Fall Treats

What I love about this season is the colors of fall... the ambers, browns, and burnt orange. From decorating to preparing fall themed foods, I enjoy it all. My mom and I make a good team when it comes to entertaining. She loves to decorate and I prepare the food.
This past Sunday I had a cookbook signing at the B.I.O Bridal Expo in Hattiesburg, MS.

I wanted to share with the soon-to-be brides some easy entertaining tips. I prepared a couple samples from my cookbook. In the theme of weddings, I displayed my Cream Cheese Ring into a wedding cake.

This was so easy to prepare! Just like instructed in my cookbook, press softened cream cheese into a plastic wrap lined spring form pan. With the back of a spoon, smooth the cream cheese. Cover with plastic wrap and let set up in the refrigerator. After a couple of hours, unmold the cream cheese and remove the plastic wrap. Place the cream cheese cake onto a serving plate. For the decoration, I whipped softened cream cheese and placed it into a piping bag with a star tip. Pipe cream cheese stars onto the top of the cake. Then press toasted pecan or walnut pieces into the side. *Tip: use pistachios for Christmas.
Served in mason jars is the cranberry chipotle sauce.

For the table decoration, my mom took large and small glass square boxes and filled them with stick bundles. She covered the table with burlap squares and caramel colored tulle fabric.

A fun way to present this recipe is to smooth softened cream cheese into a pumpkin silicon mold. Allow your kids/grandkids to help you in the kitchen by doing this. To easily unmold the cream cheese, *Tip: Freeze the cream cheese in the mold for a couple hours. I learned this from experience. The cream cheese will stick to the mold if you just refrigerate it.

Place them on a baking sheet and store in the refrigerator. Make these pumpkin cream cheeses ahead of time. To serve, place pumpkins on a serving platter or individual plates. Serve with cranberry chipotle sauce. (Recipe can be found in my cookbook- Modern Hospitality: Simple Recipes with Southern Charm)

Have fun entertaining this fall and stay tuned for more great simple and fun recipes/ideas!