When I was in college around Thanksgiving and Christmas our cafeteria would serve tollhouse pie. Apparently the cafeteria frowns on “whole pies to go” so my besties and I would hide them under our jackets and sneak them out. How the heck we hid an entire pie (with whip cream) under our jackets is beyond me. And why in the world I felt the need to take an entire pie instead of just a slice is also beyond me. Here’s hoping the statue of limitations for pie stealing is under ten years.

I’ve spent the last few weeks going over different items for your Thanksgiving table. But have you decided on your desserts yet?

I’ve never been a big fan of Thanksgiving desserts, except for maybe my Grandma’s cheesecake, which my mom says I’m not allowed to publish. Probably this is because very few Thanksgiving desserts tend to be centered around chocolate, and mostly I just want more chocolate in my life.

Have you seen the big beautifully plump marshmallows in Williams Sonoma? They’re so pretty and festive. And they were the first clue that marshmallows didn’t have to taste sickeningly sweet. Even as a kid, they were too sweet.

It’s always very sad around campfires. I love roasting marshmallows, but I never eat them. That is until I discovered I could make homemade marshmallows. Homemade marshmallows are delicious without being overly sweet. When I realized you could flavor these tasty little treats, game over. Homemade marshmallows are my jam now, when I made these I barely had any left to take pictures of.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been to the store in October, bought twelve cans of pumpkin puree only to get home and realize dang, that’s a lot of pumpkin. There are only so many pumpkin pies people will tolerate before Thanksgiving. Don’t worry, I have your solution: tangy pumpkin bars.

As a rule I don’t like fruit desserts. Desserts should be chocolate, or at the very least made entirely of butter. I’ve been on a tart kick lately (my mom even threatened to write our Remy’s name on the birth certificate as Tart Bunting). Since the chocolate tart was starting to make guest appearances in my dreams, I decided it was time to come up with a new version – the raspberry tart. Don’t worry this one has a lot of butter.

This week was hard so I decided I should make this cake. It’s great for using up leftover Guiness and Irish cream from St. Patrick’s day (although “using up” is not a phrase I would put in the same sentence as Guiness and Baileys). At any rate, next time you need a pick me up (or a dinner party finale) I recommend this option.

Two days ago, I woke up with a craving for popsicles and read everything I could find on how to make popsicles. I wanted an interesting flavor, so I tried a few things out and came up with this – the Chocolate White Russian Popsicle. Your welcome.

Joe took me to the city of love and lights this year (in case you haven’t heard). We had so many romantic moments – walks along the Seine, picnicking under the Eiffel Tower and sitting in local cafes. It was a dream and I wouldn’t trade our time in Paris for anything in the world. While we were there, trying macarons from different patisseries was a favorite pastime. Pierre Herme was the clear winner.

Because it’s our anniversary today, I’m reprising the macarons we had in Paris. My chocolate macaron recipe won’t hold a candle to Pierre’s magnificent creations, but I’m hoping they’ll be reminiscent of sweet moments for you as they are for me.

In the past two weeks I’ve eaten my weight in gelato. I’m not joking. What else am I supposed to do when there are heaping mounds of creamy goodness on every street corner in Italy? They’re practically begging me to eat the stuff! I’m just doing my best not to insult them.

In light of the extreme gelato eating I’ve been doing (and because Georgia greeted us with sunny 86 degree weather this week) I’m sharing one of my favorite (pseudo-healthy) ice cream recipes.