LadyGypsy's Cookie-Rama 2002!

Thank you
Firstly, thank you ALL for your support thru cookiecam. My dear grandmother died on November 22 -- a week before Thanksgiving. This Christmas season was very hard for us all, for MomMom was truly the center of our family. So to keep myself busy, I threw myself into cookiebaking. I wanted to accomplish what my own Mom did so many years ago when I was a child -- bake containers and containers of cookies to give to family and friends. And maybe, in a subconscious way, give honor to MomMom, who also would bake her way through every holiday.

I turned the webcam on me as a joke, and Cookiecam was born. I don't know how many people visited yet (because the people at BlueDomino, my webhost, haven't updated my stats since 12/15 -- and have yet to respond to my emails) but I know from my email that I reached family and friends, coworkers and strangers.

It turned out that I baked more than I ever had. I kept filling container after container of cookies. Even after giving cookies away at work, sending some off in the mail, and bringing trays to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner, I have dozens left over. MomMom would have loved the After Dinner Mints (crumbly as though they were) and the Peanut Brittle. I'd like to think that she's smiling upon her geeky granddaughter who mixed some HTML code, a webcam, flour and butter, and ended up with something truly magical.

Final Cookie Tally
After Dinner Mints
Chocolate Chip Cookies (2)
Chocolate Crinkles (2)
Chocolate Molded Candy
Chocolate Spritz
Cookie Trees
Diamond Santas
Gingerbread people
Peanut Brittle (2)
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Peanut Butter Cookies
Pizzelles (4)
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Oatmeal Scotchies
Snickerdoodles (2)
Spritz
Sugar Cutout cookies (3)

Recap
Click here if you want to read my day-by-day log of CookieRama 2002, or here if you want to read the story I wrote for the Courier-Post about my exploits

Expository
Eleven months out of the year I am an underachiever who lets George Foreman do most of her cooking. But come December, I hear the call of the kitchen. I dust off my cookbooks, tie up my apron, and bake cookies.

For the next three weeks, I will be up to my elbows in flour and shortening. I will mix, roll, cut, bake, frost, and sprinkle. I'll burn and be burned. All so that I can present cookies to friends and loved ones, packaged in gay (the original meaning, -- thankyouverymuch -- not that there's anything WRONG with that...) red and green containers or festive holiday plastic wrap.

I intend this year to be my most productive yet. Each afternoon I shall bake dough, and each evening I plan on mixing two more batches. Hopefully I can bake faster than the cookies are consumed.

Hey Lady, what's cooking?
Most of the cookies I'll be baking this year are from recipes I've used in the past. Every year I introduce a new recipe or two to see what kind of reception they get. This year my new recipes are After Dinner Mint cookies, Diamond Santa cookies, and Oatmeal Scotchies. In addition to those cookies, I'll be baking snickerdoodles, chocolate chip cooies, oatmeal raisin cookies, spritz cookies, pizzelles, sugar cutout cookies and gingerbread cookies. If I'm still standing I'll make peanut brittle.

CookieCam FAQs

1. Where are you?
   If the cam says it's on, and I'm not in the picture, I'm, well...not in the kitchen. I may be answering email while cookies bake. I may be adjusting the cookiecam. I also have a geriatric diabetic dog on fluid pills who hears Nature's call frequently. Be patient. I'll come back. If the cam's on and the kitchen's dark, I'm done baking, but am updating this page with my progress.
2. What are you wearing?
   That's a saucy question! I'm usually in a long sleeved t-shirt, jeans or shorts, and my green apron. Sometimes I wear a Santa Hat. Sometimes I wear Reindeer Antlers.
3. Who are you talking to?
   Either David or the pets. Or I could be singing along with my CDs. Sometimes you'll see me on the phone
4. Why?
   I ask myself that every day. When I find out I'll let you know.

   After Dinner Mint Cookies. I'm going to give these another shot.

   Finished Chocolate Chip Cookies. A classic!

