2001 - Un-pumpkin Bread

I'm home again! It's been great to see Mom and Lisa and her girls again. Soon I'll be seeing my brothers and their kids too. I love my family and miss them so much. And shopping in familiar territory! I bought a cake decorating kit - they're expensive in England - and vanilla - PURE! And lots of sprinkles, dragees and colored sugars. I also got two more bags of chocolate chips - I'm still not finished making Toll House cookies. And I'll make Sugar Cookies when I go back too. I need an offset spatula too (for icing cookies). Since pecans are cheaper here, I picked up a big bag of them for Chocolate Chip Cookies and Pumpkin Bread.

Pumpkin Bread tastes best
with Pumpkin.

That reminds me - Lisa made Pumpkin Bread - or should I say "Un-pumpkin Bread" - this year! She didn't realize till her loaves were already baking away in the oven that she'd left out the pumpkin! She made some regular pumpkin-flavored loaves later but she didn't toss out the first batch. They were deemed edible and even delicious and they were gobbled up despite missing their key ingredient (see photo).
She also spent time at Mom's this year and they made loads of cookies together. She'll have to tell me which kinds and what her yields were. I need Danielle, Lisa, Mom and Rachel to tell me more for this year's "home front" entry.
I managed to bake about six dozen Moravian Spice Cookies before I had to call it quits in Blighty. I still have half the dough in the freezer because there simply wasn't enough time to finish and get my bags packed.

1998 - Avon Cookies?

We started on Wednesday, Dec. 2, by going shopping at Meijer's. And Winn-Dixie. And Kroger. And Walgreen's. "It started out slow, then it started to grow!" We shopped from noon to 2 p.m. and started baking around 3:30 - probably our latest start in the day ever. But there were things we needed. Like our new Santa timers! We also bought 20 pounds of flour, 15 pounds of sugar, 8 pounds of brown sugar and $12 worth of pecan halves, among many other things.

Is that an Avon apple?

We took a break when our brother, Michael, brought us pizza for lunch. He used a Christmas salt and pepper shaker and commented on how cute it was and asked Lisa where she got it. "Avon," she said. Later, he spotted a decoration that played Christmas music and thought it was pretty cool. Again, he asked where she got it. "Avon." Well, that was enough for him. He launched into a routine inspired by Forrest Gump. "Avon is the fruit of the housewife. There's Avon salt and pepper shakers, Avon ornaments, Avon decorations, Avon pizza, Avon cookies, Avon shrimp ..."  He cracked us up!

Sisters.

After Michael left, we hauled out our aprons, mitts and towels that we got last year. We posed for a photo using the timer on my camera - three times! It was another holiday hoot! And what did we start with? Chocolate Chip Cookies, of course. We finished at 7:30. Two double batches yielded 28 dozen, plus about a dozen we ate with our little brother.

We used margarine this year because butter is about $3 a pound. It was a balmy 70 degrees outside, so the two cookie sheets we had weren't cooling quickly enough. Lisa only knocked over two cookies this time. I vacuum-packed them in plastic freezer bags using a straw to suck the air out. It made them easier to pack in the freezer and should keep them from getting freezer burn (as if they'll be in there long enough for that!).

1997 - Shop Till You Drop

We didn't start until Monday, Dec. 1, because I had two reviews to do for the newspaper the Friday and Saturday after T-giving, which was late this year. Lisa and I kicked off our holiday season at Actor's Theater of Louisville with "A Christmas Carol." It was preceded by Kahlua hot chocolates at the intermezzo cafe nearby. This could be the start of a new sisterly tradition (the Kahlua hot chocolates, at the very least!).

Since we usually make so many trips to the store, we met last Wednesday (while preparing for our Thanksgiving feast) and put together a monster shopping list. We had intended to shop Sunday, before we started on everything, but we didn't manage. It sure would have helped. Lisa gave us a head start though by digging out all the bowls, sheets, cutters and other utensils and supplies (including our "Joy of Cooking") that we'll be using.

So we went shopping before we started baking. We spent about $80 on supplies but still didn't get enough butter and we forgot to buy food coloring, and aluminum pans (13x9) for the brownies. While we were out, I stopped by Mom and Dad's house to check the mail because I figured the package I was expecting had arrived. I ordered some Christmas textiles for us, including matching aprons!

A picture from the Cookie Diary of our Christmas
textiles: aprons, dish towels, oven mitts and potholders.

We started with Nestle's Original Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies at about noon. We baked a total of 24 dozen but I told Lisa that I don't think that they will last!

Lisa burned her Christmas vinyl tablecloth with a hot cookie sheet. After that, we started resting the trays on two potholders on an inverted cookie sheet that's too small to bake on. And whoops! - I left out the salt in one of the first CCC batches.

We were already exhausted, so we quit early - at 5 p.m. We'll make up for it tomorrow.

Nestle's Toll House CCC

1996 - We May Be Rushing Things but...

I'll try to keep up as we go this year! 

Tomorrow, we're going to bake two double batches of Nestle's Original Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies. We didn't think we would get to bake this Christmas because Lisa is sooooo pregnant! I hope she has her this week, while I'm on vacation from work. We know it's going to be another girl (which will make four). In the meantime, we've been shopping and planning and wrapping and, now, baking together while we still can. I'm impressed that Lisa can do so much — she's due next Sunday (Dec. 9). But the baby could keep us waiting till Christmas!

We actually went shopping on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), which we never do but she's afraid if she doesn't get it done now, she won't get a chance. We started at Target but the lines snaked all the way to the back of the store! So we headed to KB Toys at Jefferson Mall, where the line only wrapped around the perimeter of the store. We found a few items then stood in the line. By the time we got around to the cash register, we were each pushing a stack of presents as tall as ourselves! The bags were so humungous, I had to drag them to the mall door while Lisa went for the car. 

This will be a late baking start for us  — tomorrow is Dec. 2. Still, we've planned what we're going to make and I'm doing the shopping tonight (fingers crossed I'll get everything we need for a change!). In addition to the Toll House Cookies, we're going to try a new cookie that we saw in all the cookie magazines we've been perusing. It's a One-Bowl Brownie Cookie from Baker's Secret (the chocolate square company).

I also need to buy another cookie sheet — my good one is in storage since I moved home with Mom and Dad, and we need at least three in the rotation. Mom has offered her many cooling racks, which we will gladly use at Lisa's house.

Who knows at this point what else we'll bake? We'll have to see what the baby says!