UPDATE: Congratulations to Meg! She won the book and prizes. And Congratulations to DD, Shannon, Elin and Ilissa! They won the cookie cutters and other Sugarlicious goodies. Thank you to all for participating!!

Just in time for the holidays! OK, so I’m too late for Halloween, but the other holidays. One last hoorah and trip to the post office before Baby 2 arrives in December. So I’m giving away a signed copy of my book, published earlier this year, Sugarlicious: 50 Cute and Clever Treats for Every Occasion (because you covet my autograph, right? Just humor me). AND I’m giving away some other things, like some Sugarlicious oven mitts, aprons, spatulas and Post-It notes. AND I’m giving away some Fall and Winter-themed cookie cutters for your baking in the next couple of months. It’s an all-out extravaganza, I think.

Read all about my book, Sugarlicious, HERE.

A peek inside the book:

(scroll to the end for the giveaway)

THE GIVEAWAY!

To enter: Leave a comment to this post before Thursday, November 8, midnight, EST. That’s it!

The Prizes: Five winners will be randomly drawn to win:

• •  1 winner will get a signed copy of Sugarlicious AND the Sugarlicous oven mitt, spatula, apron and Post-It notes AND the cookie cutters (leaf, turkey, pumpkin, snowman and snowflake).

• •  4 more winners will receive: The Sugarlicious oven mitt, spatula, apron and Post-It notes AND the five cookie cutters. (Sorry, folks, I only have one copy of the actual book to giveaway, so that goes to the 1st place winner.)

The Details:

Given my limited funds, I can ship to US addresses only.

Winners have 48 hours to respond after being notified before another winner is drawn.

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pumpkin patch cupcakes from my book, Sugarlicious

 apple cake pop placecards from my book, Sugarlicious

Now that Halloween is officially over, it’s time to start thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas. Given my almost-bursting belly at 8 months pregnant, I might be relying a bit heavily on the old archives this season. As always, I’ll keep my SEASONAL button up there updated (or I’ll try to). Here are some favorites from Thanksgiving past. Click the photos or the captions to go to the original posts.

You can check out more ideas in this Thanksgiving roundup for Reader’s Digest I made awhile back and I have a few more treats at Celebrations.

 Thanksgiving Day marshmallow activity for kids

Give kids marshmallows and edible writers and let them make their own! Printable instructions included in the post.

easy pumpkin pie cookies

bite-size Fall cookies

falling leaves cookies

A note to all those suffering the effects of Superstorm Sandy… It feels very odd to post today on cookies and sweets when my mind is elsewhere. My heart goes to all of those impacted by the Storm! I’m in Washington DC, where we got by relatively unscathed. But my family is from the New Jersey shore, and I’ve been obsessively checking for updates. I’m extremely fortunate my family are all safe, but my brother and his family are without power indefinitely and still shaken by the storm. My dear cousin and her family lost their home to the storm.  Merely searching for a gas station is a many-hours long ordeal, and my brother has sadly witnessed violence and utter chaos in the wake of the storm. I hope you’ll all keep those who lost so much in your hearts as well!  Rebuilding will take much time and patience, and I, like many, I’m sure, are already seeking ways to help.  Thank you for visiting and listening!

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!

When I was a kid, I used to dream of owning an apple orchard when I grew up. (Or, more specifically, I dreamed of being an architect veterinarian who owned an apple orchard.) I live in the heart of a major city, Washington DC, so no apple orchard for me. Though I do like to trek out to Maryland to go apple picking at least once a year. I’d like to say these apples are from a day at the farm, but alas, I’ve not yet made it out there. But they are freshly picked from my local Giant. (UPDATE for those terribly worried I wouldn’t make it apple picking… I went yesterday and got 18 pounds of apples. But I wrote this post last week. Ah well, more apple-y days ahead.)

