OK, time to get your creepy on. As I have mentioned most past years, Halloween isn’t really my thing — nor is Valentine’s Day or Arbor Day — but it is an excuse to make some treats, so here we go! This year, it’s these Mexican Chocolate Day of the Dead Sandwich Cookies. I made sort of similar ones last year, but this year, changed out the flavor profile to add cinnamon and some spice to the chocolate, hence the reason I am calling them Mexican chocolate. They actually turned out super yummy and when I had a friend try one today, prefacing it with “it’s sort of like an oreo”, the response was “that is a million times better than just an oreo!” 🙂
Pumpkin Spice isn’t really my favorite. I mean, it’s ok, but I am not gah gah over it, the way that some people are. That said, I do try to make a new pumpkin recipe every few years … even if I try to “hide” it by calling them “autumn spice” in this case. 🙂 I think they look a little like giraffe pattern too. Either which way, they turned out well for an experiment. Lighter and fluffier than I expected too.
It’s turned dramatically colder in the last few days. Not really surprising, given that it is the end of October. I refuse to turn on the heat until November 1st though. But, colder weather means warmer food so I made this lovely Bacon Shrimp and Corn Chowder for dinner last night. Now, soup is hard to photograph and chwder even more so, so even though the photo has a whole lot of white in it, you’ll have to trust me that the chowdah has a whole lot of flavor.
Cookies, Sweet Snacks
Cranberry Cardamom and Toasted Pine Nut Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate Mini Chips
My mum has an expression for using random ingredients and/or leftover food for a meal which roughly translates to “sideways through the refrigerator”. Sometimes it feel like that when I throw random things together in my drop cookies. This time: dried cranberries, white chocolate mini-chips, pine nuts, oatmeal, and a healthy dose of cardamom. Delicious combination, even if it is a bit unorthodox!
So sometimes it is the simple things. These cookies, for example. They don’t look like much, do they? But they are seriously some of the best cookies that I have ever baked, though they are a bit on the sweet side. Caramel Chips and Toffee Bits … glued together with brown sugar and butter. Simply delightful. The only thing that I think will make they even better would be to add macadamia nuts, so I will have to try that next time. They take yummy to a whole new level!