Cookies & Cherries & Chocolates, Oh My!

Arriving at work this week, on my last day before my vacation, I was greeted with a wonderful surprise at my desk.  I knew right away it was from my friend Lori.  We share a passion for baking, so we can totally relate to the intricate details we apply to our baked goods and the time we take to make those special treats for our loved ones. You either love making this special effort, or you don't.  Either way everybody loves to eat them.  So in the end, we all win!  Tomorrow, I'll be working on my famous  &*$%@$*%%&Cookies !! 

I can't wait to open this !!

Overflowing with decadents.

Let's look inside each bag now.  OMG - I can smell the chocolate already.  I'm getting so excited !!!!

Lori and I have spent many lunch hours discussing recipes and sharing cookie ideas and she explained to me once how she has her 'special' tweezers just for applying her decorations on her cookies.  She said, "People think I'm crazy"  but I totally get where she is coming from.  Like a guy has his tools in his shed, the gals have their 'gadgets' in the kitchen.  As I opened the first bag,  I truly appreciated this gift even more.  

Shortbread cookies like I've never seen before!
Don't you just Love the little plate? 
A gift from Jody a few years ago.

 

Now, just so you don't think this is a large plate
or that the decorations are large,
I placed tweezers on the plate
to show how intricate this work is.
(Don't worry, they were cleaned)

ohhhhh - I can smell the peanut butter and chocolate.
I Love the little holly leaves - isn't it amazing how something so tiny can add so much!

Oh, the smell of the chocolate is driving me crazy. 
I should have eaten breakfast before doing a photo shoot.

Oh my goodness.  This plate is filled with Cake Pops, and get this - cream cheese, chocolate chips and crumbled cake rolled into balls and dipped in chocolate. It's like eating chocolate covered cookie dough.  Don't be silly, Yes, of course I tasted one

Ohhhh... now it's yummy cereal, peanuts and chocolate covered cluster thingie's.  That's the name right Lori? 
You didn't happen to use bran cereal did you -
'cause that's a really good way to hide fiber and justify eating the cookie at the same time.
I'm thinking I might have to hide those
homemade turtles from my kids though -
so don't anyone forward this post to them ok?
 

mmmm gingersnaps and fondant covered cherries

Now the hard question... do I want tea or cappuccino for breakfast, and dare I eat cookies for breakfast.  Sure why not, it's Christmas and Lori went to all that work! 

hmmmm tea or cappuchino?   Note the snowflake on the cup.  Another gift from Jody.
It's magnetic and you can wear it on
your winter scarf or whatever...
I choose to display it on my mug because it looks
festive and sparkly.  Sparkle, Sparkle, Sparkle.
It's all about the bling!

OK, now Bonnie - decide which cookie you want.  OH, why make this difficult - the solution is staring you right in the face! 

Have one of each silly.
Have the cappuccino for breakfast and call Diane over for tea this afternoon and pretend you are opening the cookies
for the first time.  Problem solved.

Hang on: doorbell ..........

Crap! Busted!  Diane just showed up for tea while I was in the middle of the photo shoot and about to sample goodies before I sit to actually eat them. Sampling is different than eating.  There are no calories in sampling - But you can still get busted. I'm just sayin'.

Thanks again Lori for such a thoughtful and tasty gift.  Not only do I get to enjoy them, you saved me some time with baking and I got to brag about you on my blog.  You are a great friend.

Merry Christmas to each and everyone of our followers and their families.  I hope you aren't too jealous of my generous and delicious gift, but if you happen to be in the neighbourhood anytime soon (and by soon I mean before they are all gone), you might want to pop in for a little treat. 

Holiday cheers!

Bonnie 

Easter Egg Cookies

It's been a tradition for us, that on Good Friday that is the day that the kids and I would sit down and decorate the hard-boiled eggs.  Since the kids are all grown now the interest in decorating eggs has gone, however, there is always an interest for cookies.  Everyone was home for the weekend so I took advantage of the extra help and started a batch of cookies and icing.  Remember one of my previous postings about "Cookie Day", well again... just as we were about to decorate, my cousin dropped in from Toronto and  happened upon the moment.  He couldn't wait to join in on the fun. 

Somehow people always know when I'm making cookies. mmmmmm cup of tea and a cookie sounds good right about now.

 Bonnie

&*$%@$*%%& Cookies !!

It's not Christmas without our traditional Christmas cookies at our house.   I come from a family of 4 sisters and 3 brothers.  My mother would spend hours and hours rolling dough, cutting cookies and decorating them.  At that time, she didn't have fancy decorating tools; she used a knife and a toothpick for the fine detail.  You could hear her cursing from the other room.  Until you take over this task yourself, you really don't know how exhausting it is.  You can imagine how much my mother appreciated it when we were old enough to really be a help to her. 

