A Whole New World

Sharing HOPE

I have a bunch of updates about Christmas Crazy coming very soon. First, though, I wanted to share something from Alle-Kiski Area HOPE Center.

If you'll recall, Crazy Scary, the Christmas Crazy fundraiser held at ScareHouse, happened back in October. Together we raised $3,000 for the Christmas Crazy fund. Every penny of that money was sent directly to Alle-Kiski Area HOPE Center so that they can provide a better Christmas for the children who benefit from the services they provide. That piece of Christmas Crazy was "broken off" for a lot of reasons, but what I don't want to lose in that separation is the impact that $3,000 will have.

There's just one thing--safety concerns and privacy issues have to come first when it comes to kids who are affected by domestic violence. Period.

It's precisely those safety and privacy concerns that make it hard to show you how enormous of a difference your money makes. I can't post photos of kids opening their gifts on Christmas morning. I can't share their detailed stories. I can't provide any sort of potentially identifying information because it is literally dangerous to do so. So, I asked HOPE Center to write a little something so that I could post it here. This comes from Michelle, the Director of HOPE Center, and it's an example of how what you do makes a difference.

Imagine….

It was two days before Christmas.  A mother and her three young boys (6, 3, and 2 years old) arrived at shelter.  They began their journey nearly three months ago in Arkansas and had stayed at four shelters along the way.  They were just trying to get “closer to home”.   As mom settled their few things into their small room, her six-year-old son played with one of the shelter advocates.  He told her that he didn’t think Santa would be able to find them in shelter.  He said that Santa hadn’t found them in “a long time”.  His mother confirmed that they hadn’t had Christmas for the past two years.

 On Christmas morning, the mother entered the living room with her sons.  There were several presents for each of them beneath the tree.  When the boy opened the first package, he loudly yelled, “Socks!  Socks! New Socks for ME!!!”  Then, each of his brothers opened a present.  When he opened his next present – Legos – He told his brothers, “Santa found us! Santa found us!  I told you he would this time!”  After they all opened their presents, the young boy returned to the tree.  He ran back to his mother beaming his delight – "Look, Mommy – Look!  Santa found you too!"

It was the beginning of their stay at HOPE – but the gifts under the tree…were the beginning of their hope.  Thank you for sharing HOPE!

You guys, this little thing we do here every Christmas matters. It matters a lot.

Thanks for letting me be a part of it.

Dreamy Chocolate Cookies

I'm still trying to find ways to use the last of the Halloween candy. It might be because I ran to Target the week after Halloween and bought a bunch on clearance, but whatever. Details.

The point is, I had a bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and a few Peanut Butter Snickers sitting around. I could have parked myself on the couch and ate them like popcorn, but I figured I should probably try to use them in a cookie. Somehow. It's all about maximizing the chocolate, after all.

Chocolate cookie. With peanut butter candy. THAT was what I wanted.

These are a basic chocolate cookie that is a bit on the cake-ish side. That means they are PERFECT for baking in a mini muffin pan and adding any sort of candy you can think of. I have tried Peanut Butter Snickers, Peanut Butter Cups, and caramels so far. All I can say is OMG. YES. PLEASE.

They're really good.

They are really light, not too rich, and absolutely dreamy.

Dreamy Chocolate Cookies

(Makes 24 cookies)

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2/3 cups baking cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Assorted candy, unwrapped

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Liberally coat a mini muffin pan with nonstick spray.

2. Mix the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and low speed.

3. In a separate medium mixing bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together.

4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/egg/vanilla mixture and mix at low speed until well combined.

5. Drop the cookie dough by heaping teaspoon into the mini muffin pan spaces.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

7. Allow the cookies to cool for 1-2 minutes. Then, stick the Peanut Butter Cup or whatever into the center of the cookie.

It doesn't have to be perfect. No one will care.

8. Allow the cookies to cool thoroughly before removing them from the pan (you can speed the process by placing them in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes). The easiest way to get the cookies out of the pan is to slide a knife along the edge of a cookie. They pop right out.

The caramel ones are really good warm.

The Peanut Butter Snickers ones are really good warm or cold.

And the Peanut Butter Cup ones? YES, PLEASE.

Who am I kidding? I'm all YES, PLEASE about all of them no matter what.