The Great Cookie Swap of '09

The lovely and talented AlbanyJane @ http://albanyeats.blogspot.com hosted a cookie swap this past Sunday.

I was a cookie swap virgin up until the 13th. I drove Sexybeast insane pondering what to bake, how to store it, making sure I could double a recipe, etc. The man deserves to be canonized to put up w/ me.

In the end I found the perfect cookie, oatmeal chocolate chip pecan. I was really nervous because #1 i don't bake and #2 I wanted everything to be perfect perfect perfect.

As I don't own a Kitchen Aid (I WANT!), I borrowed my mother's Sunbeam hand mixer, which she received as a wedding shower gift in 1968.

OK, so, dry ingredients mixed together, wet ingredients in a separate bowl. The mixing of the wet worked perfectly. I enlisted Sexybeast's help slowly putting the dry into the wet. Hmm... why is this 42 y/o mixer going slower and slower. At which I gave up and mixed by hand.

I had no parchment paper, so I substituted w/ aluminium foil, which worked like a charm.

1st batch in the oven, perfecto. 2nd batch, hmm 3 cookies weren't baked fully. 3rd batch, mostly raw.

I got mad and the stress leaked onto Sexybeast. It finally sunk in that perhaps I should stop opening the oven door so much.

We had a fabulous time at the home of AlbanyJane & her husband AlbanyJohn & the little foster kitties. I almost fainted from cuteness overexposure! She baked a personal fave, candy cane cookies. And lilimonster of http://underthecoppertree.blogspot.com was also in attendance w/ her nummy num Filipino cookies (I lost count how many Sexybeast scarfed down!) And met many other cool peeps and tasty treats to boot. Twas a good day.

All the stress and worry has prepared me for my 2nd swap o' the season at the office this Friday.

Making chocolate dried fruit cookies. Details to follow.