Did you ever have something you ate that haunted you? Something so mind bendingly delicious that the longing and the aching for it till you get it again are so strong that if you ever think about it, you end up not being able to STOP thinking about it? I am sure that most of us have a handful of those things. This is one of mine. When I worked outside of the home, I worked in food service for the most part, and even an office in food service I found way more enjoyable that just a “regular” office job. The perks (mostly the food) and lack of boredom (no rest when dealing with the hungry) made up for anything negative you might think of when you think of food service. For my part, I really just LOVE it. I left an office job when I was 20 to work at a grinder place for much less money because I was about to go postal in that office. It’s not for me. My first job was in a dish room and if I had that job for the rest of my life I don’t think I would complain much.
Anyhoo, I worked at a couple of colleges that contracted out food service. One place in particular gave me two recipes that still haunt me. One was a cake that every year I try to make and ALWAYS fail at. Although, if not for trying I wouldn’t have come up with this cake. The other recipe turned out to be these cookies. I pinned these awhile back in the hopes that they would be what I was looking for. As I was making them and the first few made it out of the oven, I immediately sent a message to my old boss letting her know that I found them! Our chef, Henning would make them and then freeze them (which is why I decided to use these for the exchange) and we would package them up and give them out when important people were visiting campus and such. The first Christmas after we moved away, I was lucky enough to be a recipient. He would also NEVER divulge the recipe! Well, he he he, I found them and I am letting everyone know! I made these for The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2012 and I hope that the people I sent them to (Lizy B, Amy at CakeStar, and Anne at Bakin’ Friends) liked them just as much as I do.
Now onto the cookies I received…First was from Rachel at Kvell in the Kitchen and her Whiskey Ginger Cookies. Now I am not the biggest ginger fan (and OK you’d never know it if you read my last post) but the whiskey and raisins whiskey soaked cherries in them made them a winner for me. And I hope the whiskey baked all out because my son was a huge fan of these as well!
The second cookie I received was Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies from white & dorky chef. Again, chocolate chunks aren’t my favorite (I prefer less chocolate chips or chunks actually) but this one just worked. I LOVE using oatmeal in cookies so this one was a no brainer. The overall effect of this recipe is a 100% sure crowd pleaser. This recipe is absolutely going on my “to bake” list of Christmas cookies.
The last cookies I got were from Carroll of Vanilla Lemonade. The best chocolate cookie that I have had in awhile. There were raisins cherries in these too! It was a nice little surprise. Also the chocolate chips/chunks that were in them seemed to be on the dark side which just made this one of the most decadent cookies ever. I just lucked out with all of these ladies.
Because of the fact that I am a known procrastinator, it became priority #1 to get these out before the December 5th deadline so I did get a little crazy stressed about doing it right and on time. I barely missed the blog requirements last year so I had been looking forward to it this year. Next time I hope to be a little more prepared and I am really looking forward to participating again. I had a really great time looking at some new blogs and trying some new cookies. If you have a blog and would like to join us next year please sign up for Cookie Swap Notifications. A big thank you to Lindsay, from Love and Olive Oil and Julie from The Little Kitchen for putting this whole thing together and organizing it and making it fun!
A couple of small GeekyLinks for you today. First off is a little info about Wear Star Wars Day on December 14th. Now I don’t think I have any Star Wars shirts (shame on me) but any sci-fi shirt will do and I haven’t donated any toys for Christmas yet this year and now I know what kind of present to give. Also, click on How Many People Are In Space Right Now? to find out exactly that.
* NerdyBaker * 