Girl Scout Cookies are Rollin' into Town!

Yes, it's that time again.  This is the Vivver's first year as a Daisy Scout, so it's our first experience selling Girl Scout cookies.  I'm proud of her (as usual).  She set a goal to sell 100 boxes; she sold 130.  I told how to approach people and what to say when they opened the door; she did.  This weekend, our troop will receive our cookies and begin delivery.

Caramel Delites, Peanut Butter Patties & Lemonades

It got me thinking...what is it about Girl Scout cookies that everybody loves?  Is it actually the cookie?  Is it the philosophy of helping young girls gain self-confidence and business sense?  Is it seeing the girls in their uniforms that have become so iconic?  Is it just the fact that it's become a piece of Americana?  I mean, the cookies are good.  But it's not like they are the most spectacular cookie on Earth, but we love them more than any other cookie I think.  I believe it's all of the above.  I don't think I've ever met a person who has said, "Man, I hate Girl Scout cookies."  No, in fact, when they go on sale, people practically dance in the streets.  We buy from mulitiple Girl Scouts.  And during the rest of the year, we ask, "When is it Girl Scout cookie time?"  And , we ALL say, this time I'm going to buy a lot so I can put them in the freezer.  Yeah, right.  We all know, no matter how many boxes you buy, they never make it to the freezer.  Never.

So, this weekend Viv and I will be busy delivering our orders.  Thanks to all of you who helped her meet and exceed her goal.  She's one proud little Daisy Scout indeed!

Better Not Quit My Day Job

I've baked off and on my whole life.  But, in recent years, things haven't been going so well.  I've concluded that I would flunk out of pastry chef school on the first day.  If I had to roll out dough for a living, I'd be living without any dough ($).  Is it this annoying rolling pin that always sticks no matter what I do?  Is it the temperature in my house?  Is it bad luck?  Is it just me?

The wunderkind decided that this year, Santa needed gingerbread men instead of a traditional cookie.  I have been nervous about this project.  Hey!  Maybe that's it; psyching myself into failure?  Last night, I dreamed about having to roll gingerbread dough.  So, bright and early I got my gingerbread baker hat on.  Needless to say, it's been a stressful and trying endeavor. Just like I thought it would be.

I chilled the dough for 2 hours, just like the recipe said.  Time to roll it out and then freeze it...this dough is sticky, soft, not really like a cookie dough at all.  Then, there's my <bleep> rolling pin with gingerbread goo stuck all over it.  I improvise with a plastic cylinder sprayed with Pam.  I got it rolled out into a thin sheet, but it wasn't pretty.  Then, after the 20  minutes in the freezer, separating it from the parchment paper was quite a feat.  Took me and Neil together.  And, as we all know, the purpose of parchment is that stuff doesn't stick to it. 

So, we managed to get 4 gingerbread men into the oven.  They look like they are supposed to; a Christmas miracle!  

Yeah, we decorate cookies in our bikinis...what of it?

R) my cookie  L) Viv's Santa cookie

The Miraculous Gingerbread Men

But, the remainder of the dough in the fridge is weighing heavy on my mind.  Should I bolster myself to fight with this dough again and crank out as many little men as possible?  Or, assume that Santa doesn't need more than 4 gingerbread men and just call it a day?  And, before someone tells me that Martha Stewart has a good, easy recipe let me say this:  I officially loathe M.S.  but I DID go to her site and used this recipe.  Damn, maybe it IS just me.  

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Cookies

I'm no baker extraordinaire, but I can bake.  I've had some stumbling blocks: I'm terrible at pie crust, I've never perfected pizza crust, but I think that's because my oven doesn't go up to 4 million degrees like a restaurant's and I'm pretty impatient when it comes to bread unless it involves the bread machine.  But, when the feeling strikes me, I can bake.

A few years ago, okay more than a few, my friend Eugenie said, "hey, let's make Christmas cookies together and we can give them as gifts."  We were both single and non-moms at the time you see.  So, I said enthusiastically, "Yes, let's do it!"  

What a disaster.

To this day, I can't put my finger on what went wrong.  Maybe we made a crummy cookie dough, maybe it was our rolling technique, maybe it was our apparent lack of talent when it comes to decorating cookies.  Perhaps it was all that wrapped up together.  All I remember is they were a pain in the ass to make, at least half of them broke, decorating was a joke and I came away from the experience saying "Yeah, not doing that again."

Well, now I'm a mama.  And this year, the Vivster is really getting the whole Christmas thing and she's diggin' it.  So, I faced the music and realized come hell or high water, I was going to have to tackle the old rolled out "decorated" Christmas cookies for Santa.  I've been so excited about it that the only preparation I've actually made so far is to buy food coloring and sprinkles.  Then, this morning came a revelation!

I had bent down to give Vivi a big squeezy hug and as I stood up, I glanced over at the closet door that has a Pillsbury calendar hanging on it.  Since I am an electronic kinda girl, I never look at this calendar; it's for Neil...he's semi-electronic, semi-paper.  Anyway, he had flipped it over to December and lo and behold, there's this big, beautiful photo of peppermint candy crunch cookies.  "Hello?"  Vivian loves peppermint.  I mean, really loves it.  So much that after Christmas, I have to hit all the sales to stock up on candy canes so we have a stash for the rest of the year.  And here, right on the closet door all this time was the answer to all my cookie-making prayers.


It calls for Pillsbury sugar cookie dough from the fridge case.  Yes!  Can I hear a Hallelujah?  It calls for crushed up candy canes...I've got those, in abundance!  It calls for one other thing; I can't remember.  Maybe powdered sugar to make a glaze.  Who cares? It's only one more ingredient.  No food coloring needed!  No sprinkles needed, unless we just want to use them (with reckless abandon of course) and I don't have to make dough.  I just roll it out!  

I'd say this is nothing short of a true Christmas miracle.