   Diamond Santa. Too cute to eat? Never!

   A crowd favorite. I did a double batch of them on 12/8. I'll probably do another double batch before I'm done.

   Chocolate Crinkles. Not on my original list, but was next to Snickerdoodles in the cookbook so I gave them a whirl.

   Oatmeal Scotchies. Another new endeavor.

   David's favorite.

   Raw pizzelles.

   Finished pizzelles. Buon Natale!

   Spritz cookies.

   More snickerdoodles.

   Oatmeal Raisin cookies!

   Peanut Butter Blossoms. Hopefully they harden.

   Sugar Cutout Cookies. #(&%(^#(Q&(#!!

   Al and Nick from the Courier-Post took my pictures on 12/16. I sent some cookies off with them. :)

   Al from the Courier-Post takes my picture on 12/16 as I pretend to remove cookies from the oven.

   THIS time, I conquered the Sugar Cutout cookies, AND made more chocolate crinkles.

   Decorating the gingerbread people.

   Day 1, 12/05/02
   5:57 - Start mixing After Dinner Mint Cookies
   6:21 - Put ADMs into fridge to chill
   6:22 - Start mixing Diamond Santas
   6:38 - DSs in fridge to chill overnight
   7:04 - ADMs rolled, put into fridge to chill overnight
   Ingredients needed to purchase tomorrow: Powdered sugar, butter, butterscotch morsels

   Day 2, 12/06/02 -- "What the hell's wrong with my batter?"
   4:30 - decided to configure cookie cam.
   4:55 - Cookie Cam was live!
   5:05 - Began to slice first chilled roll of ADM. Roll is VERY crumbly. Damn...this isn't good.
   5:10 - 1st deformed crumbled batch of ADM in oven
   5:18 - 1st ADM batch out of oven. Still deformed.
   5:23 - 2nd even more crumbly batch of ADM in oven.
   5:24 - begin mixing batter for chocolate chip cookies. WTF? Batter is NOT working out...crud.
   5:30 - 2nd ADM batch out. Rest of chilled roll crumbles beyond recognition.
   5:51 - Throw out malformed Chocolate Chip Batter. Quit for day.

   Day 3, 12/07/02 -- "Showing the dough who's boss..."
   12:12 - start chocolate chip cookie batter -- take two
   12:41 - done mixing...clean cookie sheets from last night
   1:02 - choc chip batch 1 in oven
   1:17 - cc1 out, cc2 in
   1:27 - cc2 out, cc3 in
   1:39 - cc3 out, cc4 in
   1:48 - cc4 out
   2:30 - start rolling Diamond Santas...cut into diamond shapes (duh!)
   2:33 - Diamond Santa batch 1 in oven
   2:41 - DS1 out
   2:46 - DS2 in
   2:53 - DS2 out
   --break--
   5:25 - DS3 in
   5:32 - DS3 out
   5:36 - DS4 in
   5:43 - DS4 out; start decoration process
   6:45 - done decoration; mild cleanup

   Day 4, 12/08/02 - "Rolling, rolling, rolling, keep dem cookies rolling"
   12:28 - start mixing double batch of snickerdoodles
   12:48 - snickerdoodles in fridge to chill for a few hours
   1:10 - start mixing chocolate crinkles
   1:37 - chocolate crinkles into fridge to chill
   8:42 - start rolling snickerdoodles
   9:12 - SN1 in oven
   9:23 - SN1 out, SN2 in
   9:33 - SN2 out, SN3 in; start rolling chocolate crinkles
   9:43 - SN3 out
   9:48 - ChCr1 in
   9:58 - ChCr1 out; ChCr2 in
   10:08 - ChCr2 out; let dog out
   10:16 - ChCr3 in
   10:19 - remainder of ChCrs rolled
   10:24 - ChCr3 our; ChCr4 in
   10:33 - ChCr4 out; cleanup
   First package of cookies sent to Our Lady of Lourdes Pharmacy

   Day 5, 12/09/02
   7:30 - start mixing Oatmeal Scotchies (requested by Clark. Clark once painted his self-portrait with his own blood. So if Clark wants Scotchies...Clark gets scotchies....)
   8:12 - OS1 in oven
   8:22 - OS1 out, OS2 in
   8:31 - OS2 out, OS3 in
   8:40 - OS3 out, OS4 in
   8:49 - OS4 out, OS5 in
   8:56 - OS5 out, cleanup
   (note: Feeling a bit under the weather, so only did one batch today.)

