Are YOU dressed for success?

“Enjoy life. This is not a dress rehearsal.” - Author Unknown

Good thought for facing tomorrow . . .

"You can't cross a sea by merely
staring into the water." - Rabindranath Tagore

Finishing up Christmas Projects . . .

I just have one, more shawl to finish crocheting and two shawls to finish off the loose threads and that part of my Christmas prepartions is complete. Some of them have to get in the mail soon so I'm keeping myself out of trouble in the evenings working on this! The picture doesn't show it but these are triangular shawls. I also knitted three, long oblong ones earlier in the year but they are done, gift-wrapped, and out of my 'worry' list already!

The End of the Baking Day . . .

I had just completed the baking for my husband's meeting, tomorrow, when he called and said he might not be going as his boss may be out of the office, too, with jury duty. Sigh . . . No problem! My husband can take these to his office and just tell them it's a prelude to Christmas!

Soft Sugar Cookies with Almond Frosting

The last of my efforts today. I figured I made good time in baking four kinds of cookies in five hours including clean up! I don't know if the cookie or the frosting makes this cookie. The cookie has a slight, outside crust with an almost soft interior. The frosting is vanilla/almond and goes great when you bite down through it and the cookie.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Munchies - in person!

Yes, I just had to try out the Chocolate Peanut Butter Munchies today, too. The pictures show my 'journey'. Not a complicate recipe but some picky work. In spite of my slight worry, the chocolate dough stretched around the peanut butter filling quite easily and not a single cookies leaked out the peanut butter during the baking. The best part was giving a cookie to my son for the first time. He bit into it and was happily surprised at the soft, peanut butter center.

Browned Butter Shortbread . . . with a twist!

I had a slight inspiration today. I had splurged, yesterday, and enjoyed a bowl of hot, buttered popcorn in the evening while watching television. Not something I do very often but it had been a busy day and my husband insisted I deserved the treat. Must be obedient to one's husband, right?

I put the leftover popcorn in a Ziploc bag. I was thinking about my baking plans, this morning, and suddenly wondered  how it would be if I made a Browned Butter Shortbread but add the tasted of buttered popcorn to them. I ground up the leftover popcorn in the blender and, as you can see by the upper, left picture, it powdered up quite nicely. I went on with the recipe, as usual, and just folded in the powdered popcorn with the flour. It needed a tablespoon or two of shortening to compensate for the extra addition but, all together, it went together well. The baked results were just as tender and the taste, while not exactly like popcorn, had an interesting taste and texture. My teenage son, the cookie expert, ate five immediately and pronounced them a success.