When you’re a small child, dressing up for Halloween is so exciting. You get to hide in plain sight. Before putting on the costume, you’re just you, but after putting it on you’re Cinderella or Spiderman, or a pirate or a bumblebee. Come to think of it, cutout cookies are like that in a way. They regularly take on a new identify the minute you dip them in glaze or pipe on a coat of royal icing. The more embellishments you add, the better the “cover up.” Hooray for the cookie in disguise!

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.

Cake is a birthday must-have, right?  It has been at our house, but several family members have chosen other desserts, too, like chocolate-pineapple pie or a huge chocolate chip cookie. So although cake may not be the only dessert we have for birthdays, it is still one of the most popular.