#and chocolate frogs filled with no bake cheesecake

[mashmaiden]

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you're enjoying spooky fun and treats today, with no tricks!!

[for-future-geist]

🎠MASTERLIST🎠

RECIPES

Salted Honey Pie

Salted Caramel Eggnog Cheesecake

Pink Peppermint Bark Macarons

Pumpkin Spice Glazed Apple Fritters

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Icing

Pecan Macarons

Mandarin Orange Macarons

Pumpkin Bread Rolls with Cinnamon Butter

Butterscotch Cake

Rilakkuma Halloween Bread

Skeleton Bear Oreo Cookies

Red Velvet French Toast

Decorated Rose Cookies

Pop Tart Ghosts

Raspberry Yogurt Muffins with Honey Lemon Butter

Milk Chocolate Stuffed Jack-O’-Lantern Cookies

Honey Orange Blossom Baklava

Slutty Brownies

Canary Creams

Homemade Butterscotch Pie

Cranberry Orange Swirl Cookies

Birthday Cake Pie

Peach Puff Pastry Tarts with Honey

Champagne Ganache-Stuffed Cherries

Eggnog Cinna-Muffins

Bananas Foster Shaved Ice

Instant Pot Pho

Crispy Orange Chicken

London Fog Drink

Mini Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

10 Cinnamon Desserts

Red Velvet Macarons

Banana Cream Pie Cookies

Cinnamon Roll Bundt Cake

African Banana Fritters

Moon Milk

Funfetti Oreo Cheesecake Bites

Eggnog Cinnamon Rolls

Baked Apple Cider Donuts

Strawberry Cake Donuts

Strawberry Glazed Funfetti Hearts

Pina Colada Cupcakes

Pecan Pie Cheesecake Bars

Conversation Hearts Donuts

Speckled Easter Egg Macarons

Lemon Curd Cupcakes

Chocolate Macarons

Honey Buns Doughnuts

10 Blood Orange Desserts

Lemon Chamomile Honey Bundt Cake

Lemon Lavender Tarts

10 Sugar Cookies

Funfetti Cutout Cookie Recipe

Lemon Sugar Cookie Lemon Slices

Cinnamon French Toast Bites

10 Honey Desserts

Neapolitan Amaretti Cookies

8 Layer Honey Cake

Buttermilk Honey Ice Cream

Apple Pie Macarons

Lemon Cheesecake Doughnuts

Japanese Milk Bread

Southern Double Crusted Cinnamon Peach Cobbler

Strawberry Honey Cornbread Muffins

Brown Sugar Butter Pecan French Toast

Cinnamon Milk and Cereal Cake

Vegan Cinnamon and Pecan Sticky Buns

Blueberry Macarons

Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Cake

Spiced Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/646766345731571712/sweetoothgirl-strawberry-cheesecake

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/625274091556962305/strawberry-shortcake-macarons

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/625274099145539584/mexican-hot-chocolate-cookies

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/625274109993140224/funfetti-kettle-corn

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/625274117019566081/giant-salted-espresso-hot-fudge-cookies

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/625274131846496256/triple-chocolate-lavender-brownies

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/625274151460093952/blueberry-sweet-rolls

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/625274158860959744/pumpkin-snickerdoodles

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/625274162185945088/hersheys-chocolate-cheesecake-brownies

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/625274168888393728/sugar-cookie-dough-cups

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/628887680532594688/sweet-pretzels-with-sugar-and-honey-syrup

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/628978647485808640/apple-cider-cr%C3%A8me-fra%C3%AEche-caramels

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/628978672939008000/apple-cider-cheesecake

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/628978676762116096/the-most-amazing-russian-honey-cake

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/628978680272650240/cinnamon-coffee-twists

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/628978694548078592/pumpkin-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese-frosting

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/628978704639475712/hot-fudge-peanut-butter-swirl-brownie-sundae

