Pumpkin Shortbread Bars with Candied Pecans

You know it's fall when pumpkin hits the market.  Be it carving, cooking or canned, pumpkin is the symbol of the season.  There's nothing like a piping hot bowl of creamy pumpkin oatmeal to start your day, tender roasted pumpkin meat tossed with pasta and goat cheese or a freshly brewed pumpkin latte from your favorite mer-coffee-maker.  And of course, there's the all time rockstar of pumpkin - the pie.  Problem is...I have a teensy problem when it comes to eating pumpkin pie on pre-holidays.  Post-holidays or the fête du jour itself, no sweat.  But before the holiday....I don't think so.  The hubs does not share my opinion and his sweet tooth would be hard pressed to wait until the end of November for a pumpkin dessert.  Luckily these delightful Pumpkin Shortbread Bars are the perfect tide-us-through dessert until the turkey hits the table.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Treats

Every foodie loves a well stocked pantry.  Filled with packaged of dried beans, cans of tomatoes, cartons of broth and bags of bite-sized candies, it's a perfect little hidey-hole of tasty tidbits.  But as is the case with any hole, there's a dark little corner in the end that is rarely explored.  It goes undiscovered until you pull out calcified honey bears, half eaten bags of chips and melted chocolate chip blocks.  You've all been there....pulling out an item and thinking, "When did I even buy this?"  In my pantry, the two biggest culprits are pretzel sticks and mini marshmallows.  They have a tendency to flock to the corners and lurk for months before finally revealing their stale, pulverized remnants.  And I can never throw anything out.....ever.  So to battle my way back to a clean pantry, I've created several treats of pretzel and marshmallow for the hubs eating pleasure.

Rolo Walnut Blondies

Everyone loves a good brownie.  And why not?  Chocolatey and decadent, this dessert has it all.  In our chocolate-loving household, we often forget about the brownie's fairer friend, the delicious blondie.  This light, buttery bar is one of my favorites.  Wonderfully chewy, these little bars win over brownies when it comes to their consistency.  Maybe it's all the butter, but I don't really care to find out.  They passed the taste test...that's good enough for me.

Peppermint Brownies

In our home, the day after Thanksgiving is dedicated to unpacking Christmas decor and sprucing up the house.  All the turkeys are tucked away for another year, replaced by penguins, snowmen and candy cane stripes.  But once the house is ready, I get ready for my favorite weekend in December:  Cookie Wekend.  Two straight days of dough-making, followed by a week of cookie baking (last year we made 36 dozen for ourselves friends and family).  It is a weekend spent covered in flour and a perpetual smile.  To say I love Christmas cookies is an understatement.

Homemade Take 5's

Have you every thought that Take 5 bars need more ingredients?  Because I did.  Why stop at five when you can have six?  Pretzels, peanuts, peanut butter, caramel and chocolate just isn't quite enough. So I added marshmallow.  And the hubby rejoiced!  Right before gaining 5 pounds.....