Hazelnut Coffee Ring

The house smells divine right now - like toasted nuts and chocolate and baking pastry! While this coffee ring cools just a bit, I'll tell you about this super easy four ingredient coffee break treat!

Ugh ... The February Funk ...

Bring on the chocolate, folks. It's February and in the little grey cottage, I am settling into the traditional February Funk. This always seems the cruelest time of the year. The sun begins to increase in intensity a bit, but the weather is so changeable. One day it's balmy and gives hope of Spring and the next a bitterly cold wind sweeps in from The North and dashes that hope AND the crust of ice on the driveway puddle. Wind chill makes everything seem even worse. So ... I retreat. I ignore my usual 'about town errands' and computer routines, don't go to church on Sunday morning, rattle the soup pots, put a sweater on over the turtle neck and big shirt, shirk as many responsibilities as possible, re-prioritize my Netflix queue, grab a good book or two, and let the library due dates expire.

Kay's Hazelnut Chewies ... Sugar Bliss!

Remember that 'must-try' list of recipes you've had going for a while?  The one from food bloggers who you admire? Whose food looks and sounds soooo good? Here is one of MY list items ... Hazelnut Chewies, as Kay over at  The Church Cook calls them. I was doing a whole lotta baking over the weekend for my church friends and since it was World Nutella Day, and since I'd been drooling over Kay's cookie recipe for a few days, and since I knew many of these cookies would be eaten with happy hearts, I put a huge platter of them together and got them ready to pack off to church.