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152721510662144/vegan-doughnut-cereal

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152724924776448/cinnamon-roll-ice-cream-sandwiches

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152831354241024/peach-cobbler-macarons

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152838635520001/apple-streusel-cheesecake-bars

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152842299244544/cookie-dough-cake

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152845843365888/guinness-chocolate-cupcakes

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152850202345472/cinnamon-sugar-desserts-recipes-1-2-3-4-5

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152854995386369/apple-pie-donuts

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152858907574272/raw-creamy-coconut-bars

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152862321836032/confetti-waffle-cookies

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152879414575104/strawberry-crepe-cake

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152896716161024/mulled-apple-cider-donut-holes

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152913913839616/apple-ginger-crisp-whats-easier-than-an-apple-pie

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152923850096640

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152955109244928/baked-red-velvet-donut-recipe

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152964784406528/jumbo-cinnamon-rolls-with-sugar-glaze

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/630152972656066560/mini-cinnamon-rolls

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/646766324094205953/sweetoothgirl-no-bake-peanut-butter-granola

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/646766342406651905/sweetoothgirl-no-bake-snickers-cheesecake

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/646766382374060032/sweetoothgirl-double-chocolate-champagne-truffles

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/646766385709613056/sweetoothgirl-fudge-brownie-ice-cream-cake

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/646766388923498496/chocolate-cheesecake-brownies

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/646766392374411264/sweetoothgirl-cheesecake-filled-pumpkin-spice

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/647599568132947968/caramel-apple-pull-apart-bread

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/647599631018098688/matcha-frog-donuts

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/647864557462781952/strawberry-shortcake-macarons

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/647863271972569088/chunky-monkey-french-toast-casserole

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/647599985158963200/fullcravings-japanese-cotton-cheesecake-by

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/647599981826588672/sweetoothgirl-caramel-apple-cheesecake-crumble

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/647599978492116992/pumpkin-macarons

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/647599975154532352/pumpkin-spice-biscuit-donuts

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/647599968449953792/sweetoothgirl-spider-web-cupcakes

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/647599961771556864/sweetoothgirl-apple-slab-pie

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/647599955095207936/vegan-apple-pie-cinnamon-rolls

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/647599928521244672/thehighpriestofreverseracism-paprikanoir

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/647599924670808064/sweetoothgirl-brown-butter-toffee-pumpkin

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/647599921326931968/sweetoothgirl-baked-cinnamon-apples

https://for-future-geist.tumblr.com/post/647599809334804480/sweetoothgirl-caramel-cake

[wellmeaningshutin]

Short Story #36: Business.

Written: 2/2/2017 (#37 was NSFW, so it was skipped)

Confined in his cubicle, working never seemed like a valid option to Glen. Why spend the day filling out forms, looking over data, profiting margins, or whatever the hell he was supposed to do, when he was guaranteed to never be fired as long as he kept baking treats for his boss? Staring blankly at his computer, he had three windows open at the same time. One was a video detailing how to make home made caramel, he didn’t trust some store bought ingredients, another was a recipe for cheesecake, and the third one was a spreadsheet that somebody emailed him, but he mostly forgot that it was on the screen. He looked at the clock he hung on his wall, always a little lopsided, but whatever, apparently he had to wait a whole hour until it was his lunch break. Getting bored of all of cooking information, he cracked his knuckles, folded his arms over his desk, and rested his head down, closed his eyes, thinking about the show he watched last night (what was its name?) over and over until he drifted off.

“Hey.” He shot up, looked around wildly, did somebody catch him nodding off? He eventually spotted a plain girl with thick glasses, peeking her head over his cubicle. “Whats your take on the spreadsheet?” Rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hands, he mumbled something about them being cost effective. For some reason this wasn’t enough for her to go away, and he was confused about what she wanted. Not knowing that he had large red marks on his face, from sleeping at his desk, he turned to his computer, opened up the file, nodded at the screen then nodded at her. She was more confused than he was, “So… is it fine? Should I email it to corporate or..?”

