Valentine Sweets!

By Cheryl Brooks

My eldest son texted me yesterday to ask for "the recipe for those crazy amazing chocolate cookies you used to make--the ones that usually didn't make it past the dough stage." I can't remember the last time I made them, but I must've posted that recipe on a blog at some point because I had saved it in my computer and even had a picture, so I was ready for him. 

I've done quite a lot of blogging since my first book was published in 2008. My personal blog ran for four years and I blogged every single day. I gave that up a few years back, and now, after 134 posts,  I'm giving up this blog. We've had a lot of fun here over the years, but blogs aren't as popular as they once were, and the interaction with readers, which was the best part of blogging, has waned considerably. Plus, unless I finally finish the manuscript I've been working on for nearly a year, Mystic is my last book with Sourcebooks.

My son moved from Indiana to San Mateo, California about a year ago, and he says it's cold there today. When asked what the temperature was, his response was "50." I'm sitting here in Indiana with temps in the twenties and howling winds, so I don't have much sympathy for him. He was told that the move to California would turn him into a weather wimp, and that prediction appears to have been true. 

But tomorrow is Valentine's Day, so wherever you are, make some cookies, curl up with a good book, and try to enjoy whatever weather you're having. 

 Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:

¼ cup shortening

¾ cup cocoa

½ cup butter

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

Powdered sugar

Directions: 

Melt shortening and butter. Add sugar, vanilla, and cocoa. Mix well. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each one. Add dry ingredients. Mix well and chill. Roll into balls, then roll in powdered sugar. Bake at 350 F for 12 – 15 minutes.