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This oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe and I go way back. To my cold, drafty college apartment and one of the very first runs of the KitchenAid stand mixer my stepmother had gifted me for Christmas. (The one that still sits on my kitchen counter to this day!) But there is good reason I’ve been making these chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies all these years – they are crazy delicious!

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Fact: I kind of hate marshmallows. Additional fact: Marshmallows are so much better when they’re homemade! And in our house where I keep all the fixings for a hot cocoa bar on hand all winter long, homemade marshmallows have a starring role in the show. Have you ever made them before? They’re easier than you think! I’m sharing my homemade marshmallow recipe (specifically, a peppermint marshmallow recipe) that you and your kids will love! Even you, fellow marshmallow hater.

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It’s cookie exchange day, friends! Every year my blogger besties and I host a virtual cookie exchange, going so far as referring to ourselves as the Christmas Cookie Squad. In short, below I’ve linked up every single Christmas cookie recipe you could possibly want this season, perfect for hosting or bringing to your own cookie exchange parties. I’m jumping into the game with these fudge dipped double chocolate peppermint cookies. They are melt in your mouth good and worth the tiny bit of effort it takes to crush up some candy canes! Join in the fun on Instagram with our hashtag #christmascookiesquad!

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We are leaving out on our epic annual camping trip later this week so I’m currently up to my eyeballs in shopping, packing and prep lists. This is our seventh year in a row spending five days on an island with a huge group of friends, family and our boating family so I’ve got it down to a bit of a science when it comes to packing and prepping. Before we run away and play Gilligan for the week though, I wanted to share one of my favorite camping recipes with you – raspberry Nutella mountain pies!

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Has anyone figured out where 2018 is flying off to yet? How on earth are we already heading into Memorial Day weekend?! I’d make some sort of vague complaints about how life is just moving too fast, but frankly, I love this time of year best of all and my sister flies home in a few days for the long weekend sooo, I got nothing. (This is where I would enter one of those quizzical little shrug emojis I love so much in text messages if such things were acceptable in long form.) With Memorial Day, comes picnic season and with picnic season comes an uptick in entertaining and the need for crowd-wowing but easy dessert recipes. That’s exactly where this brownie pizza recipe comes into play, friends! It’s relatively easy to make, it’s insanely pretty (without requiring any fancy decorating skills, which I don’t have) and it’s topped with the most delicious strawberry buttercream frosting. That’s what we call all the wins!

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A few miles down the road from where my grandfather lived when I was a kid, there was a u-pick farm with a big strawberry patch where he’d take me every summer. The farm has since closed, but not before I was able to take Em there when she was just six or seven months old to pick berries and gleefully smash them all over her face. Strawberry season has always held a special kind of magic for me and I’m sure that farm is partially why. While it’s not quite strawberry season yet for us (this far north it tends to be mid to late June), I know it is in many parts of the country so I thought we should make strawberry pies! Mini pies in a muffin tin, because tiny things are adorable and because, duh. Who doesn’t want their own little pie?!

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Well, friends, I am certifiably obsessed with making bark. If that wasn’t already self-evident, here’s another chocolate bark recipe, loaded with Lucky Charms and sprinkles just in time for St. Patrick’s Day! Why do I love bark so much? In short, it’s incredibly easy and really fun to make. It’s such a sweet, simple novelty and people go crazy for it whenever I make a fresh batch. Our kids love to help sprinkle the toppings and after I make a big batch (if it’s not specifically for a party), I just tuck it into an airtight container in the fridge where it keeps for a couple of weeks without a problem. You can divvy it up into little cello bags for gifting to co-workers or neighbors, or send it to school for a special St. Patrick’s Day treat for the little leprechauns in your life! Basically, it’s inexpensive and quick to make, so you don’t have to plan it out days in advance, and you can switch up the flavors and colors however you want. Have I made the case for bark yet? If you haven’t given one of my many bark concoctions a try yet, there’s no time like the present! I promise you’ll be hooked.

