Two Cookie Recipes For Sharing

This weekend, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen.  We were invited to a hog roast, and had to bring two side dishes to share.  I love doing things like this--it gives me a great excuse to do a lot of baking!  I love baking, but don't get to do large amounts because, well, it's just the two of us, and if I try to give away baked goods to friends and neighbors anymore, they usually don't want them.  Everyone is either on a fad diet or trying to avoid certain foods/food groups.  Remember the good old days, when women had cookie exchanges at Christmas, and you could always get rid of extra cookies by sending them to work with your husband for his co-workers to eat?  Those were good times.  But I digress.

The reason I mention all of this is because I came across two great cookie recipes for just this purpose, and after trying the recipes, I wanted to share them.  I can't take credit for them, and there are so many versions of these floating around in Interspace, but I can tell you the two recipes I tried were delicious!

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles (click on the title for the recipe that I used)
These are a great cookie, and especially good in the fall.  I will mention, though, that I used more cinnamon and spices than this recipe calls for, because I love fall spices.  They taste a little like pumpkin pie, but have the look of a snickerdoodle.  Mmmmmm.


Chocolate-Chip Vanilla Pudding Cookies (click on the title for the recipe that I used)
These cookies are good--they have a slightly different texture than your run-of-the-mill CCCs, but are still very tasty.  They stay soft even after several days, thanks to the instant pudding.

I also made a giant pan of my mom's baked beans.  It was a rainy day here, so it was great baking weather!