candy cane blossoms

I'm always on the hunt for a new Christmas cookie to bake. These looked like they were fun, festive, and fabulous to take to a holiday party.

The dough is pretty much a stiff sugar cookie dough which you roll into balls and smother with sprinkles. The kisses are stuck on after the cookies are baked.

Please be patient and wait the 2-3 minutes before putting them on, or else you'll get something like this—

maple chai tea

I have been enjoying the chai tea concentrate for the past month, 

yet when I saw this recipe, I still had to give it a go, 

pumpkin cream cheese pie

I'm about one pumpkin away from exploding, and you wouldn't know it, as I've posted nothing with pumpkin in it. That doesn't mean that pounds of pumpkin haven't traipsed their way through my door.

I had to revisit my favorites, pumpkin bread with pecan streusel and pumpkin whoopie pies. Then I had to make way for pies. I tried the standard. I wanted more. This recipe, found on foodnetwork.com, caught my eye. With its inclusion of a block of cream cheese, it's not quite a cheesecake, nor is it quite a custard.

wicked witch's hat and broomstick

Wonderfully, Wickedly Simple Witches' Hats and Broomsticks

If you are looking for a fun, easy, festive snack to throw together with or for the kids, look no further.

less is more — an apple tart

Less is more.

The phrase, popularized by the architect, Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe, came to mind when I ate the apple tart. Simplicity, bare essentials, beauty, and clarity— these are words that apply both to his philosophy of design and this dessert.