Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

These cookies were suggested by a patron at a bake sale although she called them by their common name, Oatmeal Scotchies. I used the recipe on the bag of chips (using butter and vanilla not margarine and orange peel.) I made bar cookies because I was too lazy to work with sticky oatmeal cookie dough. I've since made them as drop cookies, which I liked much better. More crunch per cookie.

They were very vanilla-y and surprisingly not as sweet as I expected them to be - about the same as oatmeal cookies with raisins in them.

Sugar-filled Thanks

Apple pie with crumb topping, which was one of my contribution to Thanksgiving 2014.

The other was the Pecan Cake with Rum Frosting pictured on the top right below.

It was kind of a monochromatic palette. It was fall.

Potluck Cupcakes (Tailgate Theme)

I started a new job last October and about a week after I started, we had a potluck lunch. Wanting to impress my new coworkers, I went with an old favorite: Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes with Perfectly Chocolate Frosting. (ProTip: despite what the recipe says, my cupcakes are almost always done after 17 minutes.) I dusted the cupcakes with orange sugar so that they would be the colors of the Cleveland Browns.

I'm happy that my much vaunted baking skills were confirmed and appreciated. We have potlucks every few months so I'm adding a new label to the blog!

Apple Oat Crisp

I made this classic fall dessert with this recipe's filling and this recipe's topping and followed the baking directions of the second. The best advice on adding sugar to the fruit part of the dish is to do so "according to taste" (you can use either white or brown sugar) and also to taste test the fruit that is the base of the dish. I've also added pecans or walnuts to the topping (about 1/4 cup.)

I have served this crisp with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream (slightly sweetened with powdered sugar.) Either way is delicious.

Hall of Heroes

If you find yourself traveling through or near (or in) Elkhart, Indiana, check out this small but awesome shrine to superhero memorabilia. My pictures won't do it justice so I recommend checking out their website for a sneak peak of what you can find there. But see it in person! It's insanely cool.

hallofheroesmuseum.com

Books and Books and Books...

More audiobooks! A few of these audiobooks are ones where I attempted to read the hard or softcover version but never got the whole way through. You guess which ones! I'm a much better listener than reader.

1: Good Omens
  Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

2: Ender's Game
  Orson Scott Card

3: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book) (The Audiobook)
  Jon Stewart

4:  The Hobbit
  J.R.R. Tolkien

5: Rosewater
  Maziar Bahari

6: Little Princes
  Conor Grennan

7: Coraline
  Neil Gaiman

8: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
  Sherman Alexie

9: The Beekeeper's Apprentice
  Laurie R. King

10: The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace
  Jeff Hobbs