Sunday, February 28, 2010

Margie

I’ve known Margie most of my life. When I was 12 I met her daughter, Mitzi, and became a part of the family. I have great memories with this family - my favorite summer ever, oreo cookies, iced tea, cantaloupe at dinner, trying new foods...

Margie is a wonderful person who has modeled grace, generosity and stick-to-itiveness. I’m grateful I’ve been able to call her mom for more than 30 years.

She has been recently diagnosed with cancer. On a recent visit I snuggled up on her bed and we swapped fun memories and caught up with family. As always, she made me feel like I am one of her kids and I love her for that.

I love you, mom.

Homemade Bread


Today would be a good day to come visit the Johnsons. The house is filled with the smell of homemade bread. My wonderful husband made another batch of bread dough and so we'll be enjoying his fresh bread for awhile.

Ah, it's one of the sweetest things.

Double Chocolate Cookies

Seriously delicious chocolate cookies...






Makes about 24 cookies (depending on how much batter you eat)

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 8 oz semisweet chocolate chips
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon instant coffee
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Pre-heat oven to 350ยบ. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of almost-simmering water, stirring once or twice, until smooth; remove from heat. In a small bowl beat the eggs and vanilla lightly with a fork, sprinkle the coffee over to dissolve, and set aside.

Beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Beat in the sugars until combined; the mixture will look granular. Gradually beat in the egg mixture until incorporated. Add the chocolate in a steady stream and beat until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until the consistency is scoopable and fudge-like, about 30 minutes.

Line the baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop the dough onto prepared baking sheet, spacing mounds of dough 1-1/2" apart. Bake until the edges of the cookies have just begun to set but the centers are still very soft, about 10 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Remove from parchment paper and let cookies cool to room temperature on wire racks.

You can make them triple chocolate by adding 12oz of semisweet chocolate chips to the batter after the dry ingredients are incorporated.

My friend, Sommer, makes an incredible vegan double chocolate chip cookie. You can check it out on her blog For Dessert Sake. Or you can click here.

Enjoy!

Lent Begins

It is important to slow down and spend time with the Lord. Tonight our family participated in an Ash Wednesday service together. Our youngest, Cooper, had this to say, "tonight was slow and quiet. It was fun to think about God".


Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. Colossians 2:6