Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

These festive black-and-white cookies are uber-chocolatey, like with the extreme richness of a fancy dark chocolate bar with a really high cocoa percentage or my scratch brownies. If you are a chocoloholic like me, you'll love them with a glass of milk to cut the chocolate. If not, less-chocolate-intense Mississippi Mud Cookies might be more up your alley in the realm of chocolate cookies.

Honey-Beer Pumpkin Bread

The only more exciting sign of fall than giant pumpkins (these babes were up to 1331 pounds (!) at the Allardt, Tennessee Pumpkin Festival we stumbled upon this weekend) is the warm spices in a slice of fresh pumpkin bread.

My go-to recipe is a Cooking Light one from a couple of years ago that calls for honey beer (or really any beer you have on hand). You can't really taste the beer all that much like you can in beer bread. I mostly like the recipe because it cuts back on the oil a bit and hence is somewhat better for you than your typical recipe. "Light" in no way diminishes the flavor. It's still plenty most and filled of warm fall flavors.

The recipe makes two loaves, so bring the extra to friends or freeze it for future eating. I like to pull chunks out of the freezer and pack it for an afternoon snack.

Like  pumpkin? Try these pumpkin snack recipes.

Recipe: Garlicky Spinach Dip

This cold, creamy dip more than lives up to to its name. You sauté  fresh spinach in several cloves of garlic, thereby making it uber-garlicky, but I also put in enough lemon juice for it to rival the garlic flavor. Add some cream cheese and sour cream and let the flavors meld for a combination your cracker won't be able to resist. This dip forever ruined my opinion of the cold spinach dip made with Knorr's soup mix, but of course fresh ingredients always win out.

Warning: The smell of garlic will fill in the air in your house, which I like, but it got my friend Rachel banned from making this dip in her parents' kitchen.

Monday Sweets: Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Pie

This pie has all the taste I love of chocolate chip cookies warm and gooey out of the oven, with the added bonus of a more gooey texture (when hot), pie crust, and an excuse to pair it with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. It's pretty much Tollhouse cookie dough with proportionally more butter — you can't beat that in the realm of sinfully delicious desserts.

Perfect for dinner parties (or just everyday dinner with a chocolate finale treat), you can put the pie in as you start eating dinner, and it's done and ready to eat an hour later. The pie also beats out cookies in the ease department; you don't have to dollop dough onto a cookie sheet, just pour in a pie shell, or clean up cookie sheets and cooling racks.

Tastecation: Maine Lobster

When in Maine, you must eat lobster, lots of lobster, or so I learned on my trip there last week. The meat is so fresh and sweet tasting you know it was fished from coastal waters within a few miles of your dining spot.  You can eat lobster stew, lobster quiche, and almost any lobster dish imaginable, but these were the classic and, in my opinion, best showcases of the state's signature food.

Exhibit A: Steamed Lobster
I definitely needed instruction to get the meat out of this guy and even with them managed to make a giant mess, but the taste is all the better when it doubles as a reward for pulling apart the lobster and carefully pushing out its meat.

Exhibit B: Lobster Roll
Even the ice cream shops in Maine sell lobster rolls apparently. It gives you the super-fresh meat with zero work required. The meat is mixed with a light white sauce and served on a, you guessed it, roll.

Bonus Tip: Blueberries
Are you ever in Maine, make sure you also feast on tiny yet sweet wild Maine blueberries the form of crumbles, pies, and jams.

Monday Sweets: Mint-Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Squares

Sundaes are great, but there's something special about feasting ice cream and toppings frozen together in layers. And what better flavor combo than cool mint-chocolate chip ice cream, crisp Oreo crumbs, rich homemade chocolate syrup, and light and creamy Cool Whip?

With a yield of 15 servings, this is a good recipe for a crowd. If you have less people, want to keep from over-eating leftovers, and/or want a different presentation, I also like a similar pie version of the mint-chocolate chip treat.

To avoid uber-green food dye and savor natural goodness, I like to use Breyer's mint-chocolate chip ice cream.

Super-Quick Appetizer: Baked Brie

Buttery, creamy Brie cheese is always a treat, but its flavors really come alive when heated to a gooey state. Better yet, add a little something sweet like honey to the rich, earthy-tasting cheese and a bread coating for the perfect Brie delight. I like to cut it into wedges. You can eat it on crackers or savor its flavors alone.

Baked Brie looks and sounds fancy, but all that it requires is drizzling honey on top of cheese, wrapping it in crescent roll dough, and baking. If you have an occasion that warrants buying a nice cheese for snacking, this is your new entertaining best friend.