COOKIES!!!

This is our 1963 Betty Crocker Cookie Book. There is a little story behind this...my mom won the 'Betty Crocker Award' when she was in highschool in the 60's...( we still tease her about it!) and this is the cookie book that I remember her using when I was a little girl. Well, in the mid-nineties...she and my step-dad lost everything in a hurricane on the North Carolina shore where they lived...including this book. It was out of print by this time, and I found her a used copy...and was so thrilled to be able to give it to her. Of course, I had to get my own copy as well. Now, they have re-published it and you can buy it at any Barnes and Noble or Amazon...It has become a tradition that ever young lady in our family must have her own copy when she gets married...and I sometimes give them as bridal shower gifts or birthday gifts for hopechests as well. So.....the chocolate cookies below are from this cookie book called "Chocolate Crinkles"...these are the ones I remember the most my mom making when I was a little girl. The other cookies that are on this plate are my grandmothers "iced orange cookies"...they taste like little iced orange cakes and always remind me of my Gram!




These cut out cookies below are my maternal grandmothers recipe...buttery and crunchy...they are delicious! We used the 'paintbox cookie' recipe from the book to paint them instead of icing them...the kids had so much fun painting their cookies...and I was thrilled not to have any more sugary icing! The little gingerbread man was Anna's...she is so proud of him!

After a fun afternoon visiting one of our favorite families, the Skiles family...we had some old friends over to help us cut out and paint the cookies. These two young ladies have been friends since birth...as my friend Jamie and I lived across the street from each other and were expecting together.

Below is my friend Jamie rolling out and cutting out the cookies...it's been a while since she has done this...and what fun we had talking the night away while the kids had fun painting their cookies! What precious memories were made today! We're so grateful for the wonderful friends the Lord has blessed us with....old friends and new.

This was Anna's first year being quite so involved in the cookie process at Christmas time...I think she is a natural! She loved it!!!

Here are our finished products!!! Don't the painted cookies look pretty?! I was extremely blessed by a very generous friend today who blessed me with quite a bit of pecans....with the price of pecans right now, I thought that I would have to forego one of my favorite cookies, Pecan Tassies...I'm not sure if they will get made by Christmas...but I can guarantee they will be baked by Sunday! I love those cookies! God has also worked thru this generous friend before and again today by her blessing us with packages of organic beef...my favorite cuts, as well! I'm glad that he created us to have opposite tastes...and that he has blessed her with a generous heart...thank you, my friend!

Now...it's off for a well-earned rest. Meghan just finished sewing her gifts for Ronnie and Anna, Sara wrapped a gift for me, the coffee maker is set and we are all off to bed.

Tomorrow....Blintzes! I am so very blessed to have my older daughters helping me and doing things together...it makes the tasks go quicker and more fun to do them together with Meghan and Sara and tomorrow they will be doing a lot of wrapping for me...thank goodness...I don't know what I would do without them!

So to all....a Goodnight! ~Sue~