Evolution of My Favorite Cookie

So today was a day of baking. I was craving my favorite cookie, White Chocolate and Raspberry. Yummmm. I don't normally eat too many of the cookies that I bake, but this one is an exception. If you are looking for a fabulous holiday cookie, give these a try.

12 oz White Chocolate
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
2 1/4 all-purpose flour
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam


1. Preheat oven to 375. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Chop white chocolate into small pieces. Set aside 8 oz. and melt the other 4 oz.

2. In a large mixing bowl beat butter for 30 secs. Add sugar and baking soda. Beat until combined. Beat in eggs and melted white chocolate until combined. Beat flour until blended. Stir in about 6 oz. of the remaining chopped white chocolate. The remaining 2 oz. will be melted and drizzled on top.

3. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until they start to crackle just a little.


4. Remove from oven and they will be perfect little puff cookies. Put a depression in the center of a cookie. I use a 1/2 teaspoon that I bent that is the perfect size. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.


5. At this point you can freeze the cookies you have until you are ready to serve them. They will stay good frozen for up to 3 months. Or you can dress them up with the jam and drizzle if you are going to eat them within a couple days. The jam doesn't hold well past a couple of days, it soaks into the cookie.

6. Warm the jam in the microwave for 30-60 secs. Stir up so it is smooth. Spoon some into the center depression of the cookie. Melt the remaining white chocolate and drizzle over.

I think I need to go enjoy another one now.

Cookie perfection!

Baby Woods

Announcing Baby Girl Woods first pictures!


Here she is looking at us. Head on the left.

Baby facing down. Good shot of her spine.


Profile with a hand near her face.


The ultrasound was a pretty awesome experience. It was more detailed than I expected. Everything looked good, she is measuring perfect for her age. She was moving around like crazy. Arms and legs were stretching out and kicking. It was so neat to see it all. I'm shocked at how much she moves because I still don't feel it. Once in awhile I feel little vibrations or tickles, but it doesn't feel like I imagined a baby inside me would feel. So I am very relieved now to know that everything is looking good and normal. I'm feeling a little more excited and "pregnant." And I swear since the ultrasound I look more pregnant. I think my belly has expanded a couple inches.

So now we can start buying little girl things, but nothing to extremely girly. :) I like a little classic pink but not too much. I need to find a cute little pink Nike outfit, that would be fun.

Bits and Pieces

This Cupcake may be the most delicious cupcake I've ever made. Moist pumpkin with rich and sweet cream cheese frosting. It just doesn't get any better than this for a November treat. I decided to branch away from cookies for a day and try a cupcake. I need to give these ones away fast or else Ryan and I will end up eating them all! :)



Here is the new "office". Really just a space in the furnace room. We even found a space for Skipper to sit. The other day she tried to sit on the keyboard and subsequently sat on the delete button. I watched my emails disappear one by one for a about 10 seconds before I realized it was her that was deleting them, not a crazy virus. Or I could call her the Skipper virus. She can be quite pesky sometimes. She's sitting there right now too. :)


It snowed yesterday. Here is the wintery view from my kitchen as I made the pumpkin cupcakes.

I received my Christmas stamps from Rycraft on Saturday. They came very quickly, I had only ordered them on Thursday. I love these stamps. I'm getting quite a good collection of them now. They make yummy shortbread cookies so much more enticing. My first four stamps came from my mom's kitchen. She got them as a gift from Aunt Marie years and years ago. I can remember using them when I was young to make some awesome Almond Butter Cookies. So I stole her original four and have added some to the collection. I have a babies foot one that makes really cute cookies for new moms. I think I will be using that one soon since my friend Michelle is being induced (crazy girl) tonight.



Pregnancy bits:
My ultrasound is next Wednesday! I'm very excited.
My back hurts, alot. It sucks!
I still don't think I feel kicking. I could be wrong. Sometimes I think I feel something, but who knows, it could just be gas. :)

Day 2

Another night of sitting here at my desk for parent teacher conferences. Today I think I've chatted with 4 parents. 1 hour 15 minutes to go.

So I'm surfing the web for ideas on cookies and crafts. I came across this interesting cookie idea. What do you think?
Little fetus cookies at the baby shower?

Seriously. I could not bring myself to eat a cookie that looks like that.

Parent Teacher Conference Time

It's that time of year again. When I get to dream about telling some parents how their "little angel" is really a "little devil" and makes part of my day crazy. Parent teacher conferences are a crazy thing. I do not enjoy them. It's nice to meet some of the parents and talk about all the good things happening in my program. You can never be as honest as you want to be though. So for several hours I will put on that smile and engage in a half honest conversation. I will sugar coat all the problems and issues because I haven't figured out how to tactfully tell a parent that their child talks to much, talks inappropriately, does and says strange things, is lazy, smells the tape on my floor, steals my pencils, added a penis to their poster, yelled out "fire crotch" in the middle of class, enters the room by sliding across the floor on their knees, smells bad, wears the same shirt everyday, asks about 5 stupid questions each class period, etc. Those parents probably won't show up anyway. So tonight until 8pm I sit in my room and tomorrow until 8pm I will do it over again.

My Dr. appointment last week went well. Nothing new to report. I heard the heartbeat again. I'm not looking at the scale and she didn't say anything to me about my weight, so all must be good. My ultrasound is on November 26. I'm excited to see the baby and hopefully find out if its a boy or girl.

Blogging From the Basement

The computer is officially set up down in the basement now. It took up precious space in my kitchen for too long. Precious cookie making space. I was kinda nice having in the kitchen for the close proximity of it. I will probably be deterred from using it as much now. The furnace room is not exactly the coziest space in the house. I've noticed in the ten minutes I've been down here that my allergies do not like it either. Dust, mold, mildew, or maybe it's Skipper sitting on the desk next too me. Faithful companion that she is. I'm hoping she will protect me from any centipedes or spiders that might happen my way.

Speaking of centipedes........Have you ever seen the nasty "city" bugs? I had never seen one until I moved to Dearborn. Ryan says they come up from the drains. They are the creepiest bug. There's a dead one in a tupperware bowl in the kitchen cabinet right now. I'm too grossed out to pick up the bowl and throw it out yet. I've seen them scurry across the floor late at night before too. My fear of stepping on one at night as I take my trips to the bathroom has replaced my childhood fear of having my ankle grabbed by a gremlin under my bed.

So anyhow, back to my computer being in the basement thought. I wanted to mention that I found a good air freshner that successfully masks the odor of the liter boxes. The dual scented Febreeze plug-ins work great. My basement has the aroma of apples for 20 minutes and then evergreens for 20 minutes. (slight undertone of cat, but okay). My nose is super sensitive! It has always been somewhat sensitive, but pregnancy has forced it into overdrive!

I think my pregnancy bellyhas expanded considerably the last week. I'm no longer getting the "you don't even look pregnant yet" comments. I'm good with this. At 17 weeks, bring on the belly. I can still pretty much wear my regular clothing, but with some caution. I did buy my first preg. pants and shirts over the weekend. I figure I should be prepared. I love the elastic waistbands. I may want to convert to elastic waistbands permanently. :) I pretty much live in comfy clothing anyhow, since its the required attire for being a physical education teacher. I haven't really enjoyed a pair of jeans in years. It's all about comfort.

Well, time to go vote!