Chalk it up to jack-o-lantern or phantom fatigue, or whatever you want, but this week I'm tossing seasonal convention to the wind with another "Best of Category" roundup!
Here are the hottest cookies* of the week in no particular order from a random selection of categories, ranging from needlepoint and stenciled cookies to Christmas and wedding themes. But seeing as Halloween is just around the corner, I also threw in that category just for good measure. 
As always, the selection speaks volumes to the diversity of styles and talent on this site. Congrats, everyone!
Best of Halloween: Spooky Critters and Cats by Sweet Hill Cookies [EDITOR'S NOTE: This set had a sudden resurgence in interest this week - for good reason. Once again, it makes our hot list, topping not just the Halloween category, but also Best of Week and Best of Month!]
Best of Baby Shower: Autumn Princess by You Can Call Me Sweetie
Best of Fashion: Preparando la Ropa de la Semana by Nanatartas Fondant Granada
Best of Bouquet: Yellow Chrysanthemum Cookie Bouquet by Floral Cookies
Best of Wedding and Stenciled: Autumn Bridal Shower by Dany's Cakes
Best of Cookies That Look Like Other Food: GO BO Bake Sale 2013 Cookies by Dany's Cakes [EDITOR'S NOTE: Congrats to Dany on her second win of the week. Correction: Third! Her wedding set, above, also topped the stenciled category.]
Best of Sports/Dance: Flamenco Dancer by Cookies by Shannon
Best of 3-D: Halloween Spooky House by One Cake a Day [EDITOR'S NOTE: Try as I may to diversify, Halloween cookies keep popping up everywhere! It's obvious why this one ranked high in several categories!]
Best of Needlepoint: Hungarian Folk Gingerbread by Aniko Kenyeres
And, because we'll be celebrating this holiday in no time flat . . .
Best of Christmas: Thinking of Winter by The Cookie Lab
* As a reminder, a word about how the rankings are determined: The rankings are not at all subjective. In fact, they are determined essentially by you, our members, and the activity (number of views, likes, and comments) you've bestowed on each photo. The site uses a top-secret algorithm that weighs these various factors to determine which photos are trending most quickly (i.e., are the "hottest") over specified periods of time. As such, the hot list at the time of this announcement may look a little different a few hours or a day from now as more photos are added to the site.
So that no one has an unfair advantage in making it onto a hot list, the algorithm is secret even to site administrators. Only our platform developers know the code, which has been exhaustively tested by those developers and Cookie Connection staff.
All photos shown here are the courtesy (and copyright) of the designers listed.
To check out our other hot lists, at any time of day, visit our Hot Spot, also found in the site's main navigation line.
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