Chocolate Facepunch

I have a cookie swap at work tomorrow.  That isn't very much time to make a ton of cookies.  I started out tonight trying to make short bread.  To say that the the results were underwhelming would be an understatement.  I am no in the process of trying a new cookie.  If it works out well I will name it Chocolate Facepunch.

Full disclosure.  This is based off of a recipe for chocolate chip cookies found here.

Here is the recipe after my modifications.

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups butter
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 5.9 ounce package instant chocolate pudding mix
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 teaspoons black spiced rum (I used Kraken)
2 cups dark chocolate chips
2 cups white chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups chocolate heath pieces

The instructions are for assembling and baking are the same as the original recipe.  For the sake of simplicity I will list them again.  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. 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 heath. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

The results? Delicious!!!!!!  I just had Rich come over to taste test them.  He concurred.  The Babysaur agreed too. 

Rock and Roll

This week's session was rough on our intrepid heroes.

Hyacinth drank too much on the way to our destination and wound up sleeping off her hang over in our wagon.  Upon tracking down some ugly dwarves to their lair, we found out they were working with some disgusting bug people.  Just as we arrived at the courtyard an earthquake struck the area, knocking most of the party prone.

As we entered the courtyard the bugs rushed us.  The Elf moved out in front to get a shot off, but only succeeded in drawing the bug's attention.  He was caught in the charge of the first Ettercap, but managed to leap out of the way of the second one.  The vampire and I moved up to engage the Ettercaps as the centipedes moved forward to harass the the Elf. 

The battle appears to be going well for us until the Ettercap leader manages to spray the entire area with webs.  With Salayne and Kul immobilized, the Ettercaps proceed to eviscerate the vampire.  As the vampire lay there, covered with his own blood for once, Salayne and I worked to get him back on his feet.  I managed to teleport him behind a wall and his natural healing abilities got him back on his feet.

In the mean time Cash and the Elf were chipping away at the bugs.  Cash unleashed literal hell-fire, burning several of our enemies to the ground.

After we defeated the last of our enemies Hyacinth conjured a campsite for us to hide, rest and heal our wounds.

The Usual Suspects

I suppose  I should introduce the players and characters in the Dungeons and Dragons Game.

Jak'Thel  (Me): A githzerai Swordmage.  He is trying finding his silver sword which was taken from him when his warband was ambushed.  Formerly a runepriest, he made a bargain to his deity, Ioun; goddess of knowledge, to exchange his knowledge of runes for arcane powers to better protect his allies.

Cash (John): A tiefling warlock working for a mysterious fey backer.  He is also a member of a large trading family, which comes in handy when the group needs rare items or certain information.

Hyacinth (Christine): A pixie psion who was cast out of her noble family.  Psions and fey don't usually mix, but we don't complain when she is taking the minds of our enemies.  She is working for the same backer as Cash but neither of them know it yet.

Solayne (Courtney): The deva cleric who is terrible at being good.  We think she only does just enough good to not reincarnate as a rakshasa.  We're not even sure she actually worships a god.

Kul (Rich): A shade vampire who sees everyone around him as food.  He can't actually tell the difference between any of the party members.

Elf (Jay): An elf so stupid his parents didn't even give him a name.  We call him Elf or pincushion when he does poorly. For a ranger he is terrible at hitting things, unless they are almost dead.

John is also the DM.  He is pretty easy going, which is a great fit for our group.  His main concerns are us having fun and character experimentation.  He's pretty new to DMing so we have been doing a lot of premade encounters.  This has become more fun as he has become more confident and started leveling up encounters to match us.

In The Beginning

I've decided to start this blog to keep track of not only the Dungeons and Dragons game I am participating in, but also any interesting recipes i use while feeding the party.  We have decided that it is far cheaper just to make food for everyone each week.  I am more than happy to oblige by preparing tasty noms for the crowd. My ultimate goal is to start preparing dishes inspired by medieval recipes.  I say inspired because Dungeons and Dragons is a fantasy setting and there are many ingredients available in that setting that weren't available in ye old Europe.  Even Tolkien's Middle Earth had many plants from the new world.

I am also using this blog to keep track of the progress of our party through out the campaign.  I feel every adventuring party should have someone chronicling their efforts.  Even if you are just running boxed adventures, the shenanigans of the adventurers deserves to be recognized.