The Best Cookies You Ever Did Eat.

I cheer people up by making them cookies. But not just any cookies. Double chocolate chip cookies.

They're soft, chocolately, and just like Grandma used to make. I love to bake and these cookies are my go to sweets.

This is a recipe out of a Hershey book I've had since I was in 8th grade. I’ve been making them ever since!

Ready? It’s cookie time!

First you're going to need a mixer (I use a Kitchen Aid, but a hand mixer will do the trick too. Mixing it by hand may prove difficult). Measuring spoons and cups are a must have. Take out a separate bowl to mix dry ingredients. Have a cookie sheet and drying rack on hand as well!

Now for the ingredients! You will need:

Butter (1 cup)

Sugar (1 ½ cups)
Eggs (2)
Vanilla (2 tsp.)
Flour (2 cups)
Hershey Cocoa (2/3 cup)
Baking soda (3/4 tsp.)
Salt (1/4 tsp.)
Chocolate chips (2 cups, or more if you want them really chocolately).

 
Now preheat your oven to a toasty 350 degrees.

Mix together your butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in the mixer. They should be light and fluffy when you’re done! In your separate bowl mix the flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Add both mixtures together and blend. 

Slowly add in your chocolate chips. If you pour them in too fast they will fly everywhere. That's no fun to clean up. Dollop spoonfuls of dough onto a cookie sheet. Bake for roughly 10 minutes. You can leave them in longer if you want a crispier cookie.

Let them cool a bit. With a spatula slide them off the cookie sheet onto a drying rack. It doesn’t take terribly long for them to cool.

Once they're ready you may feast upon your hard work! This makes a great gift for friends and neighbors during the holidays. Even if you aren’t a baker these are simple and fun to make.

The Foo Fighters

   I was raised a rock and roll kid. Just like any other preteen girl in the nineties I had Britney Spears and the Spice Girls on tape. They looked out of place next to the old Led Zeppelin, Eagles, and Rolling Stones albums my parents played all the time. But that was the sound I enjoyed. The guitar riffs. The drum solos. Robert Plant’s distinct shrill voice. These bands were no longer making new albums though, so I couldn’t look forward to hearing a new single on the radio.

   I remember the first time I heard “Everlong” by the Foo Fighters. The single came out in 1997 when I was 6 years old. I was in the car with my dad when it came on. We both loved it. My dad ended up buying the album that single was on, “The Colour and the Shape”. I've been an avid Foo Fighters fan ever since.

   I own every single Foo Fighters album to date. Nowadays everything is auto tuned and synthesized. They stay true to their rock and roll sound. Their most recent album, “Wasting Light”, was recorded in Dave Grohl’s (the lead singer) garage using only analog equipment. If there was one celebrity on earth I would go nuts for I met it would be Dave Grohl. Not because I think he’s “hot”. I respect him so much as a musician.

   In January of 2008 I got to see them live in concert. I was on the floor, right by the stage, in a sea of screaming half-drunk fans. It wasn’t my ideal environment. As soon as Dave walked on stage with his light blue Gibson DG335 electric guitar, it was just me and the music. They have been a part of my life for 14 years. I will be just as big a fan in another 14 years. Foo Fighters, keep rockin’ on!

Kayla Knollenberg Murdered

Kayla Knollenberg, 26, was killed last night by dark wizard Voldemort after he performed the ‘Avada Kedavra’ curse on her. A supporter of Dumbledore’s Army, Knollenberg was followed home by the wizard and murdered.

Visitation will be Tuesday from noon to 6 p.m., and funeral service 2 p.m. Wednesday at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Knollenberg taught Care of Magical Creatures at the school the past 6 years, and is the head of Ravenclaw House.