One year I called my sister Kathy and I said: 

"Chris is home and I'm going to mom's to do the cookies if you want to come down".  

She said, "Ok, I'll bring the icing".

"No need, I've got lots" 

 "Well, so do I, I'll just bring it with me" 

So we both load up our kids and all our cookies and ingredients and off we go. As we are about to set up, my other sister Deb shows up.  "Oh good, someone else to help with cookies" 

"I ain't helping, I hate doing those cookies!!  I'll do the clean up instead."

Then shortly after that, Pat just happens to show up.  Never before had all 5 sisters been home to decorate cookies at one time.  As we were about to get ready, Kathy pulls out her icing and I pull out mine.  I looked at hers and said, "That's cake icing, not cookie icing" 

"Well that's the kind of icing I make, why can't we use that?  I've got lots" 

"It won't work, it's got shortening in it."  

"So?" 

"So it won't work, it won't dry the same and it isn't self leveling" 

"But you don't want Santa's beard to be level, you want it to look fluffy"

"But if you make it fluffy and the icing is soft, then we can't stack them on top of each other to put in the containers and they'll all stick together" 

Then Mom pipes in: "You have to use the icing that's made with the milk so that it sets" 

"But I want the beard to be fluffy"

Deb cries out, "Oh for crying out loud, it's icing!" 

"But HERS won't dry."

"And HERS won't make fluffy beards.  Fine, You do yours your way and I'll do mine my way"

(It was quite comical and it reminds me of the story about Kathy and Pat and the race to see who makes it to the turkey pan first to make the gravy: You guessed it, one likes it made with flour and the other cornstarch)

At any rate:  Cookie Day was a great afternoon and our mother was in her glory!  So she decided since we had so many people, we needed more cookies ...so... out comes the flour and the rolling pin.  We were hours and hours decorating. Chris had never been home to participate in cookie decorating before so I think she was having the most fun.  We made Santas, and angels, and candy canes, and trees, and wreaths, and stars, and reindeer.  And then we made gingerbread men and they were decorated as Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Lion.  We had Fred, Barney, Wilma, Betty, Pebbles and BamBam.  The list goes on.

Cookie Day has never happened that way again since.  It's one of those rare moments that creates lasting memories. 

The tradition passed down to my girls.  Holly and Paige were excited because we were going down to gramma's that day to do cookies.  Niki and Sarah were in my kitchen and Aunt Deb popped in.  Niki said, "Aunt Deb, we are going down to gramma's to do cookies, you want to come with us?" 

"NO!!!  I hate making those &*$%@$*%%& cookies !!!"

Niki and Sarah were killing themselves laughing at - not only how bold Aunt Deb was in her statement, but also - I don't think Sarah ever heard that many swear words in one sentence let alone the fact that it came from Aunt Deb!!.  She was literally on the floor laughing. To this day, she still laughs about it.  We all do and they are no longer called Christmas cookies, they are &*$%@$*%%& Cookies.

So today, I share some of my cookies with you.  Grab a glass of milk and lets get started. 

There's a snow storm on my cooling rack.

It's not Christmas without a candy cane.

Of course...the fat man himself.

How cute and easy is this?
  Note: these reindeer are just gingerbread men turned upside down.

And for those of you who are fans of Team Canada .... 

Yes, that is supposed to be a maple leaf.

Any Maple Leaf fans out there??

And last but not least....for all those DEXTER fans out there !!! 

I have to say, that the Santa is my favourite cookie (next to Dexter)... but then again, who doesn't love Santa (or Dexter for that matter) - What's your favourite cookie?

So I say to the guy in the red suit, "Bring it on fat man, I'm ready for ya!" 

Bonnie

C is for COOKIE

November 2nd is Cookie Monsters birthday. This year he will be 41.

So, my co-worker and I decided to celebrate. We sent an email to all the staff and said "Let's have some fun! November 2nd is Cookie Monster's birthday and we want to start an annual Cookie Day at work. Please bring 1 dozen cookies to the office that day to share with your co-workers"

The response has been incredible. Everyone is so excited. Of course, we already know that I don't do anything small....and so today I baked Chocolate Chip cookies, Lassy Mogs and Sugar Cookies. The Sugar Cookies are sure to be a hit.

Someone at work commented how cute it would be if someone came in dressed like the Cookie Monster. Hmmmmmm ...wished someone said something sooner.... !