   Day 6, 12/10/02
   4:45 pm - start mixing Peanut Butter Cookies. (David's favorite)
   5:09 - PB1 in oven
   5:18 - PB1 out; PB2 in
   5:27 - PB2 out; PB3 in
   5:36 - PB3 out; make second batch since I KNOW this first one will go quickly
   5:51 - PB4 in
   5:59 - PB4 out; PB5 in
   6:08 - PB5 out; PB6 in
   6:17 - PB6 out...hm...what to make now?
   6:38 - Begin mixing Pizzelles. Playing "Domenic the Donkey" in the background
   7:18 - First two pizzelles on pizzelle iron. It takes 1 minute, 20 seconds for my pizzelle iron to cook two pizzelles
   8:05 pm - Finish pizzelles...begin cleanup
   Second package of cookies sent to Our Lady of Lourdes Pharmacy
   First package ready to take to Courier-Post tomorrow morning

   Day 7, 12/11/02
   4:31 pm - start mixing Spritz cookies. This is a very soft dough that is put into a cookie press...you put different metal discs on the end of the press to make different cookie shapes. Remember Play-Doh?
   5:09 - Spritz 1 in oven
   5:18 - SP2 out, SP2 in
   5:26 - SP2 out, SP3 in
   5:35 - SP3 out, SP4 in
   5:44 - SP4 out, SP5 in
   5:53 - SP5 out, SP6 in
   6:02 - SP6 out, SP7 in
   6:11 - SP7 out, mild cleanup
   (done for day)

   Day 8, 12/12/02
   3:00 pm - clean up from last night
   3:10 - start mixing second batch of Snickerdoodles
   3:44 - put snickerdoodles into fridge to chill
   3:45 - start mixing ORC. ORC? Oh wait, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
   4:13 - OR1 in oven
   4:23 - OR1 out, OR2 in
   4:34 - OR2 out, OR3 in
   4:46 - OR3 out, OR4 in
   4:55 - ORC 4 out
   4:57 - SN1 in
   5:07 - SN1 out, SN2 in
   5:17 - SN2 out, SN3 in
   5:28 - SN3 out, SN4 in
   5:37 - SN4 out, SN5 in
   I'm probably done for the night...I'm making fabulous progress!
   First cookie package brought to Mom's.

   Day 9, 12/13/02 -- Is Friday the 13th a good day to bake?
   4:45 pm - figure out what to bake
   4:47 - start mixing batch of sugar cut-out cookies
   5:10 - put dough into fridge to chill

   Day 10, 12/16/02 -- ?#$*&^!@
   3:20 pm - begin mixing Peanut Butter Blossoms during photo shoot
   4:01 - PBB1 in oven
   4:11 - PBB1 out; PBB2 in
   4:22 - PBB2 out; PBB3 in
   4:32 - PBB3 out; PBB4 in
   4:44 - PBB4 out; PBB5 in
   4:45 - start rolling Sugar Cutout Cookies
   4:53 - PBB5 out
   5:07 - SCC1 in
   5:18 - SCC1 out
   5:22 - SCC2 in
   5:29 - SCC2 out; SCC3 in
   5:37 - SCC3 out; chef frustrated and throws out remainder of SCC dough.

