Chocolate Truffle Cookies

I had several requests for this recipe... Any of the directions that you see in parenthesis ( ) are my own additions to the directions. :) If you want a printable version, click here. You can also adjust the recipe size on this website too. That way, if you want to make a huge batch to eat all by yourself in the middle of the night, Allrecipes will adjust it for you! :D

Chocolate Truffle Cookies

4 (1 oz) squares of unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
6 TBS butter
3 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour
2 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the microwave or in a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt unsweetened chocolate, 1 cup chocolate chips, ad butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. In a large bowl, whip eggs and sugar until thick and pale, about 2 min. (I didn't actually beat them that long and it turned out fine). Stir in vanilla and chocolate mixture (if chocolate mixture is still too hot for the eggs, mix the flour in to cool it off). Combine the flour (if you still need to), cocoa, baking powder, and salt; gradually stir into chocolate mixture (I just dumped it in. Nothing gradual about it). Fold in remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips (or whatever flavor you want, i.e., butterscotch, milk or semi sweet chocolate, peanut butter, toffee chips...). Cover dough (actually, it's more of a thick batter) and chill for at least an hour or over night. (I stuck my dough in the freezer to chill it faster. It was ready in, oh, 20-30 minutes instead of an hour).

Preheat oven to 350*. Form dough into 1 inch (or whatever size you want) balls and place hem on a lightly greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 9-11 minutes (I found that 10 min. was just about right, but our oven bakes kinda hot.) Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing. (Essential!)

Enjoy!

Prayer

1. Don't get into bondage about place, or position of the body... sometimes, at least, [Our Lord] went into the open air to a hillside; to a garden... I have known some who could kneel hours by a chair... walking up or down; this was Bishop Moule's way. Some go into their rooms and shut the door... Let the leaning of your mind lead you; a God-directed mind leans to what helps the spirit the most...

2. Don't be discouraged if at first you seem to get nowhere... no command in the Bible [is] so difficult to obey and so penetrating in power... [as] "Be still and know that I am God." Many have found this so...

3. Don't feel it is necessary to pray all the time; listen... And read the Words of Life. Let them enter into you.

4. Don't forget there is one other person interested in you- extremely interested... there is no truer word than the old couplet:

Satan trembles when he sees

The weakest saint upon his knees.

5. Don't give up in despair if no thoughts and no words come, but only distractions and inward confusions. Often it helps to use the words of others... Psalm, hymn, song- use what helps most.

6. Don't worry if you fall asleep. "He giveth unto His beloved in sleep."

7. And if the day ends in what seems failure, don't fret. Tell Him you're sorry. Even so, don't be discouraged. All discouragement is of the devil...

Further thoughts on the subject of Prayer...

1. We don't need to explain to our Father things that are know to Him.

2. We don't need to press Him, as if we had to deal with an unwilling God.

3. We don't need to suggest to Him what to do, for He Himself knows what to do.

~Amy Carmichael~

Candles and Coffins

Hello! I had a request from someone to explain how I made the candles mentioned in Emmie's last post. Also, I thought I would like to do a post about making a coffin pie (I really like the name!).

Here is the website that I got the coffin pie information and dough recipe from:
http://savoringthepast.net/2012/11/19/a-standing-crust-recipe/

So for the candles, this is what you need...

2lbs of lard
A roll of cotton string (preferably thicker than what we had :) )
Water
Sauce pan
Spoons or butter knives
Quart jar
Pint jars (make sure they are warm! Pouring hot grease into cold jars is not recommended!)
Scissors
Bread twisty-ties

First, you place your spoons in a sauce pan of water. Turn the heat up enough so that it will make the water steam, but not boil. Now fill your quart canning jar with lard. You may have to wait for the lard to melt some. You want enough melted lard to fill the jar to 1" head space.

I had to hand crochet our yarn. We did this, because we wanted to have a longer lasting wick. It is recommended that you soak your wick in the lard, not sure why... :)

Melting, melting! While your lard is melting, hot glue your wicks to the bottom of your pint jars. That way they stay where they should be when you pour the lard in. Also using the bread twist-ties tie the top of your wick and bend the twist-ties around the edges of the pint jars. Again, that is to keep your wick in place. 

