My food brain dreamed up these shortbread cookies with creamy pumpkin caramel back in June when the rest of you were thinking about watermelon and Jell-O shots, and bikini tops, and summer sunsets, and all of the amazing summer things.  I was sweating it out in my kitchen, covered in pumpkin puree, completely confused by the smell of holiday spices.

It’s about time these cookies make sense!  I mean… I’m wearing a scarf for goodness sake.  A scarf!

I made these cookies back in June for this month’s Better Homes and Gardens magazine.  These cookies are just one of a good handful of pumpkin recipes that fill the pages.

All I’m saying is… this is really good news on the pumpkin front.  Because there is a pumpkin front…. we’re looking right at it.

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This is me finding a solution to your Halloween candy dilemma.  It’s a problem, right?  I mean… how are we supposed to live surrounded by the mini Snickers bars?  It’s entirely distracting. Snickers breakfast lunch and dinner.  Let’s not talk about it.  Instead, let’s add butter and flour and disguise our Halloween stash into chewy sweet and salty cookie bars… all suited and booted for sharing and giving.

Suit and boot.  That’s what we do around here.

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Hello friends!  I hope this finds you properly reclined and sipping on something Sunday.  I’m been back in New Orleans for a week of waaaay too much Halloween fun.  I dressed up as Cleopatra.  Fierce with a side of crazy-eyes.  I’m sorry I’m not more forthcoming with photographic evidence.  I also bought a bag of Halloween candy and find that I’m mostly just eating it myself because… just let it happen.  I’m packing my bags to head to the west coast for a week.  I hope to see you in San Francisco and Seattle to show you how to make pie and write in your copies of Homemade Decadence.  It’ll be fun!

I hope your Sunday is relaxed and mellow.  I hope you over-indulge in Halloween candy even if you have to sneak it from your kid’s  stash.  Just hide the empty wrappers in the trash can… not like I’ve ever done that… who steals candy from children!?

Here is this week’s internet, condensed.  Carry on (and on and on).

•  My very favorite chef Jacques Pepin, on ketchup and other important things.

•  A woman walked around New York City for 10 hours and filmed every catcall she received.

•  A long read for a short weekend:  The Secret Life of an ISIS Warlord.

•  “How could gluten, present in a staple food that has sustained humanity for thousands of years, have suddenly become so threatening?”  What the what happened?  Against The Grain.

•  My Life On Olive Garden.  I’m getting each one of you a Pasta Pass for the holidays so GET EXCITED!

•  Similarly… My Week With A Flip Phone.  Committed but not insane… I mean, really.

•  We Are All Confident Idiots, I’m sure of it.

•  Theo Padnos on being kidnapped, tortured, and released in Syria.  This piece is 100%.  

•  Categorize under: truth is stranger/worse/more madness than fiction.  Mexico’s First Lady Of Murder Is On The Lam.

•  This is really interesting:  The Ten Greatest Changes In The Last 1,000 Years.

•  I’m headed to San Francisco and Seattle next week!  I’m giving away 4 tickets to the San Francisco pie demonstration and book signing.  Comment on this post, I’ll pick four of you tonight and see you at the signing tomorrow night!! Easy, right?

•  I need a kitchen blow torch because I want to make Creme Brûlée French Toast a reality for us.

• Tweet Game Strong.  The very best of the very worst of the very funniest tweets.

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It’s time for a new go-to cocktail.  This summer’s negroni and sangria indulgences are long past me.  I’m looking for an Autumn cocktail that feels ample and cozy… but nothing like mulled wine or syrupy sweet pear drinks.

Has there ever been a tasty mulled wine?  I think no.

I wanted to combine the sweetness of fruit with the spiciness of the season.  Apple juice.  Fresh pressed and unfiltered.  Bourbon, naturally.  Lime and bubble water.  But spiiiiice! Needed and necessary.

Have you heard of Art In The Age?  They make the most lovely, unique organic spirits.  My favorite this season is SNAP, inspired by old school Pennsylvania Dutch ginger snaps.  Yessss, right?

SNAP is made from a neutral alcohol, molasses, ginger, vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, tea, and sugar.  So so good!  Pairs perfectly with bourbon (yes!) and fresh apple.  I’ll be sipping on this SNAP all winter and I’m pretty sure I’ll keep a bottle or two around for hostess gifts.  It’s a treat.

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I‘m back in my kitchen this week… back from making pies with you up and down the east coast… back from gently and not so gently asking you to buy my dang book… back to my roasting pan.

This acorn squash was patiently awaiting my return.  Just sitting tight, waiting to be more than it already is.

I hacked my way through the protective skin (didn’t even lose a finger), removed the seeds, sliced, and drizzled.

This is the result of those efforts.  Let’s make it together… I mean, right!?

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Good morning, friends!  This might be too many sprinkles for a Sunday morning.  A little aggressive.  I’m in Vermont this weekend teaching people how to make pie at the King Arthur Flour Baking Education Center.  The air is crispy and the trees are golden brown and otherwise drunk in love with Fall.  I’ll soon be back in New Orleans, back in my kitchen, back being tormented by cat and claw.  I hope your Sunday is mellow and more great than good.

•  This American Crime: Sarah Koenig On Her Hit Podcast “Serial”.  Have you listened!?  Riveting, obsessive storytelling.

•  The Laborers Who Keep Dick Pics and Beheadings Out Of Your Facebook Feed.  That’s has got to be exhausting.  Also… thank you.

•  The Making of the Warrior Cop.  Why we saw what we saw in Ferguson.

•  Two teenage girls run away from their Colorado home to join ISIS.  Really, tho?  The Colorado-to-ISIS itinerary.

•  The Three Sizes of Guilt.  This is quite real, concise, and accurate.

•  12 Weekend Habits of Highly Successful People:  stillness, hobbies, and priorities.

•  When Introverts Should Avoid Coffee.  Thanks for the tips, yo.

•  Persimmon Prosciutto and Brie Grilled Cheese.  Let’s just eat all the persimmons.  ALL.

•  The number of eggs a woman has predicts heart attack risk.  Cool… what else should I stress out about besides EVERYTHING!?

•  The World’s Youngest Female Billionaire.  Dropped out of college.  Revolutionized the world.  Tale as old as time.

•  Monica Lewinsky helps to put an end to cyber bullying.  Better than making purses.

•  Why Every Newborn You See On Facebook Is Wrapped In The Same Baby Blanket.  Good to know.

 •  A Kid Crying Over a Cat. “Let it all out…”

Happy Sunday!

xo Joy

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