Cookie Day 2021
Yes, Food It Yourself Cookie Day 2021 has happened. My family firmly believes that Christmas is the cookie holiday, so we always make an assortment. This year, my sister (Syllie), my dad, and I made some old-fashioned snickerdoodles, Scottish shortbread (the real deal made of only flour, butter and sugar), snowballs (a. k. a. Russian tea cakes a. k. a. Mexican wedding cakes) in an orange-pine nut variation, and Moravian spice cookies.
If this is your first time reading a Cookie Day edition of this blog, you need to understand that Moravian spice cookies- a super crispy, highly spiced gingerbread cookie- are an absolute must with my family at Christmas. We make a multitude of shapes, but there are always some gingerbread folk, which are given names and back stories as they are decorated. I wish I could define exactly how this tradition started. I simply do not know. All I know is that it is one of my favorite parts of Cookie Day.
This year had an added twist. Moravian spice cookie dough is notoriously temperamental. Sometimes it is crumbly when we roll it out; sometimes it is sticky. There is no way to predict exactly how the dough will behave. This year the dough seemed well behaved during rolling and cutting, but the cookies were extra brittle when baked. As a result, we had more broken cookies than normal. The camel situation would make a veteran veterinarian sweat. Don’t get me started on the folk. We made it work, however. Just look!
Dad had the idea to use a broken-off gingerbreadfolk foot as a neck brace for a camel. I liked the idea so much I gave it a try. See how happy Mr. Camel is? You know what else is making Mr. Camel happy?
Mr. Camel received compensation for is injury thanks to Attorney Keith Standowsky, personal injury specialist. “If you’ve got an ouchie, call Standowsky.”
Once again, Edna from accounting won the Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest. (The Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest winner is one of Syllie’s specialties!)
Dad made this cool Pirate dude, named Silverbelt. YAAARRRR!
After making Silverbelt, Dad was further inspired to make a Turanga Leela. (If you are not familiar with the show Futurama, you really should binge watch it.)
No, we could not get through the day without a dad joke. According to my Dad, this is “a one armed bandit”.
On the left, you can see a one-legged business man. Why is he one-legged? Look to the right and you will find he was attached by Sasquatch. (NEVER toss broken cookies. The cookies are fine if your imagination is not broken.)
This is Syllie’s creation: Corona Kevin. Be like Corona Kevin and wear your mask.
While making snickerdoodles it was mentioned that “snickerdoodle” sounded like a stripper name for an elf. This is Snickerdoodle Dough, the elven stripper. This was my idea. I take full responsibility.
Syllie went all Pintrest and made a gingerbreadfolk into a reindeer! His name is Zachary.
Inspired by Zachary the reindeer, my dad created this. If the last dad joke hurt, you might want to skip this one. This is “once in a blue moose”.
According to Syllie, this is Lars. He is a ski instructor.
We had so much fun with the gingerbread folk that we forgot to save one to make a zombie. So, we made a zombie Christmas tree. (If you have not read my Cookie Day posts before, the zombie is just a cookie decorated with all the sprinkles that fell on the table.)
As usual, my family had a wonderful time baking, decorating, chatting, and laughing together. What special (maybe a little weird) things does your family do to celebrate? Share in the comments!
PS: to see what Cookie Days Past have brought, click these links:
