Cookies, Pies, Cupcakes and more!

It turns out my mother-in-law is the perfect enabler when it comes to my lack of self-control with butter, eggs and sugar. Since I've been home from the hospital (approx. 2.5 weeks now) I have led a crusade for baked goods in my house and none of our creations have had much of a shelf-life. The average time from a full-batch-out-of-the-oven to a full-batch-in-my-stomach is about 1.5 days. I consider this quite impressive and think medals should be given to anyone who can keep up with the amount of creativity it takes to think of new things to bake and the unprecedented speed with which I can put away said baked goods.

Thankfully, my mother-in-law received a cupcake cookbook of Martha Stewart designs from my husband and I as a thank-you-for-changing-all-those-newborn-poopy-diapers and for-putting-up-with-my-hormonal-weepy-self. She glanced through all the pictures and decided on an aptly Halloween-inspired confection, our most polished and blog-worthy.

I should also note that this over-indulgence in all things sweet and homemade is directly a result of my 9-month long self-deprivation of sugar. It didn't in fact help me create a less than gigantic baby but it did help me appreciate and feel absolutely worthy of 2.5 weeks worth of non-stop baking! Thank God for breastfeeding because despite my unapologetic, blatant display of gluttony, I continue to watch the scale point to weight loss (only 6lbs left to lose) having effectively transferred all the buttery goodness to the simply scrumptious buttery thighs of my newborn. Those dimples are much cuter on her butt anyway!

Cheers to a season of baking to come! Now I have a chocolate pecan pie and French gaufres to bake!