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!
