In the mood . .

This year I am in the "holiday" mood early.  Although I will not decorate until after Thanksgiving, I pulled out my Christmas decorations and sorted through them.  I weeded out the ones that mean a lot to me - my pig ornaments (I was born in the year of the pig by the Chinese calendar), my Chinese ornaments, the ones collected through the years, the ones I will pass on to my daughter and the ones to give away to someone else.

What a change from my mood last year.  The good news is that I found my Christmas spirit last year after all.  It happened when I walked into a store and the music spoke to me in a magical way.  I stopped, I listened and, suddenly, something happened.  Then, the magic began.  I stepped out of the store and the twenty-five foot Christmas tree put on a performance that again stopped me in my tracks.  I found a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  My six-year old grandson and I recorded the Charlie Brown Christmas Story and the holidays ended better than they started.

I am looking forward to what this holiday brings and I wish the best to all.  Here's my gift to you:

Bleu Cheese & Walnut Kookie recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepare muffin tins.  I use a circle of parchment paper cut to the diameter of the bottom to make it easier to remove the Kookies.

1 cup unsalted butter, melted (coat the muffin tins before you add the next ingredients)

1 cup sugar

1 cup self-rising flour

1 large egg

4 tablespoons Bleu Cheese  (more or less - to taste)

Spoon 1 teaspoon full of batter into the muffin tin.

Chop walnuts and top the batter with the walnuts.

Cook for 15-18 minutes until the edges of the Kookies are golden brown. 

Let the Kookies cool and, then, take them out of the muffin tin and place them on a cooling rack.

The process of cooking in the muffin tin gives the Kookie a crunchy outer edge and a chewy inside.

Enjoy!