Great Cookie Exchange 2006

I don't know if you remember but last year I posted about a Cookie Exchange we had for the "Secret Sisters" (which by the way really aren't a secret at all since everyone tells everyone who they have....ha ha ha) at our church. It didn't go that smoothly. It was nice to know I am not the only one who has some baking issues. I have been, however, thinking about making a baking comeback. I am a woman who has accomplished many things...why shouldn't I be able to bake? In the past I have made Christmas cookies but I've somehow gotten out of the habit. This year I am going to make another attempt. I heard a great suggestion that said to make your dough ahead of time and freeze it in old paper towel tubes. I think I will do that. I have made cookies ahead of time and froze them but they never really seem the same. I can handle the baking part as long as I don't have 50 bowls, spoons and drippy messes all over my kitchen.

So, to get to my point of all this....Yesterday I went to Stephanie's blog and she is participating in an on-line cookie recipe exchange. I love the idea. So today I am going to join. If you are interested you just have to go to Everything Under the Moon and post a link to your blog. Then you post your cookie recipe on your blog and everyone can see it. Isn't that great?

Let me give you a little background on the recipe I am sharing. It is not mine. It actually came from a little recipe book that was born out of our SS Cookie Exchange 2005. It was the best cookie - hands down. I haven't made these myself but they look easy enough. Let me know if you try them.

LaVon's English Tea Sticks
3 Eggs
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 half egg shells full oil
1 cup slivered almonds
2 cups flour

Beat eggs well. Add sugar & continue beating. Add oil, flour, baking powder & vanilla. Beat well. Add almonds & stir (by hand).
Put mixture on greased cookie sheet in shape of a big horizontal oval about 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle sugar & cinnamon on top. Bake at 350.
When it is light brown take out & slice (like biscotti). Put back in oven at 200 to dry (about 1 1/2 hours - until it is hard).

Cookies...

So...yesterday the Secret Sisters from our church had a Cookie Exchange. At first I wasn't going to go but Jake kinda convinced me I should. I did want to go to socialize but I didn't really want to bake nor do any of us need cookies. But, I did say I would participate so Saturday morning I got out of bed at 6:30 AM so I could run to the store to get a few things I would need to make Penny Snickerdoodles. I wanted to go without the children and Jake had a meeting he was going to and he had to leave at 7:30. So I go to the store and get back in time. About the time I get home the kids wake up and need all sorts of attention. Finally, around 9 AM I get Jude all hyped up about making these cookies. I get everything out and realize I don't have flour. WHO runs out of flour? The truth is, I have 4 (yes four) bags of self-rising flour that are all open in my cabinet but no All Purpose. The recipe specifically says "do not use self-rising for this recipe' - figures. I couldn't believe it. I decided I would get a shower and try to take the kids out and get some real flour. Luckily Jake called and I asked him to pick up some for me. He gets it home and we start making cookies. I take the time to measure everything precisely. Afterall, I am going to be in a room full of other women, who will undoubtably have perfect Betty Crocker looking cookies...I don't want to look like I can't bake. All women are supposed to bake. Honestly, I am not good at baking. I hate recipes and measuring. It is too much like following rules. If you read my previous posts you will already know, I am not good at following rules. So, back to the baking. I roll out this marble size balls and roll them in cinamon and sugar. It took me about 15 minutes to roll out enough for one sheet. That is a long time considering I had to bake 5 dozen for this exchange. They baked for 8 minutes. I pull them out and they all melted together. So I try another pan full. They looked better but something wasn't right. Hmmmmm. I made the balls smaller. They burned. Black. Charred to the cookie sheet burned. I couldn't figure it out. I threw the cookbook in the trash, it was obviously faulty since I followed the directions exact. Either way I had to make a different cookie. I ran to the store, smelling like burnt cookies, and bought stuff to make a cookie I had 1. never heard of 2. never made before. Stupid. Shouldn't every woman have a signature cookie you use for events such as this one? You know, something that has been passed down for generations? Nope, not me. At 4 PM I called Heather to ask what time the cookie fiasco was happening. Her hubby said 6 PM. WHAT???? Don't these things usually happen at 7 PM? Oh, then I remembered I had told Stephanie I would make an appetizer. What am I going to do? Get the meatballs out. Did I mention my family was very hungry by now? Get out even more meatballs. Yes, we had a meatball dinner. I finally finished the cookies. They turned out okay...nothing to blog home about. The meatballs were good. I get out the door at 5:45 but still ended up being 15 minutes late due to some paving project they are doing in Monroe Falls. Why are they paving Rte. 91 in Monroe Falls on a Saturday evening at 6 P.M.??? When I got there I was shocked to see only a few cookies that were of Martha Stewart stature. Some were downright comical. About 6-7 had completely scratched their first cookie attempts and started all over. Only 2 people brought a cookie of some significance. Next year, I swear I am taking Oreos. You watch. By the way, I did figure out I put 1 pound of butter in the first set of cookies instead of 1/2 pound. I did fish the cookbook back out, wiped the egg shells off and plan to use it again sometime. I used to be able to bake. I don't know what happened.

An Insomniac on Thanksgiving...

That would be me the title is referring to. Yes it is almost 2 AM and I can't fall asleep. I have A LOT on my mind so I just can't relax enough to sleep. It is offically Thanksgiving. Instead of telling you all my stresses I am going to tell you what I am thankful for. Afterall, it is Thanksgiving and to be honest I don't think most people really stop to say what they are truely thankful for... So here is my list.

• My husband.
• Jude and Elise.
• My other family members.
• My friends.
• God
• WNIR

Okay...so you expected me to say those things. Here are some things you may be suprised to hear me say.

• My Name is Earl (I LOVE that show! Funny and pretty deep all wrapped in one!)
• Tom's of Maine toothpaste
• Insomnia (so I can have the time to do things like type in my blog)
• Willie Nelson
• My Job (although I would rather be home...at least it is meaningful & entertaining)
• Freecycle
• The movie "Love Actually" - I watched it tonight for about the tenth time.
• Other people's blogs.
• Scrapbooking
• Nascar
• People who challenge me to be a better person (although I'm usually not that thankful while they are actually challenging me!)
• Baby Carrots
• Skinny White Mocha from Arabica's
• Cookie Exchange's
• Magazines
• My Pink Fuzzy slippers
• The Snow...it makes everything look pretty
• The United States
• For the old letters I saved
• For the old letters I threw out a long time ago.
• I am THANKFUL (and probably a little lucky) I am alive.
• I am very thankful God didn't answer all my prayers (I would have married the wrong person, had the wrong job, lived in all the wrong places and would have had a lot of regrets).
• Frosted Mini Wheats
• One True Fit Jeans
• My cat, Molly

I am thankful for more stuff but I may be getting tired. Maybe you guys could post a few things you are thankful for...

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving.