CARAMEL APPLE PIE BLISS

Ok, seriously..this is one of, if not the, best pies I've ever had in my life! A buttery flaky crust meets a cinnamon-spiced apple filling, studded with hunks of gooey, slimy, sweet caramel. Oh my...just the very thought of a slice of this apple goodness is causing a serious build-up of drool! I must stop. This pie is perfect. Ok, I'm done...

Here's the recipe. Make this, ASAP!

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE CAKE

How cute is this? Chocolate chip cookie cake. Turkey decoration. Need I say more? Well, actually..one more thing: it was "gobbled" up in seconds. True story.

Use your most favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and double it to make a thick 9 inch round cake and if you're reallyyyyyy lucky, you may have some dough left over to sneak in a few cookies. Enjoy!

SUGAR COOKIES

Welcome back from the seemingly endless holiday of stuffing face! Good news folks, this is only the beginning. Bring on the December holidays as Thanksgiving was merely a warm-up round.

Anyway, on to these cookies. As you can see from my earlier post on the University of Tennessee sugar cookies, I've been on quite a sugar cookie roll. They are super easy to make, fun to decorate, and even more delicious to eat. My boyfriend's company had a big Thanksgiving party so I sent him in with this absolute random selection of cookies; schnauzers, mittens, leaves, and bones. Yep, you know, the usual. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I pulled these 4 cutters from my bag of 1000 but there's nothing wrong with some arbitrary selection from time to time! I wrapped each cookie in a plastic bag with some cute ribbon and got incredible feedback. All 150 cookies were gone within an hour! I also sent him in with about 75 pumpkin spice cake pops but really...haven't y'all had enough of the cake pop posts? I've opted to leave those pictures out and save you from cake pop bombardment. :)

ICE:APPLE

This month's Iron Cupcake Earth challenge was dedicated to...what else? Apples! Apples are so incredibly versatile in the world of food and can be sweet or tart, cider or vinegar, wine or soda, and butter or jelly. Take your pick, any pick..they are all delish! I went ahead and created an apple ginger spiced cupcake topped off with a spiced cream cheese frosting and garnished with a homemade mini gingerbread man. Too cute; and did I mention finger-lickin' good?

Each cupcake was filled with chunks of sweet spiced apples which made for a perfect Fall treat. The combination of a sweet and spicy cupcake with a creamy cream cheese frosting created the perfect trifecta! I really can't get enough of these cupcakes and neither could my boyfriend's colleagues! Here's a closer look at the anatomy of this cuppie:

With all this said, please vote for me for this month's Iron Cupcake Earth challenge!! Voting takes place on Friday November 27th @ 8pm at No One Puts Cupcake In A Corner and will be open through Thursday December 3rd @ noon. Go on, don't be shy :)

Our Generous IronCupcake:Earth Prize Providers:

• The Demy™ by Key Ingredient
• Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson
• Bella Cupcake Couture
• Cupcake Stackers by Gourmac
• The Cake Mix Doctor Returns! by Anne Byrne
• Beautiful Baking Liners by Vestli House
• Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Bakery & Cupcakey Supply

GO VOLS!!

I'm off to the Tennessee vs. Ole Miss football game tomorrow in Oxford, Mississippi! My boyfriend was a player on the U of Tennessee football team several years ago so naturally, he is a die-hard fan! Mississippi is only about an hour from Memphis and we are leaving super early to tailgate. There's nothing like smash mouth SEC football. This rivalry should be great.

Since the tailgate is consisting of over 100 people, I thought it would be a nice touch to bring Tennessee Volunteer decorated cookies including a football, helmet, and "T" logo. I made about 6 dozens of these today using a basic sugar cookie recipe. All of the cookies were dipped in icing and decorated with royal icing. These were super fun to make and tasted so delicious. I individually wrapped each cookie and topped the baggies off with orange and white ribbon. I hope everyone enjoys them tomorrow at the tailgate! GO VOLS!!