Fall leaves and acorns for dessert.

As long as I can remember...I've had a love for the autumnal colors of fall.  Burgundy's and gold's blended together producing jewel toned leaves, no two alike.  My favorite pastime is gathering bouquets of  fall leaves.  I spritz them with cinnamon oil and set them out in various places in my home. 

What better way to celebrate the autumnal colors of Thanksgiving than by creating a fall cookie dessert for my family and  friends.

Pumpkin Butter Cheesecake Cookies

and Caramel Kiss Acorns.

This called for the Williams Sonoma  fall pie crust cutters.  

Along with my staple......Trader Joes

 (frozen) ready made pie crust.

Before rolling the pie crust,  I brushed dots of food coloring concentrate directly onto the pie crust dough. Various fall colors of yellow, green, orange, and red.  Then I gathered up the dough gently kneading and mixing the colors just until it produced a marbled effect.

 Rolling the dough thin for a crisp cookie shell.

 

After cutting out the various leaf shapes, I popped them in the oven.  While the leaves were baking I mixed the pumpkin butter, cream cheese, filling together for the cookies.

These measurements are an approximation. 

The cream cheese to pumpkin butter ratio  are to each individuals taste of sweetness.

1 jar of (Trader Joes) pumpkin butter. 

(any pumpkin butter will work)

1-11.5oz. whipped cream cheese.

Gently whisk together a few tablespoons at a time of each ingredient until you reach the desired  amount and sweetness.

Spread a teaspoon of filling on each (baked) leaf, adding a sprinkling of

 Craisins and pecans.

Sandwich the matching leaf to form the cookie.

For a few of the cookies I mixed a smidgen of the cranberry sauce to the Craisins.

I  thought it would provide a nice touch to include a few acorns with the Fall leaf cookies.

 Acorns:

 Soften 3-4 caramel  squares by hand or in the microwave 10- 20 seconds. 

Don't over melt, they just need to be pliable.

Flatten the caramel with a rolling pin. 

 Cut with a small round fluted  cookie cutter to form the acorn top.

Wrap the acorn tops around a chocolate Kiss.

I used a mini chocolate morsel for the stem.

For the tag I personalized  a fall leaf I gathered from my walk.

Tied it all together with a glittered dot ribbon.

If you're really feeling ambitious you can tackle this Thanksgiving turkey cake 

from Hungry Happenings!