It’s so much easier to eat a bite of apple pie then to deal with the whole knife and slicing and plate and fork thing. Though I guess eating a slice of apple pie isn’t too difficult either. So then I’ll say cuter instead. Yeah, cuter. I used sticks I gathered from the yard, washed them and stuck them in the top. Said sticks are optional, and a couple pulled right out of the apple pie bites when I went to pick them up. A skewer with a pointy end  would be much more practical. But the sticks are, well, just so much more right, so I still vote sticks.

how to make apple pie bites on a stick

you will need:

1 large Granny Smith apple

1 small ice cream scoop*

1 9-inch refrigerated pie crust  (Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts used here)

3-inch circle cookie cutter

2 tablespoons sugar, plus additional

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, plus additional

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 egg

flour

rolling pin

sticks or skewers (optional)

* I used a small scoop 1 1/4-inch in diameter. You don’t really need an ice cream scoop since my apple “balls” were more “chunks” anyway, you could use a knife to cut pieces about 1 inch to 1 1/4 inch cubed.

what to do:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Pare and core the apple. Use the scoop or just a knife to make apple chunks about 1-inch to 1 1/4-inch across. In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and the nutmeg. Dip and roll the apple pieces in the sugar mixture until fully coated.

Unroll a refrigerated pie crust and cut out circles with the cutter. Gather the scraps and re-roll on a floured surface about 1/8-inch thick. Cut out remaining circles. You’ll need one for each apple piece. Place a sugar-coated apple piece in the center of a pie crust circle and gather the pie crust around the top of the apple and pinch to seal. (Some of the apple may peek through at the top.) Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Repeat with the remaining pie crust circles and apple pieces. Beat the egg with a couple teaspoons of water, and brush over the pie crusts. Use the remaining sugar mixture, or, mix more cinnamon and sugar together, and sprinkle over the apple pies.

Bake for 14 to 16 minutes until the crusts are browned. Remove from the oven and insert the sticks. As the pie bites cool, the sticks will become more secure. (More secure, not totally secure, so don’t go waving these around.) Makes about 10 bites.

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Hello Fall, come on in. I’ve missed you ever so much this long, hot, sticky Summer. I embrace you, Fall, and all you bring, like pumpkins. So yes, Callye of The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle, of course I’m joining your pumpkin cookie cutter extravaganza. Remember back when she asked a bunch of supercool bloggers to create something, anything with a star cookie cutter? This time around, it’s a pumpkin cookie cutter. Isn’t this collection of talent and sweet art freakin’ amazing? Forgive my language, but it just is. For links to all 23 bloggers, scroll to the end.

I didn’t live up to my name and actually decorate my pumpkins. No cookie recipe is used here.

I’ve mentioned 169 and 39 times on this blog that Fall is my favorite season (by the way, “169 and 39″ is my daughter’s go-to phrase for expressing a large volume, so I thought I’d try and start a trend). Summer is too hot. Fall brings a crisp chill that is fully welcome after the sweltering heat. And Fall brings the promise of winter and holidays and pretty snowfalls. And that promise is even better than the real thing, because the real thing is terribly inconvenient when it happens. But the promise of it makes you only think of the pretty part. As a fan of Fall, I adore the smells and flavors of the season. So when Callye challenge us to use a pumpkin cutter, I not only wanted to step away from my usual cookies, but I wanted to make something that incorporated the flavors of Fall.

So I chose candy. Pumpkin fudge, that is. On a stick, of course. I played around with my go-to recipe for chocolate fudge until I got the pumpkin fudge just right. And by “played around” I mean I made four batches. We’re swimming in pumpkin fudge in my house.

I have a few different sizes of pumpkin cutters, but I chose the little one-inch pumpkin cutter I got in a set of Fall cutters for these. It was a wise choice. This fudge is way too rich to have more than an inch. I know, because I ate all the scraps as I went along and I could barely move afterwards.

how to make pumpkin fudge on a stick

pumpkin fudge recipe

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup pumpkin puree (a can of Libby’s is the best)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

2 1/2 to 3 cups white chocolate chips*

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

*Note that this is just over a 24-ounce bag of chocolate chips. You don’t necessarily need the extra half cup, but I wanted my fudge a little thicker so it would hold its shape better, so I bought the larger bag.

Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan. In a small bowl, combine the salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves and set aside. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, sugar, evaporated milk, pumpkin and the salt and spice mixture. Stir constantly with a whisk until the mixture comes to a boil. Lower the heat a bit and continue to simmer for five minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and use a spoon or spatula to stir in the chocolate chips and vanilla extract. Stir, stir, stir until all the chocolate chips are melted. Pour into the pan, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, about 2 hours. Remove and cut into squares or pumpkins. Keep refrigerated to keep firm. Makes about 25 little pumpkins.

putting it on a stick

you will need:*

1-inch pumpkin cookie cutter

lollipop sticks

When the fudge has set, use the cookie cutter to cut out the pumpkins as closely together as possible. If the fudge is too firm, let it rest at room temperature a bit. To make the cutting easier, dip the cutter’s edges in hot water or grease with shortening. I pressed down my greased cookie cutter, then used a large, off set spatula to lift the piece out of the baking pan, then I gently pushed the fudge out of the cutter. Insert a lollipop stick. Refrigerate the fudge to keep it firm.

