hello, fall!

Knitting season(also known as fall) has finally begun!
Fall is my favorite season (I say that about every season but it's true! I might have four favorite seasons...) and I can't wait to pull out my winter jackets and ride my bike to uni being covered under several scarfs.
Fall is also the traditional list-making season. I make lists for just about everything... Christmas gift ideas, lists of new recipes to try, fall activities to do, knitting projects to cast on...
Here's a very short version of my 'looking forward to' list this season:
- lots of in class knitting
- wearing hand-knitted sweaters and boots
- homemade chai lattes
- making my own pumpkin spice syrup
- planning (& making) Christmas gifts
- hosting craft parties at my place
- baking lots of cookies
- decorating my walls

What are you looking forward to this fall?

baking days // pumpkin pie

I love fall for so many reasons, but one of the most important ones is that it's pumpkin season!
One of my favorite childhood memories is carving pumpkins with my family. So when I saw the first pumpkins at the supermarket I couldn't resist buying one (or two...). The other one is dutifully acting as my new door stopper. Don't ask.

There's no such thing as 'canned pumpkin' in Germany so I had to make it from scratch. The pumpkin puree is super easy to make: wash and cut your pumpkin into pieces (I used a Red Kuri Squash (Hokkaido) because you can eat everything - including the skin!), boil it with very little water on medium heat for 15-20 mins. Next puree it with a hand blender et voilà, you've got delicious, homemade pumpkin puree!

I ended up using four different recipes because most (American) recipes just said "mix the canned pumpkin with ___ and pour into store-bought crust" - what!?!? Does that count as 'baking' in the US?!
Anyway, I made the pie from scratch including the pie crust etc. and it was really good. Though I have to admit that it was the first time I've had pumpkin pie so I can't really tell how good it was in comparison to other pumpkin pies...

Does anyone know how to prevent the filling from cracking after baking?