“The RoseBouquet”

Are you into your Christmas baking already too? I do NOT do it on the scale that some women I know go at it, but at Western Tract Mission we are having a Christmas party tomorrow for our volunteers, office staff and Board members. It happens to be the day we do the collating and labeling for mailing of the fourth issue of Reflections for this year. Since we already have them in the office building, we have for a few years now, turned the noon hours into a Christmas party.

Instead of everyone bringing a little gift for exchange, the Director asks them all to bring a money gift for a project. The other year it was our missionaries in Alberta. This year, (he asked my permission), he has made me the gift project!

Wow, eh?

So I decided the least I could do is bring some Christmas baking to share with everyone. Now, I enjoy baking to a degree, but I’m not one of those with a magic touch. Sometimes I succeed, and sometimes I have to eat up my mistakes.

I decided to start last week over my supper times in the kitchen at home, so if one batch didn’t work out, I could try again.

First, a batch of mom’s recipe for cream cookies. That’s a favourite in many Mennonite families. However, I didn’t have enough white flour so I added my whole wheat flour, which I prefer, and they do not look so downy white, although if I ice them tonight and put some coconut on top - they may do.

Then I tried a recipe for a Christmas cake that both Mom and Dad had agreed was the best they’d ever had when I first tried it at home. Well, I think it tastes okay, but it doesn’t look so great. Maybe that had better get some icing tonight too.

Sunday night I tried those famous Neiman Marcus cookies. You’ve probably received that popular internet forward (a fabricated urban legend!) which tells the story of the woman who was charged something like $250 for a cookie recipe in that high class store. For revenge it was spread it all over the internet. I’ve used it a number of times, and it is a rich, decadent cookie, so I went at it with pleasure. (NeimanMarcus.com And - Hoax-Slayer.com/neiman-marcus-cookie.html )

Unfortunately, in my notes I had divided the flour into 2 cups regular flour and 2 1/2 cups of oat flour. Somehow I forgot to mix the first two cups of flour in, and when I pulled the first cookie sheet out at the bell - oh no! They had spread and joined together to form one giant thin, bubbly and fine smelling cookie!

I scored the cookie with my lifter into squares and as it cooled, I bunched each square together with my fingers to form a lumpy cookie.

I’d quickly removed some from the second sheet, but much the same thing happened, except that they didn’t join.

Then it hit me. I’d forgotten two cups of flour. No wonder all that margarine and sugar, with the white chocolate chunks, and smarties, and so forth was all runny. While I scurried about to open a new sack of whole wheat flour and pour into some pails with lids, that second sheet of cookies turned hard. When I got back to it I found myself scraping hardened candy like stuff off the sheet.

So I turned to put flour into the rest of the dough, but forgot that I had already removed some for the first two sheets full. I should have reduced the flour proportionately. I decided that I was tired of making mistakes, and put the dough away in the fridge in a covered bowl.

Last night I tackled finishing them. I can tell that they would be better if they didn’t have quite so much flour, but they are passable. I’ll have to tell the story of how I got the recipe to make up for not having perfect-looking cookies. The taste is okay.

Now, question is, dare I press on with my idea of baking jars full of peppernuts to give away as gifts? For those I have almost a month’s time.