A letter to my readers
Dearest Readers,
I missed talking with you last Thursday. I hope you had a delightful week. How are you and yours? I had a wonderful start to my week. It all began with me spilling my freshly poured class of ice cold water directly onto the keyboard of my MacBook. Sheer horror pulsed through my body as I rapidly blotted with one hand and searched on my iPhone with the other "what to do if you spill water on your MacBook." That would have been enough to spoil my whole week. I should have known there was more to come.
Then on the national day of love, my dearest husband came home looking like death. In almost seven years of marriage, I've never seen him so sick. I think he was ready to curl up and die in some hole just to end his misery. By Wednesday, the whole household was down with the flu despite all my probiotic efforts. Fevers, aches, incessant hacking. Today is the first day I feel like I have my head on straight, sort of. (I mean, what momma EVER has their head on straight...wink).
So, I hope you'll accept my deepest apologies for missing our regular visit last week. To make up for it, I am posting twice in one week! Today AND Thursday. I know, I know. I am too magnanimous.
On Thursday, I will be introducing you to another interesting spot in the blogosphere, www.dailybreadliving.com. I will be there on Thursday for my second guest post in my blogging history! I will be telling the story of Commonsensical Spa, my business and ending well with a little giveaway--so you won't want to miss! Come support me! You just might win some practical pampering products!
And, finally, because I love you all so much, here's a little somethin'-somethin' for our collective sweet tooth and incidentally, the group of lovely people who came over to my house tonight.
Mostaccioli (cookies!)
Ingredients:
2 cups flour (1 cup white, 1 cup white whole wheat)
1 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa, preferally fair trade
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole milk
Chocolate Glaze (or as in my case, leftover chocolate fondue! Nothing goes to waste at my house!)
3 TBSP unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup boiling water
1 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1. Prepare cookies: Preheat oven to 400F. In medium bowl, combine flours, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.
2. In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat butter and sugar until blended, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Increase speed to high; beat until light and creamy. Reduce speed to low; beat in egg. Alternately beat in flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture, until just combined.
3. With cocoa dusted hands, roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until puffed (dry looking and cracked), 7-9 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Repeat with remaining dough.
4. When cookies are cool, prepare Chocolate Glaze: In a medium bowl, with wire whisk or fork, stir cocoa into water until smooth. Gradually stir in confectioner's sugar until blended. Dip top of each cookie into glaze. Place cookies on wire racks set over waxed paper to catch drips. Sprinkle with decor--like shredded coconut.
Makes about 50 cookies. If you're lucky, there will be some left over after company comes. We were left with four.
See you on Thursday over at Daily Bread Living,
Kyrsten
PS--The MacBook miraculously survived the water incident. Let's all breathe a sigh of relief! That felt good!
PSS--Please comment! It feeds my inner-blogger....
I missed talking with you last Thursday. I hope you had a delightful week. How are you and yours? I had a wonderful start to my week. It all began with me spilling my freshly poured class of ice cold water directly onto the keyboard of my MacBook. Sheer horror pulsed through my body as I rapidly blotted with one hand and searched on my iPhone with the other "what to do if you spill water on your MacBook." That would have been enough to spoil my whole week. I should have known there was more to come.
Then on the national day of love, my dearest husband came home looking like death. In almost seven years of marriage, I've never seen him so sick. I think he was ready to curl up and die in some hole just to end his misery. By Wednesday, the whole household was down with the flu despite all my probiotic efforts. Fevers, aches, incessant hacking. Today is the first day I feel like I have my head on straight, sort of. (I mean, what momma EVER has their head on straight...wink).
So, I hope you'll accept my deepest apologies for missing our regular visit last week. To make up for it, I am posting twice in one week! Today AND Thursday. I know, I know. I am too magnanimous.
On Thursday, I will be introducing you to another interesting spot in the blogosphere, www.dailybreadliving.com. I will be there on Thursday for my second guest post in my blogging history! I will be telling the story of Commonsensical Spa, my business and ending well with a little giveaway--so you won't want to miss! Come support me! You just might win some practical pampering products!
And, finally, because I love you all so much, here's a little somethin'-somethin' for our collective sweet tooth and incidentally, the group of lovely people who came over to my house tonight.
Mostaccioli (cookies!)
Ingredients:
2 cups flour (1 cup white, 1 cup white whole wheat)
1 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa, preferally fair trade
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole milk
Chocolate Glaze (or as in my case, leftover chocolate fondue! Nothing goes to waste at my house!)
3 TBSP unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup boiling water
1 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1. Prepare cookies: Preheat oven to 400F. In medium bowl, combine flours, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.
2. In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat butter and sugar until blended, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Increase speed to high; beat until light and creamy. Reduce speed to low; beat in egg. Alternately beat in flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture, until just combined.
3. With cocoa dusted hands, roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until puffed (dry looking and cracked), 7-9 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Repeat with remaining dough.
4. When cookies are cool, prepare Chocolate Glaze: In a medium bowl, with wire whisk or fork, stir cocoa into water until smooth. Gradually stir in confectioner's sugar until blended. Dip top of each cookie into glaze. Place cookies on wire racks set over waxed paper to catch drips. Sprinkle with decor--like shredded coconut.
Makes about 50 cookies. If you're lucky, there will be some left over after company comes. We were left with four.
See you on Thursday over at Daily Bread Living,
Kyrsten
PS--The MacBook miraculously survived the water incident. Let's all breathe a sigh of relief!
PSS--Please comment! It feeds my inner-blogger....
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