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What more can I say but... wow and yum! Here are some of my favorite Thanksgiving treats. Just click on the photo to see what party they come from.

For more Thanksgiving inspiration, take a look at these all these Thanksgiving celebrations from our site. Also, see all our free Thanksgiving printables collections.

I know, French macarons. We've all heard the horror stories of how hard they are to make. But they are also absolutely gorgeous, look great on a dessert table, and where I come from, cost about $3.50 per macaron. So maybe I need to rethink my fear of trying. :)

To help me, I asked macaron expert and professional baker, Chris Roberson of Frostine Bakery. She makes hundreds of macarons, so if anyone knows how to do it, she does. She's shared not only her recipe but her trade secrets. Thank you, Chris, our lips are sealed (except for the fact that I'm posting it)!

Yields about 100 shells, 50 cookies

Tools:

• Parchment paper, cut to fit cookie sheets, or Silpat
• Flat and even cookie sheets
• Piping bag
• Decorating tip (regular round is fine with large opening)

• 120 grams almond meal (or 4 1/2 oz.)
• 200 grams powdered sugar (or 7 oz.)
• 100 grams egg whites, aged overnight (about 3 large egg whites)
• Pinch of cream of tartar
• 30 grams sugar (1 oz.)

Step 1. The night before you plan to bake (or morning of, if you are waiting until evening), measure your egg whites and in a bowl let them "age" on the counter overnight. The process of “aging” helps to break down the enzymes, making the whites whip better.

Step 2. Trace one-inch rounds onto parchment for uniform shapes. I used the opposite end of an icing tip to trace. Also, leave about ¼- ½ inch of room between the circles.

Step 3. Put the tip on your icing bag. Place the bag in a pint glass and fold the top of the bag around the rim of glass (this makes pouring the batter into the bag SO much easier)

Step 4. After measuring the almond meal and powdered sugar, place in a food processor and pulse until combined. Sift the mixture into a bowl and set aside.

Step 5. Using a stand mixer and the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on low speed. Put in cream of tartar. Continue to mix on low until the whites become frothy, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Increase the speed to medium-high and slowly add the sugar. Mix for another 3 to 5 minutes, until stiff peaks begin to form. At this point you can add in your desired gel food coloring.

Step 6. Once peaks are stiff, using a rubber spatula fold in the almond flour and powdered sugar mixture in quarters. In total, the mixture should only be folded about 60 times. More than that will make it deflate, creating more air bubbles and less "feet," which is the raised part of the cookie that looks a little bubbly.

Step 7. Pour the batter into the bag and pipe rounds onto the parchment paper. Tap the cookie sheet on counter, being careful to keep it level. Use a toothpick to pop any bubbles that may come to the top.

Step 9. Once the shells have rested, place in the oven and lower the heat to 325°F. Bake for 5 minutes, turn sheet, and bake for 5 more minutes. Take out to let cool before transferring to a cooling rack. While cooling, reset oven temp to 375°F. Let it rest at 375°F for 5 minutes before putting in your second tray.

Step 11  After piping the filling, refrigerate over night. You can eat one now, but I promise, they will taste 10 times better if you wait. Delayed satisfaction, I’m telling you.

SALTED CARAMEL BUTTERCREAM FILLING 

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces European style butter (demisel), room temp • 8 ounces caramel • ½ cup powdered sugar • ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract • ¼ teaspoon flaky sea salt

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, and using the whisk attachment, whip butter until creamy. Slowly add in the caramel while still beating. Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract until well incorporated. With a large spatula, fold in the salt.

2. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Pipe filling on macarons.

Thank you, Chris, for your recipe and professional tricks. I'm definitely going to face my fear and try making some!

To learn more about Chris, check out Frostine Bakery. If you are in Northern California, and need macarons for your next party but don't want to bake them yourself, contact Chris, and I bet she can help you out. :)

My neighbor, Paula, made these incredible S’mores Bars based on my Labor Day food post. How insane do these look??

They were delicious and very very rich, no way you could eat an entire bar yourself.

Paula's plan is to serve them with ice cream to lighten up the richness. She said they were fun to make, easy, and would be a great recipe to try with kids. Thank you, Paula, for the treat today and for the gorgeous photo!

This recipe comes via Sheryl B's blog, Lady Behind the Curtain. I saw these mini pecan pie pops on Sheryl's Father's Day Dessert Table and had to ask her if I could post the recipe.  How amazing would these be for your July 4th barbecue!

That’s right pie ON A STICK! It seems that everything is going on a stick.  So why not a pie?  It may look intimidating but it is a lot easier then you think and your guests are going to go GAGA (not the Lady kind) over them.

PECAN PIE POP RECIPE

Pastry Dough Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1-3 ounce cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• Water

Beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy mix in flour if needed add enough water to make the pastry cling together.  Chill for 1 hour.

Filling Ingredients

• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/3 cup dark corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Mix together egg, egg yolk, corn syrup, brown sugar, butter and vanilla.

To make tarts: Tear off a piece of dough and press into small tart pan.  Spoon filling into tart pan and sprinkle with chopped nuts.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes or until set.  Once tarts are cooled take a tooth pick and run it around the edge to loosen.

Cut a slit in the side of the tart and slide in the 8-in. Lollipop stick until you feel the other side. DO NOT go thru.  NOTE: if you don’t have tart pans then use a muffin tin and only go up the sides 1-in.

