My sympathies, Annette! I once made a crust which was like carboad, didn't know until I served it to guests. Pie looked gorgeous--tasted AWFUL, I was mortified! I've used the Crisco sticks without problem, they are wrapped like butter quarters. I use half butter and half shortening in pastry. I freeze it for about fifteen minutes after it is rolled out and in the pie or tart pan. Purified lard is available in New Mexico, one can buy it in one pound boxes. They don't even refrigerate it, stock it with the oil and shortenings. The butcher should be able to supply a hunk, if you ask for it. I ask the butcher for suet when I make my mincemeat. One has to ask early in the day, however, or it will have been tossed out with the garbage. They've always given it to me free of charge! Lorna

Mjlb: Yes! One bath could be accessible from hall. If you have ideas, I would love to hear them. I should have added I planned to eliminate entrance to Master closet from hall anyways. That's just weird to begin with. I really want my daughter (who will be the oldest child) to have her own bath, which is why I wanted to do the en-suite baths. In regards to thinking in 3D, trust me, I have....or trying to anyways. I have a program I use (not a professional but it helps with the visualization.) The bumping out is actually creating a larger family room below, which is why I want to do it, not just to create a larger Master. Plan has two fireplaces. Both are listed as optional, so I have so wiggle room there as well. This is a stock plan, Unfortunately a truly custom plan is not in the budget. I love so many aspects of this plan, especially the exterior.

Oh, Linda! How dumb am I???? It never occurred to me to measure & weigh a "test batch" of the cocoa! Wonderful help! Thanks so much!!! Yes, I always roll, cut & bake on parchment. I just tried using two cookie sheets under the chocolate cookies & it seems to be helping. Are you thinking I should put a silpat under the parchment? Martha's recipe makes such a dark chocolate cookie that you can't tell doneness by looking as with sugar cookies or gingerbread. I'm trying touching the center to test for firmness but what an OWWEEEE burn when I touched a "medium rare" cookie by accident and the hot dough stuck to my finger! Michelle, I wish I were baking in a convection oven! I've heard that you don't need to rotate the cookie sheets in a convection oven and that you can bake 3 or 4 sheets at a time. I hope this is true...can anyone confirm? I did add 1 tsp of expresso powder but will try 1 T. I was afraid I'd taste coffee in the background with more than 1 tsp...can you? Since I am shooting for a bit crisper than you, I'll shoot for "firmer" resistence to touch and see if that does it. Thanks for saying chocolate cookies aren't easy to bake. Now I don't feel so bad. OK..I just conducted the experiment...lightly sprinkling cocoa directly from the can into a one cup SS measure weighed 2.75 oz.(using a digital scale accurate to 1/2 oz). The cocoa can says 1 TBS weighs 5 grams. If 16 TBS equals one cup, then one cup weighs 80 grams which converts to 2.705 oz! WOW is that ever different from the 3.75 to 4 ounces the charts claim. No wonder the batch made with weighed ingredients were "inedible". It really breaks your heart to use all of that cocoa, butter and confectioner's sugar and the time rolling and baking to have it all wind up in the trash! If you'd like to see and/or try this awesome chocolate cookie recipe, I've linked it for you. I think they are worth the risk! I can also vouch for Martha's gingerbread cookies. They are full of flavor and have ground black pepper added to the usual spices. The dough cuts and imprints well...it will take any kind of cutters you have http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=87f01a55b890f010Vgn Thank you for helping to solve my two problems! Here is a link that might be useful: Martha Stewart Chocolate Cookies

Personally, I wouldn't make quick breads of any kind with King Arthur White Wheat Flour because it's too high in protein/gluten to get really good results - whole wheat pastry flour would be a better choice, as Terri pointed out. The increase in gluten is probably the cause of the texture changes you experienced. Making quick breads is all about keeping gluten-development to a minimum. This includes the type of flour used and the amount of mixing. When substituting whole wheat flour for all-purpose in a recipe, you may benefit from reducing (as in leaving it out completely) the amount of whole wheat flour by 1 or 2 tablespoons per cup to compensate for the higher gluten. Because the KA whole wheat flour has more gluten, as well as bran in it, both will absorb more hydration than all-purpose flour would and can alter the texture. It's easier to reduce the amount of flour, rather than increase the hydration. When using KA White Wheat Flour it would be even more important to keep mixing to a bare minimum so you don't over-develop the gluten in the flour (which is higher than all-purpose). I mill my own flour and use the same wheat (13.1% protein) as they use for King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour. I purchase it from the local stone mill that mills King Arthur White Whole Wheat for this region. I normally mill SOFT white wheat (Bob's Red Mill) for quick breads because it has a much lower protein/gluten content; OR use a 3:1 mixture of hard white wheat and spelt to lower the amount of protein/gluten. I made crumb cake muffins yesterday, and as another option to reduce the gluten I used 3/4 hard white wheat and 1/4 high-maize resistant starch (to reduce the gluten, lower the glycemic impact and increase the fiber), and the muffins were very light and tender. The original recipe called for all-purpose flour. Good luck with your new trials. What a great recipe to have to "work on" (LOL)! -Grainlady