It’s the week before Christmas, so that means it’s time for baking (and eating) cookies!

• 2/3 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup dried cranberrries
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts (optional)

Icing:

• 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tablespoon hot water

Materials:

• Measuring spoons
• Measuring cups
• Large bowl
• Medium bowl for flour
• Medium bowl for icing
• 8- inch square baking pan
• Aluminum foil
• Cooking spray
• Sifter
• Saucepan to melt butter
• Wire rack

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven 350°.  Coat 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.  Line bottom and two sides with foil, letting edges extend over sides.  Coat foil with spray.  Sift together flour and baking powder; set aside

2.  In large bowl, beat together egg, brown sugar, butter and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture just until blended.  Mix in cranberries and walnuts.  Spread evenly in pan.  Bake about 20 minutes, or until a tester inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan on a wire rack.

3.  To make glaze, in a medium bowl, whisk together confectioners’ sugar, cocoa and water until smooth.  Drizzle over blondies.  When the glaze sets, remove from pan with foil and cut into squares.

Still looking for a present?

When hydrologists inscribe the consciousness of a human mind onto a single drop of water, a Revelation sweeps the land. The wealthy race to upload their minds into self-contained virtual realities nicknamed Aquariums. In these containers people achieve every hope, dream, and desire. But governments wage war for control of the technology. Terrorist attacks cause massive destruction. The Aquariums fail. Inscribed human minds leech into the water cycle, wreaking havoc.

Street gangs rule the cities in the three years since the fall of civilization. Sixteen-year-old Cami and her younger sister Alby struggle to survive. Every drop of untreated water puts their lives in peril. Caught and imprisoned by soldiers who plan to sell them into slavery, Cami will do anything to escape and rescue her sister. Even if it means leaving the real word for a life in the realms, a new game-like reality created by the hydrologists for the chosen few.

But life in the realms isn’t as simple as it seems. Magic, combat, gear scores, quests, and dungeons are all puzzles to be solved as the sisters navigate their new surroundings. And they encounter more dangerous enemies than any they faced in the real world.

Time to play the game.