Category Archives: Only the Short

Short Posts

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Another Cookie to Bake the Season Bright

The smell of cookies baking, the extra warmth from the oven, and the comfort of a sweet treat, lots of reasons to mix up another batch of cookies. This time it is the Peanut Butter Cookie, which I have reduced to a small batch bake for those of us seeking a small indulgence rather than a mountain of cookies. If you do need a larger batch, no worries, this recipe is very simple to multiply when more than two dozen nutty delights are needed.

Important Tip:

Not all peanut butter is made the same. The peanut butter made in the U.S.A. is a sweeter cousin to the peanut butter made elsewhere. It is perfect for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, peanut butter cookies, and other peanut butter sweet treats. So if you are not in the United States, see if you can source some from the international section of your grocery store.

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Butterscotch Snickerdoodle – A Crisp Cookie

Baking Tip of the Season

If you don’t already have mini ice cream/cookie scoop in your kitchen, treat yourself to one of two. They are a time saver when working with a wet cookie dough or when trying for consistent-sized cookies. I prefer the small one often used as a melon baller for this recipe (1/2 tablespoon). The cookies with spread during baking so a little dough goes a long way.

A Vlogmas Spin-a-long with a Sweet Treat at the End

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The Season of Spice

The spices of the holiday season evoke memories of family get-togethers, fresh-from-the-oven baked foods, and warm beverages. Recreating these tastes and smells can lead to an overabundance that is not always a good thing. Figuring out how to make smaller batches of spicy treats has been my goal these past few months, and I am ready to share the results.

This blog coincides and supports my latest vlog where I talk about the fun I have had making pies for a household of two. As I mention in my vlog, I use an Instant Vortex Air Fryer, which is just a fancy name for convection toaster oven. There are other mini convection oven/toasters on the market, but this is the brand I have used. The recipes I am sharing can easily be made in a regular oven or convection oven, but during those hot late-summer months, it was so very nice to have recipes that could be made in a small oven and didn’t heat up the kitchen.

I hope you check out my video and enjoy these spiced up treats.

Spiced Pumpkin Small Batch Recipes – pdf formatDownload
This is the handy chart I made to remember my settings on the Instant Vortex Air Fryer (convection oven).
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Chilly Breeze Capelette

After three months of spinning and knitting, I not only have a finished shawl, but I also have a pattern. I love how this worked out and I will be making another just as soon as I spin up another fleece.

Check out my latest video where I show-n-tell this capelette and share some of my unwinding with fiber and fabric.

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❗Free Pattern❗

Chilly Breeze CapeletteDownload

💜For Ravelry Users💜

If you you are on Ravelry, consider sharing photos of your finished capelette in your projects and link to the pattern. I would love to see this knit up with all the individual flair others can bring to it.
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/chilly-breeze-capelette

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Saith Me… Getting the Mojo Back

Sometimes when the mojo seems lost, looking at the everyday items around us can often provide inspiration. In this case, the packaging that made a frozen desert appealing, inspired a wooly fiber project. Working through the project helped the mojo resurface.

The mojo wasn’t lost, it was just buried under world-weariness and needed a lift.

Gelato Inspired Fibers
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Saith Me: Knowing Truth

The wise speak and quote truth, often universal truth that transcends time or has evolved due to time.

The manipulative misquotes, takes soundbites out of context, and re-writes the words of the wise for the purpose of self-interest.

Those seeking to become wise will spend time evaluating a source for its honesty, clarity, and truth. Those seeking to be led will simply believe that which confirms their desired state of being whether it is truth or falsehood.

Both will believe they have found truth, but only one will know that they have.

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The Things We Remember

As we age, or even just as we get too busy with out lives, there are so many things we forget. There are things we wish we could forget which cling to us with a force that seems unbreakable. Then there are those wonderful things we hope to never forget.

This morning I awoke thinking of something I hope to always remember – a smile. This wasn’t any ordinary smile because the woman of whom the the smile belongs has never been ordinary. When I knew her in person, she was extraordinary; I suspect she still is.

I haven’t seen her in person in nearly 30 years, yet I can still see her smile and hear her laugh as if it was just yesterday we last were together. With the marvels of modern technology, I have seen photos that prove her smile and her exuberance has not diminished over the years. From those photos, it is clear that her family is well accustomed to her smile and laughter.

I don’t know why it was her smile that I saw when I dreamt my last dream of the night. It had been a rough night with unpleasant dreams that I am more that happy to have fade from memory. Upon seeing my friend smile in my dream, I awoke and the unpleasant memories, best forgotten, faded away, replaced by the joy I felt upon seeing her smile.