december, what?

oh what?

hey..

i've been making a lot of pie and testing out lipsticks at cvs.

november has come and went and i miss it. november is better than december.

see: november beach.

and thanksgiving.

it was a good time. every year we have the same 40ish person thanksgiving with neighbors and friends. there's always a cocktail hour with stray pitchers of margaritas.
there's always smoked turkey and drunk parents.
someone attempted the twerk.
and i made round dessert.

the larger bear is me and the little bear is a day-after-thanksgiving sandwich.

here is the part where i geek out on desserts. 

01. this pumpkin layer cake. sugared cranberries for the top. dang these are good, they win best holiday garnish.

02. the pumpkin pie.
in actuality it's a butternut squash pie. i'd been wanting to try out this butternut squash pie recipe.
no one would know it's not pumpkin pie, and i dig the pinch of cayenne in the spices.

03. sticky toffee puddings baked in mini bundts at work.

04. salted caramel cheesecake pie. base recipe found here. i used a graham crust insted of gingersnap.
i cut the sugar to 1 cup. i used this extra salty caramel for the caramel puddle. and generously doused the top with maldon to finish (right before serving!)
dare i say, i think this pie could be even better. it's screaming for you to throw cation to the wind and add in a dense cakey brownie layer.
to serve it, i showered the top with them sugared cranberries to cut some of the richness. i didn't get to try it with the cranberries because i was too full and it disappeared fast. but in my head it tastes awesome.

05. apple crostata. aka. free-form apple pie with crumb topping. i used ina garten's recipe, it was straightforward and classic ina buttery deliciousness.