We enjoyed our county fair this past week, one of the events that we look forward to every fall. This upcoming week is an exciting one for my kids. They have the fall festival at their school on Thursday and the Halloween class parties on Friday. The days of sending home-baked goodies to school seem to be over. But, that doesn't stop me from baking fall goodies for my kids. One of the cookies that are a tradition in our home are these Candy Corn Cookies. I've been making them every year for the past several years.

Years ago, I used to make white chocolate pecan cookies for my husband. It was a long time ago, before the kids came along. He's probably already forgotten about that little treat. But, I'm going to remind him of the good ole days when I give him a plate of these White Chocolate Toffee Bites from Gooseberry Patch's Best-Ever Cookies, copyright 2011. Life is better with toffee bits!

There is something magic in a homemade Christmas cookie.

The store-bought variety is practically everywhere just now, even in shops that don't normally sell food. Some of them will be perfectly all right, and a lot of busy folks will settle for them, especially if they've been gifted with a tin.

But bought cookies just don't have the conjuring power of those that are homemade. Bound up in warm nostalgia that may have no place in reality, a homemade Christmas cookie will even stir up people who don't keep the holiday or especially care for sweets.

Santa has always had a monopoly on the good cookies. But it took
Julia Usher a while to ponder the bigger issue: Why should the winter
holidays get all the gingerbread? And why should something as
deliciously fun as a cookie exchange be relegated to December?

Her
answer unfolds in mouthwatering fashion in the new book “Cookie Swap:
Creative Treats to Share Throughout the Year” (Gibbs Smith, 160 pages,
$19.99)