By Megan Adams
Although too old to trick-or-treat, BYU students aren’t too old to treat, apparently.
This year, like every other, students are celebrating the changing of seasons by whipping up their favorite pumpkin cookies and apple pies. Across campus, students have their own favorite traditions they continue, even though they may be far from home.
[/media-credit]Kevin Rasmussen, a freshman from Maple Grove, Minn., said his family has a tradition of making Halloween treats. He said his family always takes Nutter Butters, dips them in vanilla frosting, then adds two chocolate chips to make the cookie a ghost.
“It’s delicious yet simple,” Rasmussen said.
Other students look forward to Halloween because of one key ingredient: pumpkin. Various students said their traditions include roasting pumpkin seeds after carving a jack-o-lantern, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin cheesecake.
Chelsey Keeler, a graduate student from Terre Haute, Ind., said autumn is her favorite time of the year, and cooking is one of the many ways she likes to celebrate the changing seasons along with corn mazes, pumpkin carving and simply enjoying the colors outside change from green to red.
“It’s the time where you prepare for the holiday season, but there’s no stress yet, so it’s just fun,” Keeler said.
Keeler said her favorite thing to make this time of year is a pumpkin roll, which she describes as the flavor of a pumpkin pie, but in a cinnamon roll form. Her mom makes it every year, and it is a tradition she said she will continue with her future family.
Margaret Teusch, a sophomore from Jefferson, Iowa, majoring in linguistics, said in her family, making pumpkin pie is a tradition.
“My family loves pumpkin pie so much that sometimes we have it instead of birthday cake,” Teusch said. “Making pumpkin pie is one of the only times we can all be in the kitchen together and enjoy ourselves.”
She said she loves pumpkin pie so much that when she was a foreign exchange student in Germany, her host family attempted to make it for her. However, due to different German baking customs, they lacked the usual ingredients.
“For the pumpkin, my host mom brought in a real pumpkin from the garden,” Teusch said. “I had no idea what to do with it, but it tasted great in the end anyway.”
Pumpkin is a large part of the Halloween season, but for Brynn Riley, a senior from Glenwood, Colo., leftover Halloween candy supplies the main ingredient to her favorite tradition.
“After Halloween we will take the Snickers and cut them up, and roll them into peanut butter cookies and drizzle chocolate on top,” Riley said.
Students are not alone in making special items for Halloween. Bakeries around Provo, such as Shirley’s Bakery, Kneaders and Great Harvest Bread Company, have special items for this time of year.
Shirley’s and Great Harvest both sell bread bread bowls dyed orange to look like pumpkins. They are only available until Halloween, unlike all other seasonal items, which include pumpkin chocolate chip bread from Kneaders and Great Harvest, and pumpkin spice bread from Shirley’s, which will all continue to be sold throughout the rest of the year.
