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Cookie Hive

Mixing, rolling, dropping - cookies, that is.
Julie and Gitte (foreground) drop dough for
Mini Black & White Cookies.

My kitchen came alive on Sunday with clouds of confectioners sugar, flurries of flour, the whir of the mixer, and the hum of conversation while rolling, dropping and dipping cookies. Never have so many cookie bakers graced my home at one time. A true hive of activity buzzed for more than the allotted four hours, as friends took pity on my blog task and polished off 10 recipes from the Gourmet Cookie Book.

My descriptions of the cookies will be brief in the next couple of posts, but they will include many photos of our fun and the bakers' opinions of the cookies.

And we did have opinions. Some positive, some negative. Some of my guest bakers might as well have been tasting different cookies altogether, so varied were their reviews of the same cookie.

I confess I have been concerned that my recipe reviews have been a bit harsh, but bolstered by the my guests' critiques, I am now convinced that only some recipes are deserving of a truly glowing report.

Other cookies are just "above average," and some need not get a second chance. Among them, some that are not my personal favorites appeal to others' tastes. All the more reason to get out your baking pans and judge for yourself.

Freddie shows off a batch of refrigerator
cookies that Gitte brought chilled,
ready to cut and bake.
Everyone went home with a tin of cookies to serve to family or at a holiday gathering. One batch was headed to a senior center.

The best parts? An afternoon of kitchen camaraderie among friends and family (daughter, sister-in-law and niece) who represent many stages of my life. And the smiles of joy and pride in many jobs extremely well done.

I bet each of my guests has had a teacher who wrote at least one of the following comments on their report cards: industrious, follows written directions, creative, plays well with others. It was that kind of day.

More to come...




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Comments

  1. PrlgrlDecember 21, 2011 at 11:49 AM

    Karen,
    Thank you so much for a fun filled afternoon. I enjoyed meeting your family and friends and couldn't have thought of a better way to enjoy a holiday afternoon.

    Thank you so much for opening your home and inviting me to attend.

    Julie

    ReplyDelete
  2. MarthaDecember 23, 2011 at 11:40 AM

    Greetings, Karen. My family also has a 'cookie day' in December. A wonderful tradition of with family recipes from Grandma Neena and others, and a couple of new ones each year. We have a beloved aunt in Washington D.C. who can sometimes attend, and sometimes not. Last year, unable to fly out, she sent us the Gourmet year-by-year Cookie Book you are working your way through. We tried the cornetti, the fig swirls, the speculaa, the rye cookies and the chocolate hearts as 'new' cookies this year. The rye cookies and fig swirls were hands-down favorites. Others were pretty darn good-- but somehow we messed up the cornetti. The texture was wrong, though the idea of the flavor combinations was wonderful. I'm sorry I didn't find your blog until *after* the party, when trying to figure out how we might have improved the cookie. I think had we had your pix (and the comment made by someone) we might have pulled 'em off. Ah well. Our usual, traditional cookies are a sour cream sugar cookie, maple stars, linzer cookies, candied grapefruit peel, a honey spice cookie, krumkaka, bourbon and rum balls, little mince meat and pecan tarts... lotza treats! We are also in Seattle (who'd a thunk it) and try hard to channel the various Scandahoovian ancestors with butter and love. Happy holidays to you, mb

    ReplyDelete
  3. Karen BrattesaniDecember 23, 2011 at 4:20 PM

    Martha, I was looking for another cookie to bake for Christmas and your post steered me to fig swirls. Look for my post in the next few weeks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. basket ladyFebruary 7, 2012 at 2:26 PM

    Karen,

    What a wonderful time you all must have had! Thanks for all your work this year baking these recipes so we can profit from your expertise. Maybe next December I will host a Holiday Cookie Bake!

    ReplyDelete

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