Here they are, 20+ ways to use a pumpkin cutter, hosted by Sugarbelle. Click the links to go to the bloggers’ posts.

1.       Panda Calaveras, Miss Cuit

2.       Owl S’mores on a Stick, Kitchen Fun with my Three Sons

3.       Pumpkin Cheesecake Pasties, Bakingdom

4.       Halloween Pumpkin Wall, Arty McGoo

5.       Cocoa Krispies Trick or Treat Bears, Hungry Happenings

6.       Creative Cherry Cookies, Lila Loa

7.       The Ultimate Halloween Candy Bar, Dollhouse Bake Shoppe

8.       Halloween Pumpkin Carriage Cookie, Trilogy Edibles

9.       Easy Cheveron Pumpkin Cookies, Lizy B Bakes

10.   Pumpkin Fudge on a Stick, The Decorated Cookie

11.   Funny Face Pumpkin Cookies, Munchkin Munchies

12.   Woodland Owl Cookies, The Bearfoot Baker

13.   Pumpkin Cheesecake Hand Pies, Created by Diane

14.   Wide Eyed Owl Cookies, Simply Sweets by Honeybee

15.   Zombie Girl and Brains Cookies, Not Your Momma’s Cookies

16.   Cookie Cutter Pumpkin Fudge, The Partiologist

17.   3-D Pumpkin Cookie, Cookie Crazie

18.   Faberge-Style Pumpkin Coach, Oh, Sugar Events

19.   Peek-a-Boo Pumpkin Cupcake Topper, Sweetology 101

20.   Slimy Green Ghost Cookies, Pink Little Cake

21.   Silly Pumpkin Face Cookies, Klickitat Street

22.   Pretty Painted Pumpkin Cookies, Glorious Treats

23.   Lalaloopsie Cookies with a Twist, SweetSugarBelle

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I need you to stick with me on this one (all kinds of puns intended there), because it might seem a little weird. But these are really good. And it took me a few batches to get my idea to work, so there’s labor behind these, even if they are unbelievably easy to make.

You see it all started when I got a huge box of KRAFT Jet-Puffed marshmallow awesomeness. I received said box of marshmallow awesomeness at no cost to me, mind you, just to have some fun with marshmallows. Done and done. (They chose a good target, see? And I swear, they didn’t pay me to say this, either, but most of those marshmallows in my link are Jet-Puffed brand, which I use because they aren’t coated in excess powder and are best for decorating.)

In the box, I found a couple bags of the Jet-Puffed Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows. Oh, Fall, how I love thee. So my natural thought progression was pumpkin spice marshmallows, pumpkin pie, pie, stick, pops. So I made Pumpkin Spice Marshmallow Pie Pops. They were yummy, though I do wish I added cinnamon sugar on top rather than just plain sugar. The flavor is subtle, and I wanted just a wee bit more. And yes, the stick is really stuck on there. These pops are thin, so very light, and the marshmallow caramelizes on the pie, securing the stick in the process.

how to make Pumpkin Spice Marshmallow Pie Pops

you will need:

Jet-Puffed pumpkin spice marshmalows

9-inch refrigerated pie crust

sugar

2-inch circle cookie cutter

rolling pin

parchment paper

baking tray

lollipop sticks

*Find the cookie cutter and lollipop sticks in the craft store. 2-inches is a good size cutter to keep the marshmallow from dripping off the sides, but you can go a bit bigger if need be. Just don’t go smaller.

what to do:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Unroll the refrigerated pie crust and cut out 2-inch circles as closely as possible. You may reroll the scraps and cut out more circles. (A 9-inch crust will make about 20 pops.)  Place the circle on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Place a lollipop stick on the pie circle and then place a pumpkin spice marshmallow on top. Repeat to fill the tray. Sprinkle sugar generously over the pip pops.  Bake just until the marshmallow starts to turn a dark brown, about 10 minutes. The marshmallow will puff up before it gets to that stage. When done, remove from the oven and let cool completely on the tray so the stick stays put.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!