Once your lard has turned transparent, pour it into your warm pint jars. Check all your wicks to be sure nobody moved. :)

Let all your candles sit till they are no longer transparent. It may take a bit to light the wick, but don't worry, they will light.

First, thaw the chicken

Bring raisins and cranberries to a boil in water, and cover till rehydrated

Hard boil nine eggs

Save egg number ten for an egg wash, slightly beat em'

Measure out four cups of flour and a teaspoon of salt, mix together

Cut up 6T. of butter and 6T. of lard, bring them to a boil with 1 cup and 2T. of water.

Now, pour that into your flour and salt. Stir it in carefully! It is hot! :)

Once it forms into a ball, kneed it by hand for 10 minutes. The dough is the consistency of play-dough.

Divide the dough into two big 1" tall rounds and two little 1" rounds. Cover them with a damp cloth and let them sit for 3-4 hours or overnight.

Slice carrots and onions very thin. I would use half a medium onion and one carrot. Spices were salt, parsley, garlic, mace, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper, and oregano. Their measurements are 'a pinch of that and a pinch of this'.

A dry brick oven

We used our old fireplace bricks and corn crib panels to make it. :) The panels were Josh's idea, or was it KK? Can't remember...

My terrible stack of sticks (I am really bad at starting fires :) )

Looks better in the picture than in real life. I cheated and used newspapers. :) BUT I did try to use brush and stuff, for a bit.

Once the fire was good and lit, I came back in to finish my coffins.

I split the big rounds of dough in two (making four 'big' dough balls)

Forming the coffin

Here is the victim :)

Two chicken breasts was about perfect

Mix everything together

(Oh, be SURE to drain the water out of the cranberries and raisins! :) :) )

Make the lids out of half of a little round ball (that makes four 'little' dough balls, you know the "Two plus two equals four" sorta thing)

Pack the victim and the mummifying spices very tightly into his coffin

Lightly egg wash the top of the coffin with lone egg number ten

Press the top of the coffin down into the coffin body and crimp the edges

Now, cut a hole in the top, so that they can steam and bubble out

Scrape all the wood to one side and put your coffins in (I know, I know, "What about ashes"? That just adds to the flavor)

Use the left overs :) I forgot to put the eggs in... sad... so they go in here along with the cranberry and raisin juice and left over carrots.

All done! Two were not quite done, so I put them in the oven. :)

These were 180* inside

The other two coffins

It is said that people did not eat the crust... :)

This and That...

I had a miscellaneous bunch of pictures that needed to be posted, but weren't noteworthy enough to have a post of their own.

Oh, by the way, sorry about all the typos on my last post. I posted it in a hurry and didn't pay much attention to proof reading my work. That's what I get! :)

Somebody let Katelyn play typing...

Abi and Sam decided to try to build a wattle fence. Sammy is making the fence posts here.

Here's the wattle! (They used forsythia branches.)

Finished fence posts!

Part of the wattle fence

Almost done! If you'd like to build an English wattle fence for yourself, click here.

Big little manny!

I can't remember, but I think these are all the towels we had to wash after Steve and Shana Simmons left. No, they didn't use that many, it was everybody combined. :) We had so much laundry that time! We hadn't had time to do it most of the week before they came, so the Monday after they left was reckoning day. :)

Lynna left her baby hanging...

Aw!!!

She loves wagon rides!

Little Bo Boy

Abi and Sammy made an old English style mince meat pie. This kind dates from the early 1600s.

Cooking by candle light

All finished!

It was a little hard to cut. :)

Wow, was it good!

LouLou was here for the afternoon on Monday. Kels had gotten sick, so Ry brought Lynna over so that Kels could rest. Lynna's hair was a mess, so I decided to fix it...

...And had loads of fun!

To keep her occupied, we usually let her play in the faucet. :)

Today (Thursday), Abi and Sam made candles with lard...

...And cotton string.

Abi crocheted the string to make it thicker, that way it'll burn slower.

Katelyn loves to sing her own made up little songs. She was singing something about "Daddy."

We took Katelyn outside to play today. She had a blast!

I've been sick since Monday with a sore throat, slight cold, and fever. Today, I was finally feeling better, so I grabbed the camera and followed them outside.

She was being terribly cute!

She kept telling us she was hot.

Stinker!

This is my favorite picture!

Lighting the new candle!