The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman

(Prologue)...."I AM THE HEAD COOKIE bitch and this is my party. The Christmas Cookie Club is always on the first Monday of December. Mark it on your calendar. Twelve of us gather, bringing thirteen dozen cookies wrapped in packages. Home-made, of course. We bring a dish to pass around and a bottle of wine".......

The Christmas Cookie Club, is a tradition started some sixteen years earlier. Marnie (the head cookie bitch) and eleven of her closest friends, have kept this tradition going. The friends share how they met, their joys, their struggles, their disappointments, and more. They laugh together and cry together. Their stories are told in twelve alternating chapters, each of which includes a tasty sounding Christmas cookie recipe for readers to try.


This was a perfect Christmas read for me. It gets me in the mood to start baking and get in touch with more of my friends that I just correspond with at Christmas time. Sometimes I really miss having life long friends like they are in this book. I think maybe I didn't have enough 'hardships' in my life. Not that I want any! The book tells of how friends met and became close as they helped one another through hard times and good times. They didn't give 'in depth' character builds, but a brief review of how they knew each other and what was going on in their lives at this time. I really enjoyed this as a quick read bringing back memories of many of my friends through the years. Oh yeah, there are 12 recipes and they looked good enough to try :)

Chocolate Bliss Cookies

Like I said in an earlier post, I’ve been cruising the cooking and dining blogs and finding a lot of interesting things. Last night I made these yummy cookies that are CHOCOLATE!!!!

Baker’s One Bowl
Chocolate Bliss Cookies
2 pkg (8 square each) Baker’s Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, divided
¾ c firmly packed brown sugar
¼ c (1/2 stick) butter, slightly softened
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup flour (see note below about adding more if no nuts)
¼ tsp baking powder
2 cups chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 F. Coarsely chop 8 of the chocolate squares, set aside. Microwave remaining 8 chocolate squares in large microwaveable bowl on high 2 min, stirring after 1 minute. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Add sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla; stir until well blended. Add flour and baking powder; mix well. Stir in chopped chocolate and walnuts. (Note: if omitting nuts, increase flour to ¾ cups to prevent excessive spreading of cookies as they bake.)

Drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake 12 to 13 minutes or until cookies are puffed and shiny. Cool 1 minute; remove from baking sheets to wire racks. Cool completely. Makes about 2 ½ dozen cookies.

For Larger Cookies: Drop dough by scant ¼ cupfuls, 3 inches apart, onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 13-14 minutes or until cookies are puffed and shiny. Makes 18 large cookies.

While making the cookies I was questioning the amount of flour, that’s when I glanced at the back of the Baker’s Chocolate box and saw the same recipe. Only on the box they had the part about adding an additional ¼ cup flour if leaving out the nuts – which I did. When I added the flour to the wet ingredients is when I noticed that these cookies are a lot like my brownie recipe. I got 25 cookies from this recipe. So, if you love brownies make these cookies they will put you over the top. I could only eat one, but MM had three!

Tuesday Tried and True

Just found out about this meme and thought it sounded like fun. Jen started it to get more good recipes to cook. I found out about it from Harmony's and thought it looked like fun. Checking her's out though she has a lot of my recipes, but I'm sure I can think of a good one.

Chocolate Brownies

1/2 cup butter
2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sifted flour

Preheat oven to 350F and grease an 8 x 8 pan.

Melt butter and chocolate over medium heat. Once melted remove from heat and add sugar. Blend in eggs one at a time and add vanilla. Stir in sifted flour til absorbed. Pour into prepared pan. At this time I usually add a handful of chocolate chips just to make it more chocolately. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Do not overbake.

Pot Roast with Mushroom Gravy

I love doing this recipe. There is nothing better than coming home to a nice hot meal.


Here's the cast of ingredients. I had regular Idaho potatoes, so I peeled them, and I didn't have a pot roast, so I used round steak.

Pot Roast with Mushroom Gravy
1 pound red potatoes, cut into wedges
8 ounces baby carrots
1 package (8-ounce) presliced fresh mushrooms
1 onion, cut into 1-inch wedges through the core
2 ribs celery, sliced
3 pounds beef chuck roast
1 can (14 ounce) reduced-sodium beef broth
1 can (10 ounce) mushroom gravy
1 packet (1.5 ounce) slow cooker beef stew seasoning mix

1. In a 5-quart slow cooker, combine potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, onion, and celery. Place roast on top of vegetables.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together beef broth, gravy, and beef stew seasoning mix. Pour over roast.



3. Cover and cook on LOW heat setting for 8 to 10 hours.
This recipe is a new favorite in our household from Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade. It goes together in a short 15 minutes (even when I’m still half asleep). Today I stopped at the local Panera for a crusty loaf of bread to go with it. DELISH!!