Blog Post #1

What is the first thing you think of when it comes to Christmas? Yes, of course, it would be the gifts. But wait a minute! You cannot forget about eating Christmas cookies every winter! In my family, we LOVE to eat Christmas cookies. Baking with my mother, sister, and friends excites me every winter break. Not only do we get to enjoy the scent of the fresh, delightful smelling cookies as they bake in the oven, but we get to spend quality time with one another.
As soon as December 1st comes around the corner, the baking begins! We gather all of the ingredients and tools needed to whip out the first batch of cookies. Should we make sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, or oatmeal cookies first? Hmmmmm….decisions decisions. That tends to always be the hardest part of this enjoyable family event. However, we always start off with my fabulous choice of the oatmeal cookies and finish baking the rest later. Each of us takes turns and completes the set of directions given for each type of cookie. Once all the ingredients are mixed together and ready to go, the fun begins! Now it is finally time to get down and dirty! Of course, after we all wash our cookie rolling hands, we get to work. We scoop our spoons in the dough and begin rolling the gooey, soft, squashy, oat-filled batter. After we whirl the dough into balls, we place them onto the tray. Once we cannot roll anymore we lick the bowls until they are spotless and rub cookie dough all over each other’s faces. Now that the fun is over, let’s get ready for the worst part of this cookie making process…resisting the temptation to pull the cookies out of the oven before they are finished baking because the scent embraces our souls. The excitement when the cookies gear up to come out of the oven is indescribable.
Once the timer on the oven dings the first time to let us know that only one minute remains before the cookies are finally ready, our mouths begin to quickly water and our thoughts are out of control! Oh yes, the timer sounds that last three second ding and the race to get those scrumptious treats to the counter for cooling is not fast enough! Puffs of cookie clouds fill the open air in the kitchen as we dream of that first piece slowly drifting down our throats and making its way into our stomachs.
Freshly, warm baked cookies are the essence of life! Once the cookies scream out to be eaten, our entire family and friends exemplify true exhilaration. We all smash on a few cookies while they are hot and welcome the rest of them to their new home…the Christmas cookie containers! The cookies relax in the containers until Christmas Eve. Ever since my sister and I were little, we could not wait to feed Santa Claus with our delicious cookies and Egg Nog so he would bless us with wonderful gifts. **PARENTS DO NOT LET YOUR KIDS READ THIS PART OF THE BLOG**! As we all know NOW that we are older, Santa Claus lives as a fictional character, but back then my sister and I filled the room with excitement when we noticed that he took a bite out of the cookies we baked just for him! Santa Claus never failed to write us notes saying how proud he was of us and how delicious our cookies tasted!

I thought that you may want to enjoy this cookie experience too. Make sure you bake the cookies with people you love and make it as fun as possible! You too, can make this a lifetime experience with your children, friends, and family that they will never forget!

Quakers Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
¾ cup of softened “melt your heart away” vegetable shortening
1 cup of firmly packed Imperial brown sugar filled with yummy hugs and kisses
½ cup of imperial granulated sugar
1 egg thrown in to get the cookie dough-rolling party started and blended
¼ cup of water
5 bowls of love and laughter
1 teaspoon of vanilla
3 cups of uncooked Quaker oatmeal
1 cup of celebration all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of soda
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Beat together shortening, imperial sugars, egg, water, and vanilla
3. Mix a lot of love until its creamy
4. Combine and add the remaining dry ingredients
5. Blend well with a lot of laughter
6. Get dirty and roll dough with your hands into balls
7. Place balls onto cookie tray
8. Spend 13-15 minutes with your family yearning for the cookies as they bake
9. Wipe your dribbling mouth as the first timer bell dings
10. Float in your dreams awaiting the final sweet bell tone that the cookies have arrived
11. Dive in for your first hot, delectable, irresistible cookie
Now that the prized cookies have been gobbled and reached their final destiny into our craving bellies, the adrenaline rush from this overwhelming experience begins to cease from our systems. Our lives go back to normal and the recovery period from pure cookie fatness leaves us over weighted with five pounds of dreaded sugar mass. We count the months before the next Christmas season arrives so we indulge in the wonderful cookie experience all over again!
As I think about my childhood days, I can look back and see the affect of our “baking cookies” experience on my life. Between getting down and dirty and rushing to the oven to see who can eat the first cookie, my family gets closer every winter. It seems as if each of our personalities is an ingredient blended together to make a warm, loving, impassioned life of a cookie. No matter how much stress any of us endures, we can always relax our minds and sigh a huge breath of relief when we gather to bake luscious cookies for the Christmas holiday. Make sure you add pictures to my blog the next time you have a memorable “cookie baking” experience like my family does every year!