“Yeah. Yeah, definitely send it, great work like always.” He tried staring at her until she went away, and after thirty seconds of uncomfortable eye contact she finally dropped down and disappeared from his little world. Putting his hands behind his head, he reclined and smile, confident about another successful maneuver at work. Almost dozing off again, he realized that it might be break time, but his excitement was ruined since he still had twenty minutes left to go. Why’d that girl bother waking him up then? The phone rang so he picked it up and placed it back down onto the receiver. “You’re doing great today,” he said to himself.

After ten minutes of him taking notes on making carmel, he felt a presence behind him, spun around in his chair, and saw a stumpy, frog looking man in a mint green, short sleeved, button up shirt with a mud color tie and pants. The guy just stared for a while, so eventually he had to take the initiative. “What’s going on?” The words came out awkwardly, but in his head it sounded very calm and professional.

The odd man reached his sweaty hand into his pocket, pulled out a folded piece of paper, and took a little while to unfold it. Glen really wanted to turn away from and ignore this man, who was he anyways? Why was he being such a hassle, didn’t he have a job to do? When the paper was finally unfolded, and the frog man smoothed it against the outer wall of the cubicle, he presented it to Glen. It was another dumb spread sheet. “Did you approve this?”

Not sure at all, he confidently said, “Yes. Yes I did. It was very professional and met up to the standards that we hold here at-” Shit what was the name of the company? He couldn’t think of it, so instead he waved his hand out in front of him.

“What?” The man seemed taken aback, and-while sweating from his brow, causing little wisps of hair to hang down-he quickly reviewed the paper in front of him. “But… None of this makes any sense, the numbers are all wrong.” He held it back up and pointed to a section in the bottom right corner, “And-and I’m pretty sure this is a menu.” Glen scooted his chair forward, not bothering to get up, and stared directly at the paper, which was at his eye level, and it read: turkey club with extra guac, rose-butter ice cream served with caramel sauce, pastrami served over a bed of warm rice and salmon, a cup full of warm soup, chocolate pudding filled with gummy worms and topped with crumbled german chocolate cookies, and so on. It made him hungry, so he spun around and moved his chair over towards his computer, maximizing the window with the cheesecake recipe. The stumpy man lowered the paper, waited for Glen to respond, but after waiting some time he cleared his throat.

Hearing this, Glen turned around, surprised, and then remembered the man was there. “Oh, you need anything else?”

Flustered, the man threw his hands up into the air, “You need to fix this!” He didn’t know why he was even dealing with this problem in the first time, or why it was even so complicated.

Annoyed, Glen snatched the paper from the man, grabbed a pen from his desk, wrote a bunch of random numbers over the menu, and then handed it back to the man, who hurried to examine the changes. Before the guy could realize that it was still probably wrong, he stood up, exclaimed, “Well, its break time for me”, grabbed his coat, and walked towards the exit of the building, whistling, wondering where he was going to eat for lunch.

However, when he was close to the door, the girl from earlier stepped into his path and blocked him. Seeing her full self he could tell that she was plainer than he thought before, wearing some drab, grey attire of a cardigan, button up, and skirt that all seemed to blend into each other. “Herman's upset, I thought you said the sheet was okay!” She seemed pretty pissed at him, but who the hell was Herman? Was that the man who kept bugging him earlier? What the hell did she want from him?

Trying to calm down the situation, while still being as business like as possible, he shook her hand and said, “Don’t worry, the problems solved, the stars have aligned.” Then he briskly walked out of the office before she could have a chance to respond. Why was any of this his problem anyways? The sooner he could get some fresh air and something to eat, the better.

