Candied nuts are one of my favorite holiday candies.  This is a recipe that has been passed down from my Grandma, to my Mom and now I finally got my hands on it!

I don’t only love these nuts because of the warm cinnamon and sugar flavors but because of the amazing scent they send throughout your home.

Or the mall…

You know what I’m talking about.  That delicious smell that you can’t seem to escape, no matter how far away you wander from the candied almond station.

Imagine having that same scent in your own home…your neighbors may flock to your door, be careful!

I figured it had been a while since my little monster friend paid a visit…

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Monster cookie dough was a staple of my diet in high school.  I would make a batch every couple weeks and it would never actually make its way into cookie form.  It just lived in an ice cream bucket in the refrigerator where I would spoon it out for a few days before my Mom threw it away out of disgust…

Is that gross?

I don’t think so…

I miss high school and college where you can eat cookie dough, cereal and popcorn every day without feeling any guilt.  I try it sometimes as an adult but always feel the vegetable drawer glaring at me with shame…

Since this weekend was the weekend after Thanksgiving I felt no guilt making a giant batch of cookies (which I actually baked!) and eating half the dough.  They were just as delicious as I remember.  In fact, they were even better this time because I added chopped up Oreos.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I wish you luck as the upcoming holiday season bears down upon us all!  Eat dessert,  smile at the awful lady who cut you in line at the noodle shop, let the really slow pedestrian cross the street and lastly, shop online when possible.  As my sister-in-law so wisely put it, “keep it simple” in the month of December.  Goodbye, November, where did you go so quickly?   Hopefully goodbye facial hair above Mikey’s lip…and hello, December.  Let’s not forget the REAL reason we celebrate this wonderful month!

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Moving = do not buy groceries.

So I decided to search though the pantry and come up with something sweet for you.

Things I found: Rice Krispies, peanut butter, chocolate chips, Kraft caramels and marshmallows…

Sounds like a delicious discovery.

What I came up with were some triple decker Rice Krispie treats.  Regular Rice Krispies followed by a peanut butter marshmallow layer, caramel layer and chocolate layer.

We are settling into our new place and I will try to spend some time in the kitchen and share some new recipes with you soon!

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Sometimes I get these ideas in my head and I just can’t get them out.

This cake was one of them.

It was a combination of a few different recipes and ingredients that I had on hand, and I’m glad this was one idea I didn’t ignore.  This cake is sweet, but the spices help cut through the rich caramel sauce and give it that perfect fall flavor.

Sorry I have been a bit absent the past couple weeks, Mikey and I are moving!  So I will warn you now that I may not be baking that often as we get settled.  We’re not moving anywhere exotic, just closer to downtown…but a move is a move and we have gathered a LOT of junk over the past two years!

Thanks for sticking with me, loyal blog readers.

You’re the best.

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