Cookie Day! This year was the best yet. Well, actually it was relatively uneventful-no exploding baggies of chocolate or extra butter in the nut bars. Last year's Cookie Day didn't even get a blog, due to the fact that I had bronchitis and pneumonia for most of the holiday season and I can hardly remember if there even was a Cookie day. I did, however learn some valuable lessons from the past two years of baking that led to oodles of goodies and not too many "oops"-es.
Cookie Day this year did not begin on a Friday, which was the actual baking day. I started gathering recipes a month in advance, and narrowed them down by the Monday before. Then Blake and I made a spreadsheet-yes, folks, a spreadsheet-for ingredients. We went shopping on Wednesday, and I had piles of cookie sheets, mixers, ingredients and everything I could think of that we'd need ready to go by Thursday night. Friday morning rolled around and we hit the road for Bubbi's Big House (we ended up only forgetting a few things-like the extra eggs and butter. Hey, no one's perfect).
Ahem. In case you didn't know, Bubbi's Big House is my parents' new house, not something out of a Pee Wee Herman episode.
So, we hit the road for Bubbi's Big House. We were only on the road for five minutes before I exploded into some very colorful language about some very bad drivers. I don't know what it is about the Christmas season, but it seems to bring out the stupid in anyone driving around me-and I'm not exactly known for my patience. It makes me feel better that Blake at least agrees with me on this point: we should probably be the only two people allowed to drive as we seem to be the only people who understand the actual rules of the road. However, I digress. Rules of the Road by Nikki and Blake can be another blog.
In any case we managed to make it to Bubbi's Big House (as we all call my parent's house now) without getting in any wrecks or shooting anyone (anything other than the finger, that is). We unpacked (Dinner Impossible style)...
and then got on with the baking plan.
Wait. Baking plan? What is this plan you speak of (I can hear all you people who know me all too well!)? Well, I do believe I mentioned that I learned a lesson or two over the past few years, and having a plan actually helps. I say this with a slight tinge of regret, since there is far less possibility for disaster and thrills when you actually know what you are doing. In my opinion, no day in the kitchen (or anywhere really) is complete without at least the possibility of danger. Then again, Blake seems to be of the opinion that having me in the kitchen at all is akin to one of those natural disaster movies my father loves so much, so I thought it was probably best not to tempt fate or Blake's patience and just come up with a plan.
So the Plan. It wasn't very complicated-just make all the doughs that have to refrigerate first, and then everything else. And-wait for it, wait for it-not only did I have a plan, I had notes. Since we have used several recipes for several years in a row, and we had figured out tricks and tips, I actually wrote them down. I know, I know, I'm taking all the fun and spontaneity out of Cookie Day. I'm becoming *gasp* my mother. Hmmm, maybe not such a bad thing....
Bake, bake, bake...clean, clean, clean...
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and by 5:30 the ovens were off and the cookies were in tins! The last chores were wrapping the caramels and sugaring the homemade gumdrops, which I was saving for last. See, we had a special guest helper at the end of the night...
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| Blake cut the gumdrops while Jack and I tossed them in the sugar... |
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| Then we put them in a separate bowl to dry. Jack liked throwing the gumdrops around in the sugar...but he liked eating them better. The special project ended when he started licking the sugar off his palms. But hey, not bad for his first Cookie Day! |
