Amazing! October is Here! Sadler Fruit Tea, Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well it is October 1st!!!

I dearly love this Anne Of Green Gables quote about October from Tea Time magazine, and totally agree!

Gloriously gorgeous!

So inspired again by the season and seasonal finds and yummies, I put together a tea in the sunroom.

The tablecloth is really a runner I made a few years ago... one of the only fabrics I have found with an autumn theme but with blue in it. As my house is mostly blue in decor, it is perfect! It usually lives on the dining room buffet, but I brought it into the sunroom.

I found this great fruit themed Sadler, England teapot recently with lush fruit and a gold overlay pattern of grape clusters.

I really love the pattern!

The pattern number is 3426 and with just the impressed mark, it dates to the 1940-1950s, and even has the original sticker!

I used a 1920s early Royal Albert Crow China, England Imari colored teacup with a fruit theme.  

I always love the glowing colors of Imari...

The Crown in Royal Albert Crown China was replaced with the Royal Albert we are more familiar with by 1935. The Design Registry number, or Rd. number on this set is for 1926.

Okay, this is a no-brainer... what kind of tea has made it's appearance around here??? Pumpkin, of course!

This is the Republic Of Tea's Pumpkin Spice, which is a perennial favorite. But I am looking for more types. We are a bit rural, so not always a lot of choices.

I made a seasonal treat for tea too... Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Cookies... recipe to follow. They are soft, sorta cake-y. But not bad.

I had to look around for something to put the cookies on, and found the very thing! A Shelley China, England Art Deco era square plate in a pattern called Acacia with a square shape and bright orange rim.

The pattern is hand coloring on a sepia transfer. Not the usual think that you think of for Shelley, but so deco.

The pattern number is 12255 and the shape is referred to as Regent or Vincent, and started to be used in the late 1920s, although the pattern of Acacia started in around 1932.

This is the month's cover page from my book The Nature Notes By An Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden. It actually always makes me think of Shelley's Heather pattern....

Anyway, here is the recipe for the 

Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the pumpkin and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon; gradually mix into the creamed mixture. Stir in the walnuts and chocolate chips. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until light brown. Cool on wire racks.

Per Serving: 95 calories; 4.2 g fat; 14.1 g carbohydrates; 1.2 g protein; 4 mg cholesterol; 99 mg sodium.

So Happy October and may it be a wonderful month full of lots of tea and goodies!!!

Thanks for joining me!