We all have an agenda. Today, I'm not going to think too much about mine; I'm just going to do it. My daughter will be coming over and we'll start to let the flour fly. This early baking spree will be for a platoon of soldiers newly stationed in Iraq. There are 50 or so men and women who will be the recipients of chocolate chip and Heath Candy crunch cookies. For most of them, this will be their first holiday season away from home. If we're ambitious enough, there will be Christmas cut out cookies too. We'll throw a can or two of frosting in so the soldiers can frost their own.
I wanted to make pizzelles too but when my mom passed away, the chef someone took her good pizzelle iron. Here I have the recipe, but no iron. Well, I have an iron but it's the stovetop variety which would come in handy if I didn't have electricity and a time machine to take me back about 100 years. I want an electric iron. I found one or two on Amazon that look decent and now I just have to decide which one. My mom had quite a knack for making these and until I baked them with her one year, I never really appreciated how much work went into these tasty morsels. Incredibly, she used to make the dough by hand. It's some thick dough. She was so happy when I got my Kitchen Aid. On Thanksgiving, she'd come to dinner with her ingredients for pizzelles. After we ate, we'd make her dough in the mixer which she'd take home and bake into cookies. She used to make them for days, spacing the task out. Maybe she didn't want to wear herself out. Maybe she wanted to savor this annual tradition. Maybe, it was a little of both.
4 comments:
Flying flour sounds like fun. Throw in some good music and laughs to go with it...sounds great. I had to look up pizzelles. I had never heard of them. I will be nosy and ask how you will be able to pack the cookies so they arrive in one piece. I remember wanting to send things like that overseas when I was younger and not being able to figure out how to get it packaged well enough. Just curious. Have a great day!
One site recommends shipping cookies in pringles cans Brenda. I think we'll pack them in bags with something to cushion them. I need to come up with something so there isn't a lot of waste on the receiving end. Maybe plain, real air popped popcorn would do the trick. Since we're sending toiletries too, I need to figure how to get them there so they don't smell and taste like aftershave. My mom used to store her pizzelles in coffee cans. I buy my coffee in a bag now so that won't help. I welcome all suggestions.
Wow, I just had an idea. I have been saving Tasters Choice instant coffee containers for awhile now, mainly because the container is so well made, I hate to throw it away. It has a wide top opening for cookies. I will start putting them in a box and ship them to you, if this is something you do annually. Just a thought. May be too late this year for you.
What a wonderful thing to do. Also, what a fun and special day for you, the great memories you are making.
Someone gave me a gift of pizzelles several years ago. I had never had them before, but once I tasted them, I was hooked. So GOOD. I always wondered about how they were made.
Anyway, what a beautiful thing to be doing for those men and women, away from their families. Pure goodness.
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