Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Oh, where to begin? I think with good news. So, I'm living in Columbia on a permanent basis now. Because I got a job! With a South Carolina-based company, Hotelguides.com. I'm super-excited because they seem super-awesome. My first week was last week, so training kind of derailed my normal shooting schedule. It's cool though, you're still totally getting cookies.

And these are some damn tasty cookies. I'm a sucker for dried cranberries and oatmeal cookies. So is the baby. Seriously, Grady l-o-v-e-s dried cranberries. Especially if they're in this goat cheese spread. I know, right? See, I give him little tastes of whatever I'm eating, and sometimes with cheeses he'll take it and spit it out. But he was all. about. that goat cheese.

And I've always been a fan of oatmeal cookies. No, I don't have those trust issues some people claim to have from eating an oatmeal raisin cookie and expecting chocolate chip. No, siree. I think I get it from my grandmother. She likes raisin pie.

Salted Caramel Mocha & Hot Chocolate

I hope y'all had a delicious, stretch-pants-worthy Thanksgiving. With Thanksgiving comes my most favorite time of year. The Christmas music starts playing non-stop on the radio and becomes my Pandora station for the month.  And wouldn't you know it, we're actually having some cool weather here in good ol' South Carolina. Last year it barely got cold enough for me to need long sleeves, but this year the air has a crispness that I've sorely missed.

Turkey Day Round-up

Y'all! Thanksgiving is a week away. It's time to finalize menus, figure out who's making what, and pick out your outfit. You do that, too, right? I'm going to share some of my tips and recipes for a super-fattening scrumptious Thanksgiving.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

I...have a flair for the dramatic. I don't mean that I'm an overreactor kind of dramatic. I mean that I have a sense of theater, and I appreciate a good production. This leads me to wear things like (faux) fur vests, bright coral pants, and pretty much anything that sparkles. I also rock a pixie cut.

Pawleys Pie

 

I feel like I should be talking turkey. Y'all, Thanksgiving is only 14 days away. Two weeks on the nose. I just about have the menu finalized, which mostly comes from our Thanksgiving last year.

Instead I'm talking pie. And not the pumpkin or sweet potato kind that fits right in during the holiday season. This is one of my favorite local recipes. It's like a chocolate chip cookie on steroids thanks to coconut and pecans.

Pumpkin Spice Affogato

I've had this in my head for a couple of weeks. How to make a pumpkin spice latte seem...fresh. The obvious answer is ice cream.

Pumpkin ice cream is where it's at. I admit my first taste of pumpkin ice cream came at the verrry beginning of the season. Like September 1st or 2nd. It was at Scoops by Holden Beach, where we held a bachelorette party for my dear friend, Shana. The store sells Blue Bell ice cream, and they'd just started selling Pumpkin Praline. It was heaven.

Pumpkin Pie Spice

It was...a heckuva a week. In between Halloween, a family emergency (don't worry, everything's fine), and just general stuff, I was a leetle busy. Also, I met my future self at Fresh Market's Thanksgiving sampling event.

Okay, so I know there are 1,284,792 "recipes" for pumpkin pie spice floating on the interwebz. This is my personal version. It's heavy on the cinnamon with a floral finish from cardamom.

You'll need: freshly grated nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and ginger.