Two blocks down from the bland office complex was a burger joint that would make any burger you wanted, as long as you brought everything other than the patty or bun. It was probably going to go out of business soon, so Glen was trying to get as much out of it as he could before that dreadful day. When he walked in, belling ringing, he saw, like always, that there were no customers and the owner, a tall, Vietnamese man with a thick beard and no eyebrows, was watching the television he kept on the counter. When the owner saw Glen approach, he immediately stood up, beamed, and asked, “So what did you bring into day, Mr. Business?” It was the name Glen had given him as a joke, but after being called this multiple times he started to wonder if the man thought this was really his name, but he sort of liked being called that so he never bothered to check. He put a lunch box-one from his childhood that was faded blue, with a worn off picture that he couldn’t even remember what it originally was-on the counter and slid it over to the owner, who opened to it, laughed, and pulled out: a can of dog food (wet), various mint leaves, sliced salmon (in a smaller container, above an ice pack), and a small hunk of smoked Gouda. “You’re really trying to test me, huh?”

“Well, I figured I might as well see how great of a chef you are, before, well-” After saying that he just looked at his shoes, embarrassed that he even brought it up. After a month of visiting he never talked about the fact that the place might close, but now it felt so weird to say it.

“Before what?” The owner seemed genuinely curious, and studied Glen’s face. “Are you sick or something, what’s going on?”

Waving his hands in front of him to dispel any sense of worry, Glen tried to explain, “No no no, nothing with me… I just figured your business wouldn’t last long is all, well, since there’s never anyone here…” He felt shitty that he had to explain it, especially with the implication that he was a big successful business man, while this restaurant owner was a failure in that sense. The owner met this with a laugh.

“No, I wont go out of business for quite some time.” Collecting the ingredients in his hands, he moved towards the back and fired up the stove, smiling the whole time. “A lot of money comes through here, I don’t even need customers. All I need is for my benefactors to stay in business, my wife to cook the books, and I’ll still be here. Hell,” laughing as he tossed a patty on to the stove, it sizzled, “I’m probably going to die here. Now,” he held the bag of patties in one hand and looked Glen in the eyes, “Single or double?”

“Double, like always.” The owner nodded and tossed another onto the stove. “Uh.” Something wasn’t making sense, “Who are your benefactors? What do you mean by-”

A look the owner gave, one that said “You should know”, made Glen shut up. He took a seat at the counter and fidgeted with his hands. “Do you really not know?” When the owner asked this he didn’t even bother to look up, and was starting to put some dog food and the salmon onto the stove. “I thought you worked in that business complex down the way.”

“Yeah, so? What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Huh. Well, let me finish this up and I’ll tell you a little story.”

The owner’s story:

Well, I heard some rumors about the building from the people who set me up with this restaurant, but I guess its probably not true. You can’t trust those guys very much, but they keep me in business and all I have to do is help cook the books and look the other way, so why should I bother to question them? Oh yeah, the story.

About two years ago, I was a struggling chef working in some chain restaurant, the one with the striped walls and the carnival food, but every day it crushed my soul. When I was young I always expected to be this big chef, where I could have a restaurant that proved my skills, with no menu, where every day customers would come in to challenge my abilities, and every day I would keep showing my skill. I wanted to become a legend. Now, working in a chain restaurant is no way to show your skill. All it really does is hurt your back and give you just enough to give by. It seemed like that was what my life was just going to become.

One day, we get this new kid, supposed to be a new line cook. His arms are covered in gang tattoos but that’s nothing to be surprised about, you would be surprised to know how many chefs in those places have criminal records. However, after working with him, showing him the ropes, chatting with him on smoke breaks, I start to learn that he’s not really interested in working at the place very long. He seemed like a good enough cook, so it surprised me when he said that. The weird thing was, he said he was a talent scout, and he liked the way I was able to serve up meals. He talks about how he’s got all of these big connections, and needs somebody to lead a small restaurant, and wants to see if I’m good enough. So, that night, he put me to the test and I tried really hard to impress him, because if he was telling the truth I was going to get out of that shit hole and make something of myself, even if it was on a small scale. If he was wrong, all I did was waste a little bit of my time and the guy got a good meal. No big deal.