Makes approximately 8 tarts.

Thank you, Sheryl, for this great recipe. To learn more about Sheryl and discover more of her entertaining tips, please visit her blog, Lady Behind the Curtain.

And seriously, how cool would these pecan pie pops look on your next dessert table.

Hope your Memorial Day is sweet!

Hamburger cupcakes

Candy kabobs

Fruit skewers

Red, white, and blue cake

How will you be celebrating? Please add your parties to our main site.

(Decorating a dessert table? Enter our $25 giveaway from Superior Nut Store. It's so easy!)

Anyone who knows me, knows I have a serious sweet tooth, so here's my roundup of my favorite Valentine's Day treats.  (Click on the photos to see what parties they're from.)

Yummy, right?

(Enter our $50 CSN giveaway: Leave a comment here telling us what you want for Christmas. That's it!)

I love posting photos of the gorgeous cakes we get on our site. I'm continually blown away by the talent. Take a look and tell me which one is your favorite. I can't decide.

Brittany S's Casino 40th Birthday

Charynn O's Madelyn's 4th Birthday Party

Nicole W's A Magical Cornish Fairy Affair

Katie P's Lucas Turns 1 (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) Birthday

Rose A's A Rainbow Party (Romeo's 1st Birthday)

Nala C's Polka Dots and Triceratops - 3rd Birthday Party

Candace M's Janelle's Pixie Hollow Birthday

Laura B's Ladies & Gentleman: An Evening Affair Birthday

Brittany S's Super Mario Party

Frog Prince Paperie's Modern Dinosaur Birthday Adventure

Veronica B's Alice's Garden Party

Corrie S's Sophie's Everything Purple Baby Shower

Tonya S's Bears and Bees Birthday Party

Rebecca G's What are Little Boys Made Of?

We've just added "dessert table" to the showcase section on everyone's party page. When you're adding a new party (or editing an old one), please drag a photo of your gorgeous dessert table into the "dessert table" box.

This way it's easier for me to show off all your lovely dessert tables in my blog, and for people to browse through them in the "browse photos" section of the site.

Also, please let me know what you think and if there are any other categories we should be adding.

Here are some of our favorite Halloween desserts from the parties on our site. How creative and delicious are these!!

Nina D's Halloween Party

Kim S's Halloween Glam Dessert Table

Brandi V's Twilight Inspired Halloween Party

De Anna M's Shriya's 3rd Birthday Halloween Bash

I'm starting a new desserts feature where I highlight an insanely great dessert on our site.  The first dessert I'm featuring is from

Nicole W's Under the Sea Tea Party

When I saw these cupcakes with their handmade tea sets on them I almost died.  And yes, the tea sets are all individually hand sculpted (out of gumpaste) and hand painted by Nicole.

I was so excited about the cupcakes and tea pot I had to contact Nicole (who is not a professional cake designer, by the way) to ask her how she did this incredible work.  Here's what she said:

Once I had the vision for the tower of cupcakes topped with a teapot cake, I have to admit, I coached my daughter toward that theme.  Happily, it was a theme she really liked, anyway!

I spent a good chunk of one day forming the basic shapes of the tea sets out of gumpaste.  Four hours?  Five perhaps?  I tend to lose track of time when I dive into a project like this, but I know it took quite a while!

The basic shapes are really very easy, it's a lot like being back in preschool playing with play-dough.  ;-)  I used the "wrong" end of cake decorating tips to cut out the circles for the plates and the miniature cake plates.

The end of a Sharpie pressed into the center of the plates made the perfect indentation.  The teacups were the hardest to come up with a satisfying technique.  I tried empty cups, but they all looked like the mug I'd made my mother when I was three.

Eventually, I just made gumpaste balls, flattened and flared and squished one side to make a flared teacup shape, then used a very sharp knife to score a circle where the "tea" should be.

They looked good after I formed the tea sets, but they really came to life when I hand-painted them the next day.

Again, it was hours of labor.  I used the tiniest, thinnest paintbrush I could find in the craft store--and when doing detail work like this, having a quality brush makes a big difference!

My "paint" was Americolor gel food coloring thinned with vodka.  The gold on the rims was gold luster dust mixed with vodka and painted on.

The cupcakes were all our favorite chocolate cake recipe.  It's an old depression era recipe called Crazy Cake (also Wacky Cake and a couple other names).

It doesn't have any eggs, butter, or milk in the recipe, but it's so moist and deliciously chocolatey, and easier than a box mix!  The teapot cake was vanilla, just in case a guest wasn't a fan of chocolate.

The teapot cake was pretty simple.  I used a Wilton Sports Ball pan to make the round shape, and baked off a little of the batter in a custard dish to get the small disk of cake for the lid.

The handle and spout were the only non-edible part of the cake, and were made with a lightweight foam-like modeling clay product that Crayola makes, available in any major craft store with all the other crayola stuff.

It's lightweight enough that there's no problem with the spout slowly obeying gravity and destroying the cake; that's sometimes a problem if you make the spout and handle out of fondant or gumpaste.

Add a few fondant flowers, gumpaste pearl strings, and aerosol luster dust, and you have a teapot!

To learn more about Nicole, check out her blog, Tradewind Tiaras.  And to see more of her gorgeous cakes and parties, check out her Strawberry Picnic 1st Birthday and her Rainbow Unicorn 5th Birthday on our site.