Hasta the New Year

Happy Holidays everyone (my whole 2.5 readers)! Happy blogging to continue anew in 2008. I hope a wonderful Christmas and lovely New Year Celebration is had by all. All the best!

A Delicious Holiday Treat

WHOOPIE PIE RECIPE:
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup natural cocoa powder, such as Hershey's or Scharffen Berger
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons fine salt
18 large marshmallows, (not minis)Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking sheet.

Put the unsweetened and semisweet chocolates and butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl; heat at 75 percent power until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir, and continue to microwave until completely melted, about 2 minutes more. (Alternatively, put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with an inch or so of water to a very slow simmer; set the bowl over, but not touching the water, and stir occasionally until melted and smooth.)

Whisk the sugar, eggs and vanilla into the chocolate mixture until smooth.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt into another bowl. Gradually whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until moistened. Switch to a rubber spatula and finish folding the batter together; take care not to over-mix.

Use a small cookie scoop or spoon to drop a heaping tablespoon of batter onto the prepared pan. Repeat to make 36 cookies, spacing them about 1-inch apart. Bake until the cookies spring back when lightly touched, about 6 minutes.

Cool the cookies slightly. Transfer half of the cookies to a rack. Turn the remaining cookies on the pan over, so they lay flat side up. Place a marshmallow on top of each flipped cookie and return pan to the oven. Cook just until the marshmallow begins to soften and puff, about 3 minutes. Cool marshmallow topped cookies slightly, about 2 minutes. Top with the remaining cookies, pressing lightly to make sandwiches. Cool whoopee pies completely on wire racks. Serve.

Store in tightly sealed container for up to 1 week. Enjoy!

(Recipe courtesy of Food Network)

The remake

Life-size green grinches and miniature trees
Banter and laughter; talk of Jen's ovaries
Strands of pearl beads and sounds of ding da-dings
These are a few of my surrounding things

Bright bitty lights shine on red dancing Ho ho's
Plaid packaged poinsettias and velvety cocoas
Lovely white snowflakes hang tied up with strings
These are a few of my surrounding things

Dangling blue balls gleam and Jer gives me a glare
Green lights and clear lights and the thrill in the air
Pretty tree skirts lined with thin silvery rings
These are a few of my surrounding things

When the grinch bites
When the phone rings [blasted customers]
When I'm feeling mad
I simply remember my surrounding things
And then I don't feel so bad

I'd like to thank my co-workers who didn't know they'd be the topic of my post today [brent's computer noises = ding da-dings]. Thanks for inspiring me to revamp a holiday jingle. Oh, and thanks to Sarah for wanting another jibberish post from me. I'm sure she'll never request it again.