---->GRATITUDE GIVING DAY SPONSOR: SAMARA BOTANE<----
Samara Botane brings you a fantastic seasonal overstock sale!

Retail and wholesale prices reduced through November on Australian essential oils. All essential oils either organic or wildcrafted, identified by botanical name, country of origin, method of extraction and have been tested by MSGC analysis. This offer includes new Australian oils, such as Rosalina and Blue cypress, bringing cutting edge ideas for your personal wellness and exciting product ideas for your handmade soap or toiletry business. Find out more at http://www.WingedSeed.com/sale.

Samara Botane | (800) 782-4532 | samara@wingedseed.com

~ Nothing fills the soul more fully than giving the gift
        of Gratitude to someone you love.

It's unseasonably cold on the east coast this fall. Earlier this week, parts of New York experienced more snow than they have in decades. The southern city of Charlotte, North Carolina has already experienced its first snowfall. And each morning for the past several days, my lawn has been covered in tiny little ice sparkles that dance in the grass as the sun comes up.

But despite the cold, as I sit in my office on this most distinctive American holiday, I am reminded that this day has its roots in an era of great pain and remarkable struggle in the lives of people who occupied this land long ago. That's one of the reasons I am so grateful that we can personalize the concept of Gratitude... not just today, but every day - moment by moment - in our own lives.

Allow me to express my Gratitude to you, the readers of HBC. You inspire me with your notes and calls, each one a priceless piece of encouragement for me. I try to respond to each one individually, and am honored to provide you with a publication that you find useful and timeless. I express Gratitude to HBC's advertising sponsors for helping me deliver HBC to all of you.

I express Gratitude to the members of the Handmade Beauty Network, and to the members of HBN's staff, our Beauty Call guests and many other friends and colleagues who have contributed to our success.

I express Gratitude to my teachers and mentors who have helped provide me with the opportunity to combine my vocation of providing legal and business counseling services with my avocation of creating handmade toiletries.

I express Gratitude to God for the opportunity to lift up and encourage women who, as I once did, endure spousal abuse in a misguided attempt to win the affection and acceptance of someone who is either unwilling or unable to provide them with either.

In America, we set aside only one day each year to express a collective attitude of thanksgiving. But we can fill our souls each day we arise to take another conscious breath, by giving the gift of Gratitude regularly, no matter what country we are in.

On October 8, HBC announced plans to donate 50 cents to the Hannah House, a Washington, DC, shelter for homeless women, for each new subscriber to The Handmade Beauty Connection until Thanksgiving Day. Today, we are pleased to announce that with 170 new subscribers since that date, we will proudly donate $85.00 to the women of Hannah House!! The donation will be presented to Hannah House's Executive Director at a special Robin's Roses "Journey To Entrepreneurship" presentation that I will deliver to the women of Hannah House on November 29.

Thanks to all of those who referred new subscribers to HBC during this special subscribership drive. Collectively, we are making a positive difference in women's lives!! You can read more about the Hannah House by logging onto http://www.hannahhouse.org.

All year long, HBC features Aromatic Beauty Food Recipes ... goodies you can make at home to pamper your face, skin, hair and body. But during this holiday season, we'll highlight the food designed to be feasted upon, focusing on recipes that are delectable and easy and quick to make.

Gratitude Cookies are a variation on a recipe from Rose's Christmas Cookies (Morrow and Co., 1990), a treasured gift from a college friend. They are so easy, especially if you use a food processor to make them. (You can use an electric mixer, but that may take just a tad longer because it usually requires sifting the dry ingredients.) This recipe yields about 8 dozen 2 1/2-inch cookies, but I like to make them a little bigger ... bigger cookies, less baking time!

Gratitude Cookies have a very delicate, lacy texture, are perfectly sweet and buttery and great to "bake and take" if you are having dinner at someone else's home. I made a batch last night to take to my in-laws today. I expect to return with nothing but crumbs!! Enjoy!!

Ingredients
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda pinch salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup small chocolate chips
1/4 cup small butterscotch flavored chips

To Make
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using a food processor, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and sugars. Scrape down the mixing bowl with a spatula. Add butter, egg and vanilla extract and process until creamy. Add the chips and stir with a spoon.

The batter will be soft so you might want to refrigerate it for 15 minutes or so before transferring teaspoon sized amounts to ungreased non-stick cookie sheets. Separate the cookies by 2-3 inches as they will spread a lot.

Bake about 5 minutes, watching carefully to make sure they don't burn. (They are mostly butter as you can see!) Once they start bubbling and become golden brown around the edges, remove from oven. Allow to cool on sheets for about 1/2 hour before using a spatula to carefully transfer the cookies to cooling racks. Be careful! They are very delicate and will need to cool and harden a bit or they will fall apart when you lift them. (This is not altogether a bad thing since, as well all know, broken cookies don't count for dieting purposes.)

Gratitude Cookies are great even without the chocolate and butterscotch chips, so don't despair if you don't have them. You can crumble Gratitude Cookies over ice cream or eat them with a warm cup of after dinner coffee or tea. So Yum!! If you have a special holiday recipe you'd like to share, send it to donnamaria@handmadebeauty.com. The only requirements are that it be simple to make and tasty!!