Easy Sweets

The PTA Halloween party was in four hours and I’d completely forgotten. Somehow, between helping my youngest glue cotton balls onto a ghost costume and … Read more

I was supposed to be making gingerbread. It was mid-October, and my kitchen counter was covered in molasses, ginger, and cloves. I had the whole … Read more

There used to be a tiny apple orchard café in the foothills, about forty minutes from my house, that made the most incredible iced apple … Read more

It was 10:47 PM on a random Tuesday, and I had a very specific, almost desperate craving for something chocolatey, creamy, and a little bit … Read more

My neighbor Sarah wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I’d stopped by to borrow a cup of sugar—how cliché, I know—and this smell hit me before … Read more

I was standing in the canned soda aisle at the Piggly Wiggly last Tuesday when the smell of cinnamon and brown sugar hit me—not from … Read more

I was standing in the checkout line at the hardware store—of all places—when the woman behind me started talking about dirt. Not the potting soil … Read more

This was supposed to be a pumpkin cheesecake. The baked kind, with a water bath and a springform pan and all that anxiety that comes … Read more

My daughter asked why I couldn’t just skip browning the butter for the pumpkin muffins. I started to explain why that wouldn’t work — then … Read more

I was at my local hardware store last October, picking up a new rake—glamorous, I know—when the cashier, a woman named Carol who looked like … Read more