A Wonderful Cookie Bakeoff

It's so hard to believe that the calendar has already rolled over into December, but with it comes the fun of prepping for the season and that means our annual cookie bakeoff. For at least 20 years now we've been getting together to bake for a day and it just seems to get better and better. The faces change a bit from year to year (we missed you this year, Jane) but the love and laughter is a constant. It was Chantal's 'rookie year' and she proved to be a natural!

Our happy hostess met us at the door at 8:30 am and we were off to the races.

















Things fall into place fairly quickly as stations are set up for mixing, rolling, decorating, packing and cleanup. In no time at all the butter and sugar begin to fly - it's a well-oiled machine.

I tend to be a creature of habit, selecting favourites to bake every year but Stephanie always has a great new recipe or two to try out. Her snowmen were a real hit and look adorable in the tins.

She also gave us a tutorial on making her fabulous cheese crackers, which I have never been able to get the hang of. Might not be a good thing as they are totally addictive.

The decorating crew always rises to the occasion, creating masterpieces with their finishing touches...

almost too good to eat (almost!).

They are masters of royal icing and crystallized sugar!

Many hands make light work and before long tins begin to be filled.

Betty tracks our production as the tins get pack and the tally for this year was 1,709, which might be close to a record. It sounds like a lot (and it is!) but gets divided up for 8 households so we each left with three yummy tins filled to the brim.

The oven was shut off and the cars packed up by 6:30 pm and everyone headed home with their load of goodies (rumour has it that Lori was taste testing all the way home, and she has a three hour drive...).

Everything that came home has passed the inspection of the Official Cookie Tester and he's already planning to enjoy a few with a cup of hot chocolate this afternoon. I think those tins better get into the freezer soon if we plan to still have some left to enjoy over the holidays.

Thanks everyone for keeping this tradition alive and for an absolutely wonderful day. It's the perfect launch to my Christmas and I'm already looking forward to next year....M