In my mind, I have unlimited time and energy to do so many things — read a book a day, work on my novels, catch up with old friends, bake cookies, watch movies . . . and so forth. And somehow, of course, this just never seems to happen — we spend most of our time working, and then find ways to squeeze in other fun activities in between everything else.

So this Christmas I decided I was going to make time for many of those important activities — especially the baking! I managed to squeeze in a batch of peanut butter blossoms recently and want to make a few more batches in the near future. My friend Sandy told me about an awesome batch of butterscotch cookies she made — and printed me out the recipe. I have it at the ready, but I think I might kick it up a holiday notch and try these over the weekend — butterscotch gingerbread cookies! For all of my talk about my pumpkin obsession, I have an equally far-reaching lust for gingerbread.

Butterscotch Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup light molasses
• 1 (11 ounce) package Nestle Toll House Butterscotch Flavored Morsels

Directions
1. PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees F.
2. COMBINE flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt in small bowl.
3. BEAT butter, sugar, egg and molasses in large mixer bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in flour mixture until well blended. Stir in morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
4. BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.