The Big Bake
By Parry
Which happened on the 21 December 2011
Christmas cookies. So good, so necessary, so missed when not made. The last few years have yielded less and less, and so, to ensure we carry forward more then just a few presents, but perhaps also a few extra pounds from 2010, we devised a baking day. A Tuesday set aside for the making of nearly countless cookies, and treats.The day began with a breakfast of some fresh monkeybread, which was devoured swiftly enough.
Our Cocoa-Latte machine tragically started smoking from over use, so I was sent to TJ Maxx to find a replacement. Upon my return I found the house in full scale mass cookie production. Corey had friends over, and my Aunt Elise and Grandma Beth had also joined in the action.
We made afore mentioned Monkeybread plus Chocolate covered pretzels, Russian Teacakes, Dresdner Stollen, Homemade Oreo's, Nutella cookies, English Toffee, Pfeffernusse, Scandanvian Thumb Prints, and Chow mein Chocolate clusters.
We made afore mentioned Monkeybread plus Chocolate covered pretzels, Russian Teacakes, Dresdner Stollen, Homemade Oreo's, Nutella cookies, English Toffee, Pfeffernusse, Scandanvian Thumb Prints, and Chow mein Chocolate clusters.
My personal favorites are the Scandanavian Thumbprints (although due to my recent discovery of a nut allergy, we altered the recipe to be made with pecans instead of the time honored walnuts) and Monkeybread. I hit my sugar limit pretty quick, but we all were fairly sugared out by the end.
My Grandmother kept asking what we were going to do with all the cookies we had made. I honestly was not sure, but after giving some to the helpers, as well as a few unsuspecting victims we have found, it was fairly easy to give them away. Not quite a charitable offering to the poor and needy, but certainly a token of appreciation and friendship, which is so often what cooking can be about. Obviously, there are many ways to give to friends and family, but one way that we personally enjoy doing so is by cooking. I think that part of it is about leveraging our personal talents to serve others.
When it gets down to it, I don't think that it takes a fancy feast or deluctible desserts to give. I do think it takes a good a heart and the purist of intentions that I can muster. Yet, when it's my family, we're going to make that fancy feast as well. Why? Tradition. That, and we know how to do it, and we wouldn't ever be satisfied with anything less then our best. I think we also enjoy a challenge. We find challenges, whether it is outdoing the French Onion soup we had in Paris once, or making a good infusion between Mexican and Italian food, we strive until we get our dish to taste the best we can. Even then, every time we make a dish, it's not necessarily a science, but an art of reading the ingredients and working with them to help bring out their best. The fruit of these labors is often tasty, varied, surprising, and almost always worth it.
My Grandmother kept asking what we were going to do with all the cookies we had made. I honestly was not sure, but after giving some to the helpers, as well as a few unsuspecting victims we have found, it was fairly easy to give them away. Not quite a charitable offering to the poor and needy, but certainly a token of appreciation and friendship, which is so often what cooking can be about. Obviously, there are many ways to give to friends and family, but one way that we personally enjoy doing so is by cooking. I think that part of it is about leveraging our personal talents to serve others.When it gets down to it, I don't think that it takes a fancy feast or deluctible desserts to give. I do think it takes a good a heart and the purist of intentions that I can muster. Yet, when it's my family, we're going to make that fancy feast as well. Why? Tradition. That, and we know how to do it, and we wouldn't ever be satisfied with anything less then our best. I think we also enjoy a challenge. We find challenges, whether it is outdoing the French Onion soup we had in Paris once, or making a good infusion between Mexican and Italian food, we strive until we get our dish to taste the best we can. Even then, every time we make a dish, it's not necessarily a science, but an art of reading the ingredients and working with them to help bring out their best. The fruit of these labors is often tasty, varied, surprising, and almost always worth it.
Sad, you're allergic to walnuts too? Which nuts exactly are you allergic to? It's cause Americans try to keep everything too clean. I don't know anyone growing up in the Marshall Islands who has weird food allergies.
ReplyDeletePeanuts and Walnuts. Its strange because I wasn't allergic as a child, or at least I never noticed it if I was. I think I would have, considering I LOVE peanut butter. Oh well, at least there is still Nutella.
ReplyDelete