Oh my neighbor kids and parents all have the swine flu, croup and/or ear infections! Poor mama! Yesterday while I baked off cookies for the holidays I thru together some chicken soup for them.

I gathered together celery, onions, carrots, garlic and ginger in the food processor and chopped it all pretty fine in case there is any throwing up going on!

Then I sauted the veggies until pretty soft add a couple cartons of chicken stock and a can of petite diced tomatoes a bit of salt & pepper and marjoram. Since I had ginger in there I also added a bit of soy sauce and Mirin.

I think little kids have got to have noodles in their soup so I broke up about a cup of hollow macaroni sticks into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces. I cooked the macaroni in a separate pot then added it to the soup. Took the whole pot over and plopped it on their stove. Feel better soon!

mm mm good!

especially with Grammy’s Chocolate Waffies!
Makes about 60.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
2-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat Oven 350
Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, 2 cups sugar, and eggs on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix to combine. Gradually add dry ingredients, and combine with mixer on low speed. Form dough into tablespoon sized balls – inch and a half apart on silpats or parchment paper bake 8 minutes – turning at 4 minutes, just until shine just starts to go away – cool on sheet a few minutes before transferring to cooling racks –

I made my dough a week ahead and refrigerated it in a bowl with plastic wrap pressed to the dough and a lid on the bowl – worked great to let it sit on the counter to soften a bit while I prepared the veggies for the soup!

Speaking of cookies . . . I just love this Merry Memories arrangement we are featuring this year – the container could be a great cookie jar kinda gift container next year! So a great gift for that baker friend of yours!

Speaking of cookies . . . Our Italian Cookies offering from our baker friends on the hill are selling like hotcakes this year! We also have their pies! The Cherry Pie is as good as my own!

I’m ahead of the game this year – hoping to have dozens of knitted gifts to give –
Here are 5 hats I’ve made since mid August or so

Wacky Hats

I especially like these two, so if you see someone wearing something like this, ask them if Di made that hat!

Cool you say? No, very warm!

Please don’t ask me for the pattern! I figure them out as I go along or I copy a previous pattern from one I have made.

Are you perhaps not so nimble fingered and wondering about holiday gift giving? Walter Knoll Florist can solve that problem! Call us about our holiday corporate gift giving ideas! We’ll have beautiful poinsettias, wreaths (decorated and plain – live and everlasting) as well as a whole line up of holiday floral bouquets! After all, we’re Walter Knoll Florist, Your Personal Florist Since 1883 Call us at 314.352.7575 or toll free at 1-800-341-ROSE (7673) WKF.COM

Man, it’s hard to do my usual bake-a-thon for the holidays now that I work in a Flower Shop.  Christmas is one of our big holidays and we’re all putting in a lot of hours in getting those flowers and centerpieces and gifts out for you. There’s lots of extra help though, and the busy busy busyness of it all is intoxicating.

I did over last weekend manage to make up a couple batches of cookie dough which I rolled into logs, wrapped in wax paper and stored in the fridge in paper towel cardboards (you save those, right?) so they stay in a log shape and don’t flatten on one side.

My one cookie gift this year

I have only packaged one gift of cookies for my friends Mary and Bill, but I’ll be taking lots of cookies to work on Sunday when everyone will be working. After all, what’s a Walter Knoll Floral Holiday without Di’s cookies and spicy cheese wafies?

I’m going to share this amazing chocolate cookie recipe with you, not sure where I picked it up, somewhere on the internet, but these are the best chocolate cookies you’ll ever eat!

Dark Dark Dark Dark Chocolate Cookies
Makes about 100.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Dutch cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, 2 cups sugar, and eggs on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix to combine. Gradually add dry ingredients, and combine with mixer on low speed. Roll dough into 1 to 1-1/2 inch logs, wrap in waxed paper, stuff into a paper towel cardboard and chill until dough is firm, about 1 hour or as long as a week.
When ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with Silpat baking mats. Cut logs into quarter inch slices. Place on prepared baking sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart.

They spread, so leave some room!

Bake until they just quit being shiny, about 8 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Voila!

My cool neighbor Joe tests all my cookies out and these dark dark dark chocolates got a big thumbs up out of him!

Joe Cool

This tree is in the Lobby of the Metropolitan Square building in downtown St Louis (Located at 1 Metropolitan Square).  This year the tree has been transformed to tell the story of the history of St Louis. Included in the ornaments are 32 large, custom luminaries that were hand crafted by Walter Knoll Florist.  These luminaries show a pictorial history of St Louis.  The luminaries are made from Lexan, a clear polycarbonate that has been cast into tubes that then have historical images from St Louis’ past displayed with back-lit illumination.  Images featured include Louisiana Purchase, Thomas Jefferson,  Lewis and Clark, The 1904 Worlds Fair, Charles Lindbergh & the Spirit of St Louis,  the construction of the St Louis Arch and many other Saint Louis historic moments.

Standing at over 45 feet tall, this is the largest Indoor holiday tree in the St Louis area.

The Christmas tree in the lobby of the Metropolitan Square Building

This year we added a podium and a book with copies of the images and a description of each photo.

The Podium and Picture Book feature LED lighting

Some Close Ups of the Luminaries

Many of the images came from the Missouri History Museum and  several from the personal collection of Mark Allen from Anmar Photography.

If you are out looking at holiday decorations this season, it is worth your time to go by and see the biggest and best tree in St Louis. The Metropolitan Square Building tree is a great backdrop for a holiday photo.

This tree was assembled and decorated by Walter Knoll Florist and we manufactured many of the decorations as well.

If you would like to ask Walter Sr a question about the decorations click here.

Fields of Poinsettias

The Garden Center is a riot of color right now!  So many poinsettias!  If you are in the city, plan to make a trip to Florist Row and the Walter Knoll Florist Garden Center -

Red Pink Red

Close Up

Friendly Staff - ALWAYS!

Many Sizes

Traditional

RED RED RED

Pinks and Greens

Pink and White

Feathery Pinks!

Red and White

Beautiful Pinks

Green!

with Santa!

You can read about Pointsettia care and feeding or visit our web site wkf.com for more of our holiday selections

world famous karen didion to visit Walter Knoll Florist Ofallon Stire