Happy Holidays & Recipe

I did some baking yesterday and tried a new-to-me recipe for Chocolate Mint Cookies. This recipe does take a little time and effort, probably not for beginners :-) But I really like it so I thought I'd share here:

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 TBLS water
1 (12oz) package semi sweet chocolate chips
2 large eggs
1 1/4 baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Green chocolate mint wafers (Andes) About 1 pound (I used two boxes)

Directions:
Heat butter, sugar and water in a large heavy saucepan over low heat until butter is melted. Add chocolate chips, stirring until partially melted. Remove from heat and continue stirring until chocolate is completely melted. Pour into a large mixer bowl and let stand about 10 minutes.

With mixer at medium speed, beat eggs in one at a time. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, beating just until blended. Refrigerate dough at least one hour.

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with foil. Roll tsp. of dough into balls, place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Bake 12 -13 minutes (I baked them about 9 minutes--my oven may be running a bit hot). Cookies will appear soft, don't overcook.

Remove from oven and immediately place a chocolate mint on each hot cookie. Let the mint soften, then swirl with back of the spoon to frost the top of each cookie. Transfer to wire rack (or wax paper) and let cool completely.

This seems to make about four-dozen cookies.

AND NOW I WANT TO WISH EACH OF YOU HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND WISH YOU A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL 2008!

Oh The Holidays...

Everyone ready for the holidays? I'm more than 3/4s done with shopping so there is hope for Christmas at my house.

So I was in a store. The last store of my search for a really simple item, a basic item, that suddenly no one has. And I was somewhat pissy because I should have just bought the substitute item at the FIRST FREAKING STORE when I had in my hand, but I decided to take a tour of the world to find the other item.

Idiot. I always do this.

Anyway, as much as I am an idiot, I don't do this: All of a sudden I heard a loud voice talking. I'm talking trailer trash loud, the kind of loud you see on the show Cops when they go to a domestic dispute. LOUD. I knew instantly it was a woman on her cell phone. She's yelling stuff like, "HOW THE HELL ARE YOU! I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAVEN'T TALKED TO YOU! NO SH*T?" Then she went on to say "BULLSH*T" three times so fast I was actually impressed.

Then she cackled and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

It was so loud I literally heard her from across the store. I followed the sound of her voice to find her in the Menswear department.

Trailor Trash from Central Casting. Bleached blond hair, gobs of blue eye shadow...and she was with her husband, or boyfriend, or whatever. She stood there SCREAMING into the phone. Then her partner leans over and says his howdy in a booming voice.

Everyone is staring at these two Yahoos. I just couldn't believe it. But of course, not one store employed asked them to have some manners or quit swearing like truck drivers on crack at the tops of their lungs.

Man, if my kids had been little and in that store, I'd have been super ticked. As it was, the writer in me was just weirdly fascinated.

What about you all? See any interesting things while shopping?

I'm Not Really Missing...

I have an excuse. Really. I've been writing! After weeks of fighting to get into my witch hunter series, suddenly it's starting to work. It's very early in the book yet, and I'll hit a few more walls, but for now it's a huge relief to feel like it's going okay. As long as I don't think about it too much.

By the way, my iPod is great at helping to turn off my Internal Editor and just write. I'll need my Internal Editor later, but right now, she needs to SHUT UP.

So...now for my problem. I have a donut craving. I rarely crave donuts. But the last two mornings, I have been tempted to get in my car and go buy a donut. A chocolate buttermilk donut. Usually what I crave is pure chocolate. So why this donut obsession all of a sudden? I really, really need that donut!

Onto books, I read a new-to-me author, Jeaniene Frost's HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE, A Night Huntress Novel. Yes, it's a Vamp book, but so different! Really cool. I really enjoyed this book.

I also read Kresley Cole's WICKED DEEDS ON A WINTERS NIGHT. Loved it! Very sexy and fun.

I'm getting over my Scrooge Attitude and starting to enjoy the holidays. Espeically since my characters are chatting away in my head, talking to me all the time about what they think should happen in the book, I feel like I can leave them for a little bit to shop and bake.

So tell me what's up with you all? Got your Christmas shopping done? Read any good books? Do you think my donut craving is just plain weird? What kind of donuts do you like?