Baking, Books, and Bedtime

I love December because it means lots and lots of baking. Every year I bake a tray of Christmas cookies for my husband to take to work. It's also my opportunity to try new recipes. This year I modified a recipe for a cake/cookie and a chocolate cookie. Both turned out quite well, as did my staple Christmas cookies the date nut pinwheels and the cream wafers.

The cake/cookie recipe was originally for lemon cookies, but I wasn't very fond of them. I thought I would make a different flavor. I found a pink velvet cake at the store and thought that it would make a lovely and colorful start. Next I added two eggs and a 1/3 cup of extra light olive oil. I blended the mix well and added an eight ounce container of raspberries. Once the raspberries were thoroughly incorporated, the mixture was thick and gooey. I dropped large soup spoon fulls of dough into a bowl with powdered sugar. The dough was a little to sticky to roll so I gently tossed it around in the bowl until it was coated and I could pick it up. Carefully I tossed it in the palm of one hand to create a ball shape and then I placed them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. I baked them on 375 degrees for nine minutes.

While I was waiting for the each batch of cookies to bake I browsed Facebook where I happened to see an article on a new social media site, that is just getting started, called TSU. There was a very helpful article by Scott Buehler which told all about TSU and how to join. It looked quite interesting, so I decided to join and set up a profile. Since the site is so new you can only join through an existing member. I joined through Scott. If you are interested, you can join through my short link.

While searching for people to friend, I found a link to an adorable e-book by John Lancer called Bedtime Little Bear. The illustrations are so cute I almost went into sugar shock, and the story is quite adorable as well. It is bedtime for a little bear, but like most children, he does everything to avoid going to bed. Follow him on his journey as he discovers bedtime isn't so bad.

The best part about this wonderful e-book is that right now it is free on Amazon. So go check it out and see if you and your children love it as much as I did!

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my sequel, Return To Fern Valley! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.