In My Mailbox and a Recipe

I don't have anything to review today, because we went hiking on what we think might be one of our last nice days of fall. However, I got some great stuff at an amazing used book sale today, and some things in the mail, and thought I'd share them all with you:


Top Row:
The Minister's Daughter, by Julie Hearn
So B. It, by Sarah Weeks
Outside Beauty, by Cynthia Kadohata
Bottom Row:
Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland
City of Masks, by Mary Hoffman
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson


I'm sorry this is sideways - it loaded that way, which I can't understand. (Anyone else have that problem?)
Top Row (on the left):
Winter Rose, by Jennifer Donnelly
Kiss Me Again, Stranger (8 Short Stories), by Daphne Du Maurier
Bottom Row (on the right):
The Case of the Crimson Kiss, by Erle Stanley Garnder (we collect these)
The Golden Ball and Other Stories, by Agatha Christie

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And today we have an amazingly good and super easy cookie recipe from The Hungry Housewife:

German Chocolate Cookies (I added any notes from when I tried them out. They were gone in 5 minutes!)

1 box German Chocolate Cake mix (I used chocolate which still turned out fine, but German Chocolate tastes better with coconut.)
4 Tablespoons butter, soft (I melted mine since my dough was pretty dry, but I'm at a crazy altitude.)
1 egg
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 Teaspoon coconut extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped (I didn't have pecans, so I chopped up almonds really fine instead.)
3/4 cup chocolate chips (milk or semi-sweet)
Coconut to roll the cookies in before baking
Preheat the oven to 350º.
In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients together until blended.
Scoop out a ping pong ball size amount of cookie.
Roll into a ball (moisten your hands if it gets sticky)
Roll in the coconut.
Place on an ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart.
Bake for 8-10 minutes.