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Admittedly, making chocolate bark is becoming a bit of a thing around here. It started with Halloween candy bark, then Christmas bark in a bunch of varieties, Easter candy bark and here we are today with conversation heart chocolate bark just in time for Valentine’s Day! If you need a last minute treat for your kids to bring along to school or you want to whip up something sweet for your co-workers, this is the ticket! Here’s the thing though – chocolate bark is so easy to make. Seriously! If you can boil water, you can make bark. The key is to melt the chocolate over a double boiler. I don’t have an “official” double boiler so I use a stock pot with water and then a heat-safe glass mixing bowl sitting on top of the stock pot and it works great. (Check out my “Behind the Blog” Instagram Stories highlights to see what I mean!) I made my bark with dark chocolate with a white chocolate swirl, but you can really use any chocolate you like. Other than that it’s just conversation hearts and pink heart sprinkles, which also aren’t strictly necessary if you can’t find any. Personally I just love bark, because people find it to be such a novelty and it’s easy enough that if you don’t prefer to bake or you have kids you want to have help you with sprinkling the toppings, you’re good to go. Give it a try!

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When we were kids there was something about the official Christmas cookie baking day that my mom and our good family friend used to co-host every year that was absolutely magical. As an adult my holiday baking tends to happen here and there in waves throughout the season versus on one specific day, but as a kid I looked forward to cookie day all year long. The peanut butter blossoms were my favorite to make then and they still are today! I was always in charge of unwrapping the Hershey kisses, rolling the dough balls in sugar and then smushing the chocolate kisses on just right. These cookies always show up on cookie trays this time of year, but I’m going to go so far as to tell you that these are the best peanut butter blossoms you’ve ever eaten, so if you need the best peanut butter blossom recipe to add to your cookie repertoire, you’ve come to the right spot! Keep scrolling because I am also linking up below to a handful of my best blogging friends and some of their favorite Christmas cookie recipes, too, so be sure to pop over and give them all a little love.

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Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, things are about to get decidedly merry around these parts! Tis the season for entertaining and I, for one, could not be happier to host family and friends as often as possible over the next several weeks. Today I’ve teamed up with 34 Degrees to share a few easy tips and inspiring ideas for hosting a simple yet super chic holiday cocktail party. I think this is truly the easiest way to entertain over the holidays and oftentimes the most fun, too! You won’t have to spend hours prepping, cooking and then cleaning the kitchen and with a stash of 34 Degrees crisps at the ready, you can serve up tasty gourmet bites in a flash. Plate them alongside a selection of delicious cocktails, crank your favorite holiday playlist and you’ve got a hip holiday party waiting to happen.

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Fall in Upstate New York is effectively synonymous with apple season. On weekends you’ll find the local apple orchards packed full of people filling baskets with their freshly picked bounty and the local cider mill with lines a mile long waiting for fresh cider and donuts. We get really crazy about the change in seasons around here and apples definitely take center stage in fall. I love these chocolate dipped apples on a stick as really fun seasonal treat that doesn’t require hours of peeling, coring and rolling of dough. If you have kids, let them pick out and sprinkle on their own toppings! I like a mix of mini chocolate chips, granola, shaved coconut and almonds, but you can switch out the toppings for whatever your crew will most enjoy.

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Do you guys know that sherbet party punch that shows up a lot at baby and bridal showers? It’s usually served up in a big punch bowl and is made with things like fruit punch and 7UP® with scoops of sherbet floating on top. The idea is that it’s delicious, non-alcoholic and you get little bits of sherbet with each sip. It’s frothy, super summery and really refreshingly fun! Have you ever had it before? It is seriously some kind of delicious and I love that it’s such a simple concept, but sure enough you’ll always look over mid-party to find an empty punch bowl. Kids love it because it’s sweet and tasty. Adults love it because it somehow makes you feel like a kid again. That’s entirely what inspired these party punch sherbet floats! When I’m having friends over, whether it be for a dinner party or evening spent on the back patio, I love serving up something fun and slightly unexpected. Then you can keep everything else simple and they’ll still experience a taste of that wow factor that makes them feel a little special, and that’s my favorite thing in the entire world. Today I’m teaming up with 7UP to share how I made these easy but totally wow-worthy floats! (Be sure to scroll down for the step-by-step recipe video, too!)

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