So, several days ago I blogged about the cookie party I attend each year and my desire to actually win a prize for my cookies. Thank you to everyone who replied with suggestions. I decided to go with an easy recipe for chocolate mint chip cookies, which you can find here. Except that when I went to buy mint chips, there were none. I swore a little bit and decided to get a mix of butterscotch, dark chocolate and white chocolate chips. I made the recipe and baked the first batch. They turned out flat and runny and not at all appetizing looking:
I began to realize that perhaps the reason I never win at the cookie party is because I'm not really a very good cookie maker. I decided to make the cookies smaller and watch the time & temperature more closely. This batch looked better:
Still reeling from my realization that I'm not a good cookie baker and admitting that my cookies were not very Christmas-y, I decided to consider another tactic. Maybe I could be clever about my presentation. I thought my cookies had a black & orange color theme and given how crazy people are in my area about the San Francisco Giants baseball team (who have a black and orange color scheme), I thought I could call them Giants cookies, and I made some signs to display with them:
Still a little worried that this was just going to be a dumb idea, my kids assured me it would be okay because many of our friends are Giants fans. When I arrived at the party, the hostess said to go to the party room and place your cookie in whatever category you wanted for judging. I went out to the party room and found it decorated in Giants regalia. Each category had something to do with the team and its championship season!!! I laughed and placed my cookies into the category titled "Cody Ross Happiest Cookie."
And I won! How silly is that? My prize? A candy cane shaped Christmas tree ornament, in a San Francisco Giants motif.
I'm not really sure what lesson to draw from this experience, other than the fact that even if I'm not a good cookie baker, at least I seemed to have found the right circle of friends.
Congratulations you cookie baker you! Love that story!!! It is all about family and friends and in the end, that is all that matters! Now a great sense of humor is a little extra icing!!
ReplyDeleteYes, being with the right friends is important ... as is not underestimating your baking prowess!
ReplyDeleteHey, that's awesome, Rinda!!! I'm so happy for you that I'm sitting here with a big smile on my face. Well done, my friend.
ReplyDeleteYay! I'ms so happy for you and those cookies look yummy! I expect to taste some on the 23rd! Can't wait to see you!!!!
ReplyDeleteWell done,Rinda...glad you finally managed it....and those cookies look pretty delicious to me.
ReplyDeleteWoo hoo!! Good for you :-) I'm grinning widely in pleasure at your victory, too! Clearly it's still sport that does it for your family... xx
ReplyDeleteOh, brilliant!! I loved the way you built us up to a cool ending - great post.
ReplyDeleteGlad you won and i'm sure your cookies were wonderful!!
ReplyDeleteMariana in CA
Great story! The cookies look delicious! Congrats on your victory!
ReplyDeleteGood for you Maria, loved reading your story. I'm sure your cookies were delicious, they looks really good. It always helps when you have a winning team behind you.
ReplyDeleteRinda, what a super fun story and congrats on the win!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your win! I loved the story about your cookie baking - what fun :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on winning - your cookies look yummy!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! Sarah and Matt's favorite cookies are double mint chocolate chip cookies. It's a very different recipe than the one you linked. Sarah couldn't find mint chocolate chips in CA either, so I brought two bags with me when we visited in November. We can only get them at the holidays, but I always stock up for the rest of the year.
ReplyDeleteYeah! How fun, you won to complete the family of winners circle, congrats!
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