Love and chocolate~

My dear friend Wilna has the biggest heart and she is amazingly talented and creative too. I have so enjoyed getting to know her through Scrap In Style tv and feel our friendship is a gift to me. I can't believe how in less than a year's time I have grown to love and respect the whole Fashionista design team- individually and as a whole. I am humbled to know that my simple scrapbooking style somehow landed me in this place and I am blessed in so many ways, as a result.
Wilna is truly gifted and so I wanted to share with anyone of you who may be interested- the link to her blog. The scrap layout here is one that several of us put touches on in a round robin scrap this past July. On this page, Wilna painted our names and the background of the picture so that we sort of 'pop' on the photo. Even though she got to keep this particular page, I still think of it as 'partially mine'. Wilna is offering a Valentine class right now, where she is giving you some unique ideas for projects, delectable recipes, links to music, movies, books and more, than will gear you up and get your heart ready for one of her favorite holidays. =)
It's definitely worth a peek. The rest of the details and info about her class are on her blog.
I'm already loving it and excited about February 14th! And the wonderful thing is that her ideas go beyond just Valentine's. They are inspiring for many aspects of life and just get your creativity flowing!
This afternoon I found myself in the mood for chocolate...and so I searched the internet and found a new chocolate chip cookie recipe. I made a 1/2 batch and modified the following recipe just a bit. It calls for vanilla pudding mix...and I only had the sugar-free box on hand. So I used that, and I also added a 1/2 tsp. salt and 2 tsps. of vanilla. Let me tell you this...I could have eaten half the dough before it was baked! Mmmmmm!
So, as a treat from me, here's the recipe I made today~
Award-winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar.
Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla.
Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.
Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown. Enjoy!