John's Heat Sensor Cookie for those that get their hostas shipped in the summer!!! I doubled the recipe. INGREDIENTS 2 cups shortening,or butter 1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 4 large eggs 4 tsp vanilla 4 1/4 cups flour 2 tsp baking soda 2 tsp salt 3-4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips Fillings can be Creamy Peanut Butter, Carmel, Marshmellow or Raspberry Jam Dark Chocolate candy waffers by "Make a Mold" brand or Wiltons DIRECTIONS Set oven to 350 combine shortening and sugars and mix to creamy texture add eggs one at a time and mix again to fluffy consistancy add vanilla combine flour, baking soda, salt and add and mix well add chips and mix well drop by cookie scoop or tablespoon on ungreased cookie sheet bake for 10-11 minutes. remove and chill in freezer for 5 minutes spread peanut butter over bottoms of cookies, other choices may be raspberry jam, marshmellow fluff, carmel (the apple dipping kind) Place on cookie sheet with bottom of cookie with filling facing up waiting for the next step of covering with melted chocolate I melt dark chocolate wafers in the microwave on high for a minute and stir every 30 seconds to prevent over cooking. When chocolate is melted I spoon it over the cookie which I hold in my hand being sure to cover all the filling ingredients so to prevent it oozing out. Then place the chocolate covered cookie on a waxed paper cookie sheet and place in the freezer for another 5 minutes. Once chocolate sets up you're finished with the Heat Sensor. Be sure to lick all the chocolate from your fingers, cause sometimes the semi sweet chips may still be a little soft and gooie. If you really want to make a mess then make a Fluffer Nutter by spreading marshmellow fluff on top of the peanut butter and then covering all that with the melted dark chocolate!! Enjoy

Bejay I think pistachios are grown in California, as well as almonds and walnuts. The problem with the pecan is that if we do not get cold enough weather they fall with their husks, instead of opening their husks and then you can harvest the nut. The first year I was here I went around collecting all the little pecans and made a pecan pie. Last year they were lousy. We'll see this year....I wish I could replace that pecan tree with almonds and pistachios....but it is a very large very old tree, and for now the squirrels are very well fed! There is something else I do with almonds that I like a lot, but I could use some suggestions if anyone here does it as well. I have health issues with dairy milk, and soy milk tastes like chalk in my coffee, so I like almond milk. I have been buying it from Trader Joes, but I figured I could try making it at home as well. The problem is that I cannot get it to completely become 'milk' when I filter it I do get a whole lot of solids to filter out. I do use the almond solids in other things (nut loafs, veggie burgers, soups) but I would like more of the almond to go to the milk if you know what I mean. I have tried a food processor (not very good) and an immersion blender works better, but still not perfect. Any suggestions on a better gadget? or method? What I do is let slivered almonds soak in water overnight, and then blend. Let it sit and use a fine colander or sieve to filter solids out. This works, but I get low yield, it seems like I should be able to get more milk out of a cup of almonds. Oh, the ratio I use is about 1:5 almond:water.

Have any of you tried Oreo Cookie Balls yet? My husband brought me one home that someone at his office made. It was so good! I plan to make them for our holiday party this year. They sound very easy to make. Only three ingredients and no baking. If any of you are familiar with chocolate wafer ice box cake these work on the same principle. 1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened 36 OREO Cookies, finely crushed (about 3 cups) 4 pkg. (4 oz. each) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, broken into pieces, melted MIX cream cheese and cookie crumbs until blended. SHAPE into 48 (1-inch) balls. Freeze 10 min. Dip balls in melted chocolate; place in single layer in shallow waxed paper-lined pan. REFRIGERATE 1 hour or until firm. Here is a link that might be useful: Oreo cookie balls

As far as 'pinching' them closed, I wasn't really sure about that either, so I just went by the picture and sort of 'pinched' the top closed. I didn't gather the dough, but rather just shut the tops. I guess it could really be done either way, though.