The liquid amber trees in our yard are starting to drop leaves and I find great satisfaction in raking them up ... at least at the beginning of the season. I know I’ll grow weary of it in a week or two, but the first signs of autumn always give me joy. These beautiful, messy trees also inspired me to create cutout cookies and multi-colored Autumn Leaves are the result. I had so much fun making them and decorating them. I must admit that when it comes to leaves...baking them is more satisfying than raking them.

Leaves make the most appealing shapes for cutout cookies. And dark chocolate is an autumn-kind of flavor so leaf-shaped chocolate sandwich cookies is a brilliant idea. I filled the sandwich with a simple chocolate ganache and, voilà! ... a beautiful and irresistible cookie. But I warn you: it’s not possible to eat only one.

“Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year.” Chad Sugg

When the leaves start to change color, I can’t resist making Chocolate Cutout Cookies in the shapes of leaves, pumpkins, and acorns. Sometimes I’ll add a squirrel-shaped cookie to the batch if the squirrels haven’t been too pesty during the summer. If they’ve dug up all my potted plants and terrorized the birds I try to attract into my garden, well, then I refuse to give them any attention when it comes to making fall cookies.