Raisinets and other chocolate cheer

While shopping yesterday, my growling stomach cried out for a midday snack. My eyes immediately went to a shelf where I saw a large box of Raisinets calling out to me. I purchased them as I left the store in anticipation of ripping them open as soon as I got in my car.

Sitting in my car, I tried to open the package before heading on to my next errand. No matter what I did, I could not get the plastic covering off of the box. I began to look for something sharp in the car so that I could pierce this heavy, airtight package to get to the wonderful chocolate delicacies that lie inside. Finding a ball point pen (!) in my purse, I began to 'stab' at the package unmercifully for several seconds before I finally got the plastic wrap to open. In my desperation to get to the Raisinets, I completely destroyed the box which was now a crumpled up mess. Not to worry, this did not stop me from devouring every single piece.

Chocolate is a definite weakness of mine. I love its rich, creamy texture and wonderfully sweet taste. I prefer milk chocolate or white chocolate, although "experts" now say that deep, dark chocolate is actually good for you. Even if this is true, I just can't seem to acquire a taste for it.

I enjoy chocolate in its purest form. Personally, I would prefer a plain, chocolate candy bar to chocolate pudding, ice cream, or any fancy, decadent chocolate dessert.

I also am addicted to chocolate-covered anything...such as nuts, pretzels, marshmallows, cookies, and, of course, raisins. Every December I begin the process of dipping pretzel rods into chocolate and then laying them out on wax paper where I sprinkle them with candy nonpareils, nuts, crushed candy canes, or toffee brickle. I add some homemade cookies to these treats and these are given out to my neighbors, mailman, hairdresser, and doctor's and dentist offices etc. The best part of this preparation is eating all of the dripped chocolate off of the wax paper once the pretzels are removed. Of course, I would hate for any of that chocolate to go to waste!

Oh, and lest I forget, I love M & M's...as I child I remembered being mesmerized by the "melts in your mouth, not in your hand" commercials. These little morsels come in so many different forms these days...but, there is still nothing like the plain old M & M to make me smile.

One of my most popular homemade cookies is a simple M & M sugar cookie. This is only second to my 'famous' Milky Way cookies. These incredible cookies are so easy to make and people just love them. You take a roll of refrigerated sugar cookie dough and slice a thin bottom layer. On top of that you put a small chunk of a Milky Way bar. The final step is another thin cookie dough layer...Put this in the oven...it all melts together and voila! you have a yummy, and unusual cookie. Sometimes I will drizzle a little white or milk chocolate over the top of the finished cookie. Mmmmmmm.

All of this talk is making me very hungry. I think that I need to have a little tasting to make sure that the sweets I made yesterday are up to my standards.

: )