2002 - Holiday Baking on the Homefront

This entry was written by my sister, Lisa, and sent to me via email to add to Our Cookie Journal. 

Although they're doing crafts, the scene isn't much
different when Lisa and her girls are baking
cookies.

I was bound and determined to bake Sugar Cookies today. I took Rachel and April to school and on the way, I noticed the van wasn't shifting properly, so I hurried home. After talking to Mike about the van, it was determined that I was grounded. I was disappointed. I needed ingredients for the cookies. Did I waste time? No! I started burning Christmas CDs for everyone and made various phone calls to get out of my dilemma.

Eventually, Michael came over and drove the van and said I could drive it as long as I don't use overdrive, which I don't. So I jetted myself to Kroger for my necessary goods. While I was there, I found Baker's Secret sheets and racks on sale for $2.50 each! I came home and got everything ready for Sugar Cookies. I didn't have to hunt for "Joy of Cooking" either.

It was almost time for the girls to get off the bus, so I measured and prepped everything and preheated the oven. When the girlies came in, I had them join me and we added our ingredients to the mixing bowl and made our dough. Sugar Cookies mixed in a Kitchen Aid - what pleasure! Remember how sore we used to get from all that mixing? We would take turns, passing the bowl back and forth!

Anyway, the dough was heaven. After a short chill, wrapped in Glad green wrap, I rolled the dough, gave the cutters to the kids and let them have at it. They did a great job! No doughy casualties. No amputees. They made holly, bells, candy canes, angels and small circles. The cookies smelled wonderful baking - so buttery! We ended up with 49 cookies.

We moved right on to Chocolate Chip Cookies. The girls measured all the ingredients. They poured in everything but the flour. Both girls are adept at egg cracking. No shells in our dough! The first dozen was too dark, the next two were perfect, but the rest were flat. They tasted wonderful but they looked so sad. I doubled the batch and it seems when I do that the cookies don't turn out right, so single batches from now on. I got 8 dozen flatties — I mean cookies.

Then we were ready to frost the Sugar Cookies. Using our old standby, Betty Crocker tubs, I made yellow, blue and green frosting, plus we used white. I showed the girls how to frost and sprinkle and they took off. They did really well! We have some of the most colorful cookies. The girls kept telling me how great it was to be baking and decorating. They really had a good time, as did I! We listened to Christmas music, burned candles and Mike even brought us McDonald's. What a great day!

The only thing missing was you!!!!!!!