A Big Post: Dove Promises, Shortbread Cookies, and Wild Weather

I got a bag of Dove Promises for Christmas (two kinds! milk chocolate and caramel). I enjoy eating one a day, and the messages inside the foil are fun, and sometimes right on the money. For example, yesterday's message said, "Don't think about it so much." Wow - that's the truth for me. I tend to over-think things, and I often lie in bed thinking and not sleeping. Today's message was, "Send a love letter this week." Good advice.

I had my first experience this week of using a shortbread cookie mold. I love and have made shortbread, but never in a mold. This lovely mold came from a friend in NM.

There are some definite best practices when it comes to shortbread molds. First, my shortbread coach explained I needed to both oil and flour the mold before using. The flour is important! It keeps the oil from acting like glue. Second, you have to "bop" out the shortbread once it's pressed into the mold. To do this, whack it on a cutting board that has been padded with a doubled-over dish towel. I found that 2-3 perpendicular bops did the trick. However, I had to re-build the handle each time. I think I need to keep practicing! >-)

This mold is large, so one batch of shortbread (recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook) made 4 cookies with a little extra for a free-form shape. Mmm, the cookies tasted good with a cup of tea!














The weather has been a little wild here this week. We has snow on Tuesday/Wednesday. Yesterday, the snow melted and the temps reached 59 degrees! I took this photo on Wednesday. I think this tree with the red berries looks so pretty dressed up in fresh snow!