Fun Fact

John and I were dressed in identical clown costumes as children.

As you can see, I ditched the bowtie, and yes, those are McDonaldland Cookies on my tray.

I've been quiet.

Only because I've been having a great time:

I've been hanging with my puppy.

I've been finding pretty landscapes.

I've been baking cookies. I recently made it my personal goal to make the best Chocolate Chip Cookies...ever.

(John made me promise not to give anyone the recipe. Not kidding. He also requested that our wedding cake be CCC.)

I made delicious Halloween treats.

We also dressed as a neon-and-denim-on-denim-with-sneakers couple for Halloween. We had a party entitled "No Child Left Behind" and were instructed to dress as our favorite childhood memory. We were the '80s. I had scrunchies galore, and John looked like the Asian Zack Morris. The best thing about is that we had friends nearby! and a party! with great people! YAY. It's so great being here.

Edible Gifts

On my recent-grad-student budget, I've been forced to execute even more creative gift-giving than usual. Sometimes I hate it, because there's little that's more fun than finding unique and interesting gifts for the people I care about - but some baking and a pretty little box can go a long way.

I decided to make some (hopefully) interesting cookies and buy white boxes, ribbon, and the tiniest little ornaments as tie-ons. Presentation is the best part!

All three of these were a success, and I'll recommend them. The pumpkin cookies could stand to be a little more complex in flavor, so in the future I might add more pumpkin pie spice or do cinnamon nutmeg free pours. Nothing wrong with throwing some spices around.

easy easy

Golden Sesame Roll-ups

John and I both love sesame, so I was excited to try these. They are very good, but very sugary. With my leftover puff pastry, I tried a variation: half the cinnamon, a little less sugar, and a few shakes of poppy seeds. The result was slightly less sweet, with a depth of flavor that we both loved. Poppy is very distinct, and it worked well.

Glazed Pumpkin Cookies

Sugar Cookie Chocolate Hazelnut Sandwiches

Great sugar cookie recipe that I've used before from Real Simple. It's not overly sweet, which allows for the non-nauseating addition of sugar, sprinkles, icing, Nutella - whatever you like!

Happy Baking.