Fall-Spiced Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

  There are eaters who will eat the best part first and save their least favorite part for last, and there are others who will only eat the best part or who will save the best for last.  And I guess there are also those who really don't care, food is food.

  Sorry, was that confusing?

  Okay, example.  Most everyone likes the tops of muffins best, it's just a thing.  Some will eat the top right away, then will begrudgingly eat the bottom.  Others will only eat the top, and others still will save the top for last.  And some will just down the whole muffin in one bite.

  Most of the time, I save the best for last.  What kind of eater are you?

Spicy Honey Roasted Cashews

  So!  As it's my first day off in a week, I thought I'd take advantage of it and catch up on my missed Sundays with Joy post.

  Do forgive me.  I work seasonally, and until October ends my life is not my own.

Chai-Spiced Vanilla Bean Snickerdoodles

  I'm fighting to keep my eyes open right now, and it's only 3:30 in the afternoon.

  WAKE UP.

  Every day of this week has felt like a constant battle between me and falling asleep.  It's what I think of when I wake up in the morning, it's what I daydream of doing while reading Marine Biology, it's on my mind all through dinner, and it's all I can do to brush my teeth before collapsing into a dead heap. 

  Or whatever.

Man Bait Apple Crisp

  This week's Sundays with Joy is featuring a recipe I've already made!  Joy's Man Bait Apple Crisp.  So I'm just linking back to the old post, where I direct you to places you can find the recipes for both the crisp and the caramel sauce.  And where, of course, I appropriately gush over how amazing this stuff is.  Happy Sunday!

  Click here to read on, and go here to see all the other members' posts.

Nutella Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

  Let me give you a quick rundown of how my Wednesday went.

6:00 AM- alarm goes off, I roll into the shower.

6:30 AM- I begin chocolate chip nutella pancake preparations, because it's my mom's birthday, and birthday mom's deserve naughty pancakes.

8:00 AM- The academic studies begin.

Baked Chili Cheese Fries (sans chili)

  We all seem to feel very strongly when it comes to french fries.  Some go for that one mushy fellow in the bunch (guilty as charged), others prefer their potato crisped beyond recognition, some use salt with abandon (Yes, even on McDonald's fries...), and others will say that the only way to go is to fry them twice.

  Look, I'm not here to give you the "perfect" fry.  I doubt I could even if I tried, everyone likes them so differently.  So, let me just say here and now, that I'm just going to let a potato be a potato. 

  By the way, the above list is by no means meant to be disrespectful.  Frying fries twice has been proven to be a very effective method.  I'd try it myself, but my mother is prone to queasiness whenever I heat up oil.  So, to save myself a fun time in the mudroom with our little thermometer-less deep fryer, I figured we should just go the baked route here.

Peach Crumble Bars

  So!  I'm just getting over a case of the flops.  I've mentioned them before, and you can be sure they'll come up again. 

  I'm human, I like to experiment, I get distracted, and I have little to do right now except create stacks of dirty dishes.

  In short, these peach bars were the first "blog-worthy" thing I've made in something like a week.  I had all these lovely posts that I was doing ahead of time, but every single one flopped.  Somehow, in someway, they just did not work out.

Mini Raspberry Galettes with Lemon Streusel

  Summer, with its berries, 90-degree afternoons, and sunny mornings is winding down.

  In case you didn't know.

  I'm in slight denial of this.  Yep, I'm also a normal person.  At any other time in life I'd welcome the change, what with autumn being my favorite season and all.  But this fall is different.  It's likely my last one at home, before I turn 18 and get out of here.