Valentine's Day treat idea

Hey all! So I'm doing sooooo well on this whole "blogging more" thing, aren't I? Ha. Ha ha. Oh well. I write when I have something to say or share. I use the same excuse for using the phone. "Sorry Mom, I don't call unless I have something to talk about." (I don't like awkward silences). Excuse me while I go take the clothes out of the washer. (Ten minutes later...)

I made cookies this weekend and thought I'd share the recipe with all of you, my friends. Cause who can't use just ONE more cookie recipe. Right? And, just in time for Valentine's Day (for those of us who don't loathe it cause it's useless and if someone loves you they can say it on ANY day). ANYWAY, they are double chocolate cookies; cocoa powder in the batter and then chocolate chips. I did one better, though, and used two kinds of chips. I used semi sweet chips and semi sweet chunks. Cause I had them. And this seemed like a better way to consume them than just by eating handfuls of them at 1am. I kid about the 1am part. So here's the recipe. They are really called Twin Chocolate Delights, but I think that title is silly, so I renamed them to what they really are. Feel free to do the same.

Twin Chocolate Delights
Preheat oven to 350

• 1 cup butter (2 sticks)-melted
• 2 ½ cups white sugar
• ½ cup cocoa
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 4 beaten eggs
• 3 cups flour
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Melt butter in large microwave safe bowl, add sugar and mix. Add cocoa, soda, salt and vanilla and stir until smooth. Add eggs and stir thoroughly. Mix in the flour, nuts and then chocolate chips.

Place rounded teaspoons of dough on greased cookie sheet. 12 dough balls to a standard sized sheet.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Now. I didn't add nuts because I only had walnuts and the husband is allergs. (That's allergic for those of you who don't abbrev. (abbreviate). Ok, enough). So I left out the nuts. I don't really like nuts in my cookies anyhow. But I digress. Credit to Joanne Fluke, who writes the Hannah Swenson mysteries, which is where I got this recipe. And many others. Just thought I'd give credit where credit is due. Don't want to get sued here, people.
 
This cookie dough is kinda runny. Like, could be brownie batter kinda runny. So, being super concerned about the outcome of my cookies, I made one test cookie to see how much they might spread out. I did one "rounded teaspoon full" of dough on a greased cookie sheet, and baked it for 10 min. And did that cookie spread out! Super flat and really crispy. Don't think that's how it was supposed to be. So the ones I made on Friday (finished baking them today), I made into much smaller balls. And I used two spoons. Then I refrigerated the rest of the dough to finish another day (today) and it was much easier to work with the dough today. I bent the spoon. Beware. But easier to form into balls! You could just refrigerate for an hour, which would also work. I highly recommend. Here's a few pics:

Twelve dough balls to a standard sized cookie sheet (grease your pans first,yo! you'll be happy you did). Or use parchment. I'm fresh out.

Mmmm. Delicious freshly baked cookies. I'll sell 'em to ya. $6 per dozen. No? Fine. Make them yourself and then give to your hunny on V-day. Better than a box of chocolates. And cheaper too.

Currently In January

As promised, my currently in post for January. Great strides are being made here, people!

Current books: So I haven't done one of these since October, and I still haven't finished the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. I've heard that it gets good towards the end, but I don't know how long it'll take me to get to the end. Otherwise, while I'm waiting for a book I have on hold at the library, I'm reading "The Royals" by Kitty Kelley. It's about the history of the royal family and it's quite interesting.

Current Playlist: Nothing really. I got a Rob Thomas cd for Christmas, but haven't listened to it much. And for some reason it won't play in my car, so that makes it harder to listen to.

Current guilty pleasure: Hehhehehhehe. Jersey Shore. I AM NOT PROUD OF THIS! And watching past seasons of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.

Current Color: The new job requires me to wear all black to work. So black.

Current Drink: Crystal Light drink mix pouchy things.

Current Food: Shepherd's Pie & Cornbread. Chicken Pot Pies.

Current Favorite Shows: I haven't been watching much tv lately. But I always like The Office, CSI, Glee.

Current Wishlist: Get bookings for Pampered Chef shows. That would be great.

Current Needs: same as wishlist, I guess.

Current Triumphs: A new job! Yay!

Current Blessing: Family, friends (new and old).

Current Outfit: Sweats. But I wore work clothes earlier, so it's warranted. And it's Saturday.

Current Mood: Pleasant. I feel good.

Today I bought 2 different kinds of peanut butter.

Smooth and Crunchy. Cause the hubs likes the crunchy- I however, can do without extra chunkage in my peanut butter.

Holy crap! They all exclaim! She's back! After being gone for what's it been? TWO MONTHS?! Whoa. Guess I'm not making out so well on that New Years Resolution to blog more. I'm working on it. I had a couple of posts saved to drafts, but just couldn't figure out how to finish them, so they didn't get posted, and they were seasonal, so posting them now would be silly and BAH.

Husband and I had a good Christmas up north with my family. A lot of my family didn't come over the river and through the woods to Grandmother and Grandfathers house, so it was really quiet, but we all realize that change is inevitable and all the cousins are growing up, so seeing each other gets harder every year. Until more of us start having babies, we probably won't see each other too often. And guess what I got? A countertop mixer! Among other things (my mother is far too nice). And I stare in awe of it more than I seem to use it, but I'm using it more often lately. It.Is.Gorgeous. And red and shiny.

What else has been happening..oh let's see. I had a job interview the Thursday before Christmas and was offered the job the Monday after. And I accepted. Whole heartedly. And let me tell you, people at my old job were none too happy that I was quitting. Which doesn't make sense considering the amount of turnover that I witnessed there over 4 years. And if quitting a job I'd had for that long wasn't a hard decision in itself (but clearly it was a no-brainer) because of the pay, benefits, and the amount of vacations I got, a particular interaction at the company holiday party justified my decision in about 2 seconds. If you know me, you've probably already heard the story, and if you haven't, you should. It would shock you. MOVING ON. And I have, I'll let you know. I think I left there on my last day skipping down the sidewalk to my car. Or maybe I was running. Eh. Not sure.

My cousin and bestie is getting married! They have finally (hehe) set the date, after A LOT of back and forth, and this weekend and that weekend. September 3rd it is! I have hired myself as their "unofficial" wedding planner, and hopefully my cousin will tell me to back off if I'm bothering her. I hope. She's really far too nice to be mean. But I'm just so excited for her! And we've already looked at pictures online of dresses and bm dresses and flowers and hairstyles and my favorites bar is full of pictures of dresses (for her, not me, weird right?!). And I can't wait to start actually looking and planning the shower and bachelorette party and I'm just so darn excited!

So things have been kind of hectic around these here parts lately, so forgive me for my absence. I really do plan to blog more, share more recipes and might even start a section on cost effective recipes, where I break down how much each serving costs. If I'm ambitious enough. We'll see.

I think I'll be back later today or tomorrow with a Currently In post. See you then!

Twitching Cat...

...is awake. I think he heard me typing about him. Just thought you'd like to know.

Fin.