Author #178 : Mr. Eggers shares a colorful story of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge

This Bridge Will Not Be Gray by Dave Eggers and illustrated by Tucker Nichols tells the story of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge back in the 1930's and how it got and kept the beautiful "International Orange" color that it still sports to this day.  Dave Eggers also wrote the book The Circle which was made into a movie in 2017 starring Tom Hanks and Emma Watson.  He also has another wonderful children's book called Her Right Foot that talks about some of the history of the Statue of Liberty.

A cookie for Christmas-White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
(Thanks to PreppyKitchen.com for the original recipe.)

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 pinch baking powder
1 pinch salt (unless using salted butter then omit salt)

Whisk dry ingredients together.

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp.  (I did cut the butter down to about 6 TBSP instead of 8 and used salted butter)
1/2 cup sugar plus 1 TBSP.

Cream together sugar and butter.

1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg at room temp.
1/4 tsp. peppermint oil

Add egg and flavorings to butter mixture and mix well, scraping down sides of bowl and mixing again.   Add flour mixture slowly, scraping down bowl.

Gently stir in:

3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup crushed candy canes

Crush more candy canes to get about a 1/2 cup crushed candy and place in small shallow bowl.  Form dough into golf ball size balls and dip top of balls into crushed candy canes.  Place on parchment lined baking sheet and chill for 8-10 minutes.  Then bake in 350 F oven for 6-9 minutes or until lightly browned underneath and cookies are flattened and set.  Let cool on baking sheet and use a different baking sheet for the final batch.  This is a small recipe and only made about 21 cookies.

Author #177 : Ed Vere and the kitten Max

Max at Night is only one of the cute books written and illustrated by Ed Vere.  His wide-eyed kitten wants to know where the moon has gone since he can't find it one evening.  Read more about Ed Vere and his books at http://www.edvere.com/ .

Pink Cherry cloud-like cookies with small dark chocolate kisses

  Cherry Chocolate Kiss Cookies (adapted from Plattertalk.com, Thanks!)

1 cup butter, softened ( I usually cut down the butter but used the full amount for this recipe)
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
 2 TBSP maraschino cherry juice
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 drops red food coloring (optional but I put it in to get the light pink color)
2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
scant 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 to 3/4 cup coarsely chopped maraschino cherries
1 12 oz bag of large semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Cream butter, powdered sugar, and salt.  Blend in cherry juice, extracts, and food coloring.  Stir in baking soda and flour.  Then gently add chopped cherries.  Shape into 1 inch balls and place on parchment lined cookie sheet- 1 inch apart. The dough should hold together.  Add a splash of milk if needed.  It shouldn't be crumbly but it also shouldn't be sticky.   It was a bit like soft play-doh.  The video on plattertalk was very useful to see the consistency.  Bake 8-10 minutes or until bottoms are just light brown (you'll have to use a spatula to carefully check the bottom of a few cookies-I recommend baking a small first batch and then more as you work out the timing)  Immediately press 2 or 3 chips onto the top of each cookie.  Let sit on baking sheet for 2-5 minutes then move to cooling rack.

Sunday Randomness #274 : Maternal bonding at the mall over dead skin

Hedgehog and I tried out the FishKiss Fish Spa.  Now with a satellite location at Fashion Place Mall in Murray.   It was fun and informative. They brought the idea to Utah after visiting Thailand. They clean your feet thoroughly and dry them before you put them in the tank and then they clean your feet after your tank time.  The fish are fed a variety of foods and not just dead skin.  The employees were well informed about their service and the fish. The fish nibbles felt like little finger plucking-just a touch ticklish at first and then just a soothing little nibble massage.  It was a bit unusual to be the center of attention for complete strangers as they stopped to watch and ask questions as we got our fishy treatment.

http://fishkissco.com/  and
https://www.facebook.com/pg/FishKiss-Fish-Spa-146394846051564/reviews/?ref=page_internal

Author #176 : Art and Dinosaurs-looking at them in a new light with the Newbolds

If da Vinci Painted a Dinosaur with text by Amy Newbold and art by Greg Newbold.  This husband and wife team also collaborated on If Picasso Painted a Snowman.  Both books take a whimsical look at great artists and imagine the art produced by them.  What if Diego Rivera painted dinosaurs (it would feature lilies) or dinosaurs in tutus ala Edgar Degas.  Not only do the books include little bios of each artist but the dinosaur book also includes the name of dinosaur featured in each piece of art such as Compsognathus in the picture done in the style of Rivera.  Have some reluctant art appreciation in your home?  These books are a cute way to introduce some famous works of art in a humorous way.

A Fortuitous Cookie surprise with a basic sugar cookie dough and gumdrops!

Gumdrop Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened (I used 3/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup butter flavored shortening) (shortening not pictured)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups quartered gumdrops, divided

Preheat oven to 350.  Sift or stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Cream together butter and sugar.  Blend egg and vanilla into creamed mixture.  Add flour mixture just until blended. Dough will be a little on the dry side but should still stay together when squeezed into a ball shape and not start crumbling.  If it starts crumbling then add a little milk.  Stir in 3/4 cup of the quartered gumdrops. 

(Secret step:  Let dough rest in fridge in plastic bag for 2-4 days before baking.   Bring dough back to room temperature before forming into balls.  This lets the gumdrops mellow and soften and the dough puffs up more when baking. This makes them a great refrigerator cookie.) 

Place in 1-inch balls on ungreased cookie sheet and smash each ball down gently with a glass.  Place 1-3 more pieces of gumdrop onto the top of each cookie.   Bake for 9-11 minutes or until cookies are set and lightly browning on bottom and/or edges.  Cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet to let the cookies set up a bit and then move to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

Author #175 : Alexandra Day shares her Good Dog Carl in book form

Alexandra Day has numerous tales of Carl, a very loveable Rottweiler that she has also illustrated.  See her website at: https://www.gooddogcarl.com/

A cake in cookie form: German Chocolate Cake as Cookies

Recipe adapted from Sunny's German Chocolate Cake Cookies from Food Network. 

German Chocolate Cake Cookies  (with some adaptations for high-altitude)

1 cube butter (1/2 cup)
1/3 cup butter flavored shortening (not pictured)
3/4 cup white sugar (granulated)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 tsp. baking soda
 pinch salt ( I omitted the salt since the butter was salted) (not pictured)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used mini chips)
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Cream together butter, shortening, and sugars. Blend in vanilla and eggs. In a separate container sift together flour, cocoa, soda, and salt (if using).  Blend flour mixture into creamed mixture just until mixed.  Stir in chips, coconut and pecans.  It should be a thick, slightly sticky dough. I formed golf-ball-sized chunks and put 12 per large cookie sheet because they spread as they bake.  Bake for about 8-10 minutes.  I needed the 10 minutes and cooked them until the tops were dry but they still looked underdone.  Let cool for several minutes on the cookie sheet or they'll fall apart when you try to put them on a cooling rack.  These were gooey and rich right out of the oven and soft and chewy a couple of days later but I don't think they'd store well or mail well because they were somewhat crumbly.  The flavor is incredible.