#MEwx Rain, snow and strong winds with Holiday Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups

Good Morning Augusta

We're under a Winter Storm Warning from 10 AM this morning until 1 PM tomorrow, so hunker down.

This morning we have rain or snow likely, then rain or snow this afternoon. Snow may be heavy at times this afternoon with snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches. Highs will be in the mid 30s with north winds 10 to 15 mph. Gusts up to 35 mph this afternoon.

Tonight we'll have rain or thunderstorms during evening hours. Precipitation may be heavy at times with total snow accumulation of 10 to 14 inches. Lows will be in the upper 20s with north winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph.

The readings from my weather instruments are:

Our outdoor temperature is °F, the humidity is % the Dew point is °F and a wind chill of °F.

The wind direction is North between 3.0 MPH and 4.9 MPH.

The Relative pressure is 29.82, the Absolute pressure is 29.63 and falling with a weather graphic indicating snow/rain.

If you want to see real-time instrument readings from my personal weather station click Here. That will take you directly to my weather station.

Visibility is 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers with heavy low cloud cover and very, very still conditions.

The UV rating is  0 out of 16, The moon is 74.8% illuminated, the moon phase is     Waning Gibbous, Sunrise is 6:59 am↑ 121° Southeast, sunset is 4:00 pm↑ 239° Southwest, Moonrise is 8:55 pm↑ 63° Northeast, Moonset is 11:18 am↑ 299° Northwest and we'll have 9 hours 1 minute of daylight today.

We didn't receive any rain or snow here over the past 24 hours.

Holiday Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups

Ingredients

1 package Pillsbury Sugar Cookie Dough

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons hot cocoa mix

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

12 mini pretzels or mini candy canes

1 cup Jet-Puffed Mallow Bits

*optional - granulated sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Put 1 tablespoon of the sugar cookie dough into 24 greased mini muffin tins.

3. *Update - an optional step would be to roll the sugar cookie dough balls in granulated sugar before putting them into the mini muffin tins to help prevent sticking.

4. Bake for 12-14 minutes at 375 degrees. Allow the cookies to cool completely in the pan before gently removing them.

5. Make the chocolate ganache by bringing the whipping cream to a boil.

6. Stir in the hot cocoa mix.

7. Pour the hot cream over the semi-sweet chocolate chips and let it sit for 3 minutes. Then, stir until the chocolate chips are melted and the ganache is smooth.

8. Break off the loops on some mini pretzels or mini candy canes to use as handles.

9. Melt the white chocolate and use it to attach the pretzel handles or candy canes to the cookie cups.

10. Spoon the chocolate ganache into the cookie cups and top with mini marshmallows.

11. For best results, store the hot chocolate cookie cups in the refrigerator.