Snow Day! (And cookies!)

Normally, talking about the weather is confined to boring conversations with strangers in the grocery line.

In middle school, though, analyzing weather.com for snow updates is a blood-sport. We tear apart every prediction and out-nerd one another with our speculation on number of inches. Of course, the kids are also ravenous for answers.



Case in point- here was the constant dialogue from students yesterday:

"You think it'll snow enough to be off tomorrow??"
"I read on weather.com that we were getting four inches."
"I heard ten!
"I heard we're getting fourteen!"
"Wxrisk.com is always right, and that website said there was a 100% chance of snow."
"I'm gonna play Call of Duty all day if school's out!"
"Yeah!! Call of Duty is awesome! You want to meet up to play Black Op's??"
"I hope the roads freeze over."
"Hey, Mrs. T, you think we'll be in school on Friday?"
And my favorite: "Do we have to learn today? 'Cause this will probably be the last day before break if snow comes tomorrow."

Who can blame them for being obsessed? Snow days are our crack.

Dan and I were worthless all day. We watched movies. We surfed the Internet. We napped.
We did nothing, and it was everything we hoped it would be. (Name the movie.)

I guess if I'm being completely honest I wasn't that bad since I did finally get my act together to bake all my Christmas cookies. I've been so swamped at work that I haven't had any time to write in a while, and I missed out on participating in a virtual cookie swap on one of my favorite blogs. Since I've got nothing but time now, here are a few recipes for anyone who's looking for easy ones:


First, the peanut butter blossoms (left) are the absolute easiest to make. Here's the recipe:

Peanut Butter Cookies
1 18 oz jar creamy peanut butter
1 1/4 c. granulated sugar
2 large eggs
48 Hershey kisses

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Have cookie sheet ready. With wooden spoon stir peanut butter, sugar and eggs in a medium-sized bowl until thoroughly blended. Dough will be slightly sticky. With floured hands roll level measuring tablespoonfuls into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place 1 1/2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 14 min. until cookies look dry with tops crackled. Remove from oven and immediately press chocolat kiss into center of each. Cool on cookie sheet 1 to 2 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool. Makes 48. I find that the kisses start to melt if you leave them out, so I put the tray immediately into the freezer for about 15 min. after putting on the kisses.

Second, I wanted to share the white chocolate and cranberry cookies (right) recipe. These are my favorite dessert. While they may not look like anything special, people rave about them and they're really easy to make!

White chocolate and cranberry cookies
½ cup butter
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 and ½ cup flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup white chocolate
1 cup cranberries

Preheat to 375. grease cookie sheets. Cream together butter, brown, white sugar- beat in egg and vanilla
Combine flour and baking soda- stir into sugar mixture. Add chips and cranberries. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Allow 1 minute cooling time

Lastly, I made peppermint white chocolate bark (top of plate):

Peppermint white chocolate bark

* Crushed candy canes, to yield 1 cup
* 2 pounds white chocolate
* Peppermint flavorings, optional

Directions

Place candy canes in a plastic bag and hammer the hell out of these cane until they are 1/4-inch chunks or smaller. (I like making the pieces ultra tiny so the bark isn't too hard on people's teeth.) Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Combine candy cane chunks with chocolate (add peppermint flavoring at this point if desired.) Pour mixture onto a cookie sheet layered with parchment or waxed paper and place in the refrigerator for 45 minutes or until firm. Remove from cookie sheet and break into pieces (like peanut brittle.)

I'm off to finally finish several posts that have been in "edit" mode for the past three weeks. Yay for snow days!

Oh, and just because I have time to do stupid stuff like this, check out this video of Dan and me:
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/eRReidWkD2uHkYkB
Enjoy!