasty.

Applesauce Cookies

3/4 cup soft butter or shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup applesauce

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/2 cup nuts, chopped

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix thoroughly together shortening or butter, brown sugar and egg. Stir in applesauce. sift together flour, soda, salt and spices and stir in. Mix in nuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy! You can also use pureed banana in place of the applesauce, and I increased the spices to 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of cloves.

I finished the Spiraling Leaves Fingerless Mitts I was making. It's a pattern by Lynne Vogel, very well written and easy to remember. I think it's a great pattern for someone just starting in lace knitting. I used some of my worsted weight merino yarn in the colorway "Celery Tonic".

I think the next pair I make will be fingering weight. I am looking forward to making another pair, and think it will be good to do it soon so I don't have to relearn the pattern. I did make two right gloves my mistake but realized my error before I was done and did a bit of frogging. They are very soft and warm and will bring some springtime cheer to a dark winter.

I know you are wondering if there will be a photo of a cat. Seamus has recently taken a great interest in helping me when I am at the computer. He likes to sit on my right hand as I am typing. Here he is in helper mode, not understanding my impatience with not being able to use my right hand, just purring away. He is a good hand warmer, but makes getting work done a bit difficult.

Happiness is Harrisville in August, 2009

Two years ago I took Lynne Vogel's Dyeing, Spinning, and Knitting class in Harrisville, NH and it was a truly wonderful experience, so I did it again last year. I decided to start 2009 in the right way so today I signed up to go again this year. It makes me very happy to have done that. Harrisville is the little town that time forgot, and is one of the most relaxing places I've ever been. I stay in the boarding house, and there is no TV and no internet access. It is quite wonderful to get away from those things for a few days. By staying at the boarding house (it was one of the original boarding houses for women mill hands many years ago) I was able to really get to know the people I was taking the class with.


Lynne is an awesome teacher. She has so much knowledge of color, spinning, knitting and crocheting, and teaches the way I need to learn, which is very student driven and not rigid. Both summers I have met some wonderful people and am looking forward to seeing some of them again this year.



It's snowing here today, and very cold, so it is nice to have the class to look forward to when looking out the window and seeing the snow falling. Not that I don't like the snow, but I know we have a lot more in the future and by March I will be quite sick of it. A few days ago we had 50 degree weather for about half a day and much of the snow melted. That was a good thing because it made some room for the snow that is to come.