During the months of November and December, most of us who do very little baking throughout the year actually scrub out our cake pans and dig around to find our candy thermometers and do some holiday baking. In January, I'll write an article on losing weight, but for now, let's search for some recipes for holiday goodies and get ready for the seasons!

Other than M&M's, if I have one weakness, it's cake. Any cake, at any time. That's why I avoid a site like Cake Recipe.com as much as I can. The site features categories such as Cheese Cakes, Christmas Cakes, International Cakes, and even Quick Cakes. Under Holiday Cakes, you'll discover recipes like Pumpkin Cheesecake or my favorite, Red Velvet Cake. If you can't decide which cake to bake, play Recipe Roulette where you'll get a great cake recipe every time! While at the site, be sure to surf to their sister sites: ThanksgivingRecipe.com, CookieRecipe.com, PieRecipe.com, or BreadRecipe.com.

For the "Greatest Chocolate Recipes," visit Hershey's, where you can search by Recipe Category, Type of Recipe, or by Product, such as Mini Kisses or Peanut Butter Chips. A quick search for Candy and Fun with Kids produced recipes such as Here's My Heart Fudge and Toffee Popcorn Crunch.

Here's a delicious-sounding site: Candy USA. Not only will you find candy recipes in categories such as Recipes for Kids, Holiday Recipes, and Recipes Using Candy and Chocolate, but you can also learn interesting trivia about candy. Did you know that a one-ounce piece of milk chocolate contains about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of DEcaffeinated coffee? And, according to this site, sugar does not cause hyperactivity in children!

Maybe we need to take a break from all of those fat grams and look for some fat free recipes. At The FATFREE Recipe Collection, you won't find pretty graphics or a fancy web design, but you *will* find recipe after recipe of fat free foods. Under Desserts, then Cakes, you'll discover recipes such as Blueberry Oatmeal Cake or Chocolate-Marvel Cake. How do Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies or Molasses Crackles sound to you?

Enough of the fat free stuff. In closing, let's visit Pillsbury Central where we'll find holiday treat recipes, easy menu ideas, and a recipe search facility. Click on Mealtime Ideas, then Seasonal Sweets for recipes such as Better Butterscotch Brownies or Peach Berry Crumble.

Robin Nobles is a freelance writer who can be reached at robinnobles@robinsnest.com.

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