Time has no meaning anymore, can I get a witness? I’m working from home five days a week, but my co-workers and I often ask each other what day it is. I get in my car once a week to drive to the grocery store and back, a total of three miles.
Which brings me to the Christmas cookies i made this week. Yes, it’s July. At least I presume it is, since it’s been a steam room here in Buffalo for weeks. I’ve been making cookies a lot lately. My current favorite is frosted orange with a touch of lemon, but I try to make something different every week.
As an aside, I’ve also discovered a YouTube seven-minute exercise video which claims you’ll drop a dress size in seven days. I don’t know about the dress size, but I lost an inch at the three usual measurement points after the first week. I’m keeping this routine up because of another important result: more chocolate for me with less guilt!
Last Friday at the grocery store I saw bags of fruit-flavored mini-marshmallows. It’s been ages since I saw those. They leaped into my cart of their own accord, I swear. As they nestled among the strawberries and lettuce, I mentally paged through my pantry. This would happen.
When I was a kid, a family friend made Church Windows at Christmas. I’ve always been the baker in the family, and I glommed onto this one. They’re no-bake, easy to make, and delicious. And they have chocolate. The perfect combination. They have another benefit: They’re very sweet, so I can’t eat more than two at a time. My waistline approves.
Here’s a childhood memory from me, no longer trapped in Christmas. Enjoy!
Church Windows
Ingredients
8 oz chocolate chips
1 tsp oil
3 cups flavored mini-marshmallows
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, chopped fine
A long sheet of wax paper
Directions
1. Pour the nuts and marshmallows in a large bowl.
2. Melt the chocolate chips and oil in the microwave (the oil helps make it smooth).
3. Pour the chocolate over the marshmallows and nuts.
4. Spray your hands with cooking spray and mix everything up.
5. When all the marshmallows are coated, pick the mixture up and set them on the wax paper. Form them into a log, wrap them, and put them in the fridge for a couple of hours. Slice and serve. They're really good cold.
Note: I’ve heard of alternates: rolling the log in flaked coconut before chilling, and using extra chocolate for a more defined stained-glass window effect.
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Baker of brownies and tormenter of characters, ex-nun Alice Loweecey celebrates the day she jumped the wall with as much enthusiasm as her birthday. She grew up watching Hammer horror films and Scooby-Doo mysteries, which explains a whole lot. When she's not creating trouble for her sleuth Giulia Driscoll (9 cozy mysteries) or inspiring nightmares as her alter-ego Kate Morgan (3 stand-alone horrors), she can be found growing vegetables in her garden and water lilies in her koi pond.
Website: aliceloweecey.net
Facebook: facebook.com/alice.loweecey
Twitter: @AliceLoweecey
1 comment:
I'm salivating now. I love the church windows and can remember how sweet and delicious they are.
Thanks for sharing the recipe!
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