Sweet Potato Pie

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to cook and bake, especially when I can do so for other people. I also, if I may be honest, like making things that make me look like hot shit in the kitchen. Things like the manchego-stuffed bacon-wrapped dates I made for my own birthday party this year, which caused many a partygoer to straight-up swoon.

Cut to me making my own pie crust. Many people do this, so it's not that impressive to some. But my mom taught me to bake early on, when I got to stir things and lick the batter off of the KitchenAid beater -- and pies were not something she made. She insisted she never got the hang of homemade crusts, so I had never tried until last year, with so-so results.

But this year's crust was a success of epic proportions, and although I owe this mainly to my food processor, I like to think my mad kitchen skills left their mark as well. In the form of a handcut fall leaf decoration I sliced out of rolled-out scraps.