Autumn is in the air and we couldn’t be more excited. From boots and pumpkin spiced coffee to chunky scarves and big sweaters—there isn’t a thing we dislike about this season! Here’s how we’ve celebrated its arrival this year:

Walks in the bright, colorful leaves!

Tasty homemade treats like Pumpkin Butter Cupcakes and this delicious Banana Spice Bread (look for this recipe to come soon!).

Visits to pumpkin patches and apple orchards, then carving, decorating and baking the weekend away.  

How do you celebrate Fall? We’d love to hear about your traditions!

In the summer heat we scream for ice cream. Literally. Well, this fall our ice cream cravings aren’t fizzling out as the seasons change. Watkins has exciting news! 

We have collaborated with Kemps to serve up a delicious, new ice cream flavor for the season: Holiday Vanilla, made with J.R. Watkins premium-quality Vanilla Extract, a staple and long-time favorite for many people. And, this partnership is just as sweet as the new flavor—a reason to celebrate Kemps and Watkins’ shared Minnesota heritage!

Starting this month, “Holiday Vanilla” will be available at grocery stores around the Midwest including Byerly’s and Lunds, Cub Foods and Rainbow.

Even though the heat has died down and we’re pulling out our warmer layers, ice cream is a perfect treat to pair with desserts like pie, cake or other sweets during this time of year. Or, if you’re brave and warmly dressed, ice cream sundaes are still a nice indulgence next to the fireplace!

Look for “Holiday Vanilla” to start showing up in stores near you. Also, make sure to visit Kemps online at http://www.kemps.com or check out the Kemps Cows on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/kempscows). 

We’d love to hear what you think about the new flavor!

Apples are one of our favorite things about fall. A few people in our office have apple trees, and the apples that have come in are delicious. So, in wanting to use them in multiple ways, we decided to whip up a batch of applesauce. Here’s a simple and tasty recipe that we always fall back on.

Ingredients:

• 4 apples – peeled, cored and chopped
• ¾ cup water
• ¼ cup white sugar (although, we usually use less because they apples are sweet enough),
• ½ teaspoon of Watkins cinnamon (if desired)

Directions:

In a saucepan, combine all of the ingredients, cover and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the apples are soft enough to mash. After the apples cool, mash them until desired smoothness.

This recipe makes a small batch, so double, triple, quadruple the recipe to your liking. If you use less sugar than called for, this tasty treat becomes a healthy dessert that the whole family can enjoy.

This fall has been unusually warm for Minnesota and we absolutely love it. Since the weather has stayed nice, we aren’t quite ready to pull out the fall coats and we’re inspired by this unseasonable opportunity to pull off a few fun looks. Our favorite? Stripes.

Stripes are showing up in fashion, beauty, home décor (everything that J.R. Watkins loves).

Atlantic-Pacific does a great job of mixing patterns and incorporating stripes into looks we love.

Cupcakes and Cashmere has a fun idea for how to make stripes work for a bright, polished look. 

Ramshackle Glam shows us how clean and simple stripes can add balance to classic pretty décor. 

We’re inspired. Are you? Happy fall!

Remember how we were so excited to bake with apples? Here’s one of our favorite recipes to try out this fall.  

• 1/2 cup/125 mL butter, softened
• 1/3 cup/80 mL sugar
• 1/2 tsp/2.5 mL Watkins White Vanilla
• 1 cup/250 mL all-purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp/0.6 mL Watkins Cinnamon

• 1 package (8 oz/227 g) reduced-calorie cream cheese
• 1/4 cup/60 mL sugar
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 tsp/7.5 mL Watkins White Vanilla
• 1/3 cup/80 mL sugar
• 3/4 tsp/4 mL Watkins Cinnamon
• 4 cups peeled and sliced Granny Smith apples (for variety, try sliced peaches or pears)

Directions

Cream butter and 1/3 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla; beat well. Add flour and cinnamon; beat well. Spread onto bottom and 1 inch/25 mm up sides of a 9-inch/23-cm springform pan; set aside. 

Beat together cream cheese and 1/4 cup sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla; spread onto crust. Combine remaining sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl; toss fruit in this mixture. Arrange fruit in an attractive pattern on top of filling. Bake at 450°F/230°C for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 400°F/200°C and bake 25 minutes; cool completely. Keep refrigerated. Makes 8 servings.

Note: For individual tarts, place crust mixture in eight 4-inch/10-cm tart pans; fill each with 2 heaping tablespoons (about 45 mL) of filling. Bake at 450°F/230°C for 20–25 minutes or until done.

The weather is cooling off, the trees are just starting to change colors and here at J.R. Watkins, we are so excited about fall! One of the great things about living in Minnesota is that the weather brings out the best in every season, and it’s something worth celebrating. 

Here’s our list for fall – what’s on yours?

• Visit an apple orchard, pick our own apples, try a few of the tasty apple bakery items and maybe catch a hot air balloon ride.
• Buy a few pumpkins and use them as decoration until they’re ready for carving (pumpkin pie and jack-o-lanterns!). 
• Pick up a few corn stalks, gourds and a bay of hay to spruce up the front step. Colorful leaves from the yard will make it an inviting space for a good evening reading spot.
• Drink hot apple cider or pumpkin-based coffee as often as possible.
• Be a kid again and jump in the leaves!
• Get outside! Attend a football game, go for a run or talk a walk with a friend.
• Bake, bake, bake! Put those apples to good use and make apple pie, apple crisp or applesauce. Delicious!

Happy autumn!