Growing up, there were a handful of movies that instilled an irrational fear in me for years. Stephen King's It made me terrified of clowns. (This fear still lingers to this day.) Child's Play made me hate being alone in a room with any toy doll that could "talk." (Talking dolls aren't cute; they're frightening.) And the Jaws movie made me avoid the deep end of swimming pools in fear of a possible shark attack. My over-active, childhood imagination definitely got the best of me. Don't worry, I'm more normal now.

Summer has been pretty slow around here. No complaints though. This relaxing downtime is a nice change of pace from the hustle of holiday cookie-making. The extra free time made it the perfect time to try new things and experiment with a few ideas I had tucked away. With back-to-school season just a few weeks away (Crazy, right?), I was thinking it would be fun to try a new cut-out cookie flavor to complement the start of the new school year. These spiced apple cut-out cookies seemed like just the thing.