I made him a Monte Christo, but I remember I substituted the meat inside for some fresh fish we had for the meal of the week, and I made up this sauce to go with, and the guy took one bite, went outside to make a phone call, and then he comes back inside and tells me we have to wait a little while. I didn’t know what was going on, so I just shot the shit with him for a little while, until there was a knock on the back door. It was very precise, it had to be a code. The guy opens the door and three men walk in, two big guys who are all tatted up like the line cook, and some older man in a suede suit who doesn’t say a word, walks right over to the sandwich, eats the whole thing, wipes his mouth with a handkerchief he kept in his pocket, and he told me I had the job.

Next thing I know, I’m out of that shitty restaurant, I tell the manager where to shove it, and the mob guys get me this restaurant, which at the time was just a vacant lot. They tell me that I get to design it, because it has to seem like I’m the owner, so its gotta look like its mine. This was great. They tell me they don’t give a shit about the menu and I get to make whatever, but I have to feed them whenever they decide to come by. This is also great, and because of this I keep some ingredients in the back since I don’t ever expect them to bring their own. They tell me that I gotta launder money through here, and I’ll get a small percentage for helping the money flow through, which is also great.

“Wait,” Glen was finally finished with his burger, every scrap, which he had been so determined to finish, and could finally speak, “So this place is a mob front.” The owner nodded, happily. “And you’re just sayin’ this out loud? That’s cool to do?”

“Well,” the owner scratched his beard, “You’re the only one in here, and you work at that shady office, so you probably deal with this stuff often. Plus, if you told, you would have to find somewhere else to eat lunch at.”

Glen nodded, these were very good points, but something bugged him. “Why do you keep talking about my work like that, what’s your problem with it?”

The owner narrowed his eyes and  gave a skeptical look, but when Glen proved to be genuinely curious and ignorant, he finally answered. “Well, from what I heard, that building is just a front, a black site for shady government research that goes on.”

Glen laughed and shook his head, “No its just a normal business, we.. Uh…” What did they do there? He started to get sweatier than the stumpy man who was bugging him earlier. What the hell did they do there? Without saying a word, he put a twenty on the counter (the meal only cost $10) and hurried out of the restaurant, marching towards his work. Waiting at a crosswalk, cold wind blowing in his face, he checked the time on his phone. Only five minutes left in his break. Looking at the buildings around him, he noticed none of the buildings stood out, they all seemed to blend together, and wondered how many of them were potential fronts.

When he walked back into the office everything seemed calmer than he had left it, and there were no signs of the people who were harassing him before. Maybe the problem, whatever it was, had blown away. The path to his cubicle was clear, but before he walked down he noticed his boss watching him from the glass wall of her office. She beckoned him in, he lowered his head and walked over. What did she want? Was this about the situation from earlier? Was she just hungry? Opening the door to her office, he noticed that she was starting to pull the cord that moved the thick, black curtains to block the view of the glass wall. He sat in the low, black vinyl chair across from her desk, she sat in hers.

A full minute passed before either of them said anything, the whole time she stared at him while he looked at his hands in his lap. Finally, she broke the silence, “Why do you look so guilty?”

Cautiously, he said, “I thought I might be in trouble for the situation earlier today.”

“With the spreadsheet?”

“Yeah, that one.”

She leaned back in her chair and studied his face. Her chair was tall, black leather, meant to appear more powerful than the guest chair, which only made her seem more intimidating than she naturally was. “You know I like that you cook for me, but that wont keep you safe.” He had to put in a lot of effort to keep his eyes locked onto hers, they seemed cold and dead. “You know how many people died because of your little slip up?”

“Wait, died?” He became too startled to begin to hide his worry. “How did that happen? Aren’t we just an accounting firm?”