I've been preparing for a cookie swap that my knitting group is doing this week and it ended up being a really stressful few days for me as NOTHING went smoothly. I think I was close to having a breakdown if Bear didn't jump in and help me. I think one thing was the fact that I had to make 10 dozen (!!!)cookies... that was just waaaay too many for me personally (even if we adjusted it for only half a dozen a person). I think next time I'll only participate in smaller cookie swaps because this just about killed me!
Then the cookie recipe I've made the past couple of Christmases didn't want to cooperate and ended up looking crappy (although they still taste alright). You're supposed to roll the cookie dough in sugar so that they have a nice sparkly look to them after baking. Well I ran out of my pinkish coloured sanding sugar that I usually use and had to resort to using my black sanding sugar from my Halloween baking. Now there are black flecks in my chocolate cookies... oh well. 
I decided to box each recipient's cookies in red tissue paper, then placed into little cardboard boxes tied with baker's twine.I hope I made up for how the cookies look by their taste and by the packaging they came in. 20 boxes later and with Bear's assistance (which I'm really really grateful for - thank you love!), I.am.pooped. Hopefully everyone will enjoy them. I guess one thing I can look forward to after all this hard work is that I'll have 10 dozen cookies coming my way, right? :)
I'll end this post with a pretty view from my living room window a few mornings ago. I love how the fog wrapped around the trees on the hillside with my snowflake lights in the foreground. Very holiday-ish, no?
Here's to a smoother baking experience for the rest of the holiday season! I guess I put the pressure on myself because I'm a perfectionist when it comes to baking for other people, but I don't think it helped that I haven't been feeling well and have been stressed out more so than usual. Sometimes I have to learn to just go with the flow and not get myself so upset about stupid things. It's really hard for me to do at times (ok most of the time), but I have to remember what the holidays are supposed to be all about..
Here's to a smoother baking experience for the rest of the holiday season! May we all "check ourselves" before we get worked up about trivial things like I did :)
3 comments:
Ten dozen cookies for one is a bit much. Still, they look wonderful!
Yeah, 10 dozen were a lot. That's why I took the easy way out and made a kind you didn't have to mold or form. Now I just have to get something to put them in. I know my containers won't look as nice as yours. I'm going with ziplock containers. Oh well.
Emiko, I know that your point was that it was hard and you felt under pressure, so I feel bad about that, but you write about your own drama in such a funny way...this and the most current post made me laugh hysterically! You are too funny! I find it endearing that you used the black sugar!
I know your partners were very happy to get your cookies and you are right about not putting yourself under such pressure. I'm sure when you got there, the women were all over your pretty boxes and you know..the cookies look sooooo good.
It's this line that makes me hysterical.."I'll only participate in smaller cookie swaps because this just about killed me!" I've gotten myself into one cookie swap too many too, so I understand! Mark usually doesn't help because by the time I ask him, I've already abused him so terribly that we aren't speaking!
Post a Comment