   Day 11, 12/17/02
   4:22 pm - cleanup from last night's tantrum
   4:31 - start ANOTHER batch of sugar cutout cookies (look up masochism)
   4:48 - SCC in fridge to chill (2 to 3 hours)
   4:54 - start Chocolate Crinkles
   5:11 - Put ChCr in fridge to chill (about an hour)
   5:28 - Head to Applebee's for dinner. I'd cook, but all I have here is cookie fixin's. --
   7:55 - start rolling and cutting SCC
   8:11 - SCC1 in oven
   8:20 - SCC1 out; SCC2 in
   8:29 - SCC2 out
   8:32 - SCC3 in; start mixing and tinting frosting
   8:40 - SCC3 out; SCC4 in
   8:48 - SCC4 out; start rolling Chocolate Crinkles
   8:58 - ChCR1 in; start decorating cooled SCCs
   9:07 - ChCr1 out; ChCr2 in
   9:18 - ChCr2 out; ChCr3 in
   9:27 - ChCr3 out; take break to continue decorating SCCs
   9:46 - ChCr4 in
   9:53 - ChCr4 out, ChCr5 in, start cleanup
   10:01 - ChCr5 out, cleanup.

   Day 12, 12/18/02 -- Fame!
   8:00 pm - Start mixing chocolate spritz
   8:12 - CSp1 in oven
   8:20 - CSp1 out; CSp2 in
   8:28 - CSp2 out; CSp3 in
   8:35 - CSp3 out; CSp4 in
   8:42 - CSp4 out, CSp5 in
   -- Gotta do something at 9 pm -- Cookiecam will be live again tomorrow afternoon!

   Day 13, 12/19/02 -- Lazy Day!
   4:15 pm - light kitchen cleanup
   4:45 - mix sugar cookie cutouts
   5:15 - put sugar cookie cutouts in fridge to chill

   Day 14, 12/20/02 -- #$(*^#*(&#!
   9:00 pm - begin rolling/cutting sugar cookies 9:05 pm - first crumbly batch in oven 9:12 pm - first crumbly batch OUT of oven. Decide to abort and make peanut brittle instead
   9:29 - Corn syrup/sugar/butter mixture on stove
   10:03 - Mixture hits 275 degrees, add peanuts 10:16 - start pizzelle iron...make pizzelles at rate of 2 every minute
   10:15 - Peanut brittle hits 295 degrees, mix in baking soda, spread on cookie sheets to cool
   10:43 - finish pizzelles...update website and enter Asheron's Call for Aerlinthe quest.
   

   Day 15, 12/23/02 -- (I'm getting tired of this)
   4:20 - start mixing gingerbread dough
   4:34 - chill gingerbread; start mixing cutout mix for cookie trees
   5:10 - cutout dough in fridge to chill
   5:11 - start chocolate chips
   5:14 - realize I'm out of vanilla. Grrrrrrrr......
   5:15 - head to Genuardis for vanilla, butter, and eggs
   6:10 - $69.00 later, return from Genuardis with vanilla, butter, eggs, and other stuff
   6:44 - chocolate chip 1 in oven; start mixing peanut brittle
   6:55 - cc1 out, cc2 in; peanut brittle on stove
   7:03 - cc2 out, cc3 in
   7:13 - cc3 out, cc4 in
   7:21 - cc5 out, cc6 in
   7:29 - cc6 out, cc7 in (gosh, this batch is huge)
   7:37 - cc out
   7:50 - peanut brittle done and cooling; start rolling/cutting gingerbread folks
   8:17 - GB1 in
   (ok...I lost track here...let's just assume I spent the next HOUR baking and decorating gingerbread people. I only amputated a few limbs)
   10:00 - start melting chocolate pellets for candy molds
   10:20 - candy molds in fridge
   10:30 - kitchen closed
   

   Day 16, 12/24/02 -- (The end!)
   Well, I didn't really keep time track of what I did today. I did make a regular batch of pizzelles and a sugar-free batch, and a batch of sugar cutout cookies, some of which went toward the cookie tree. Frosted 'em, too.

   Cookie Scoreboard
   Date	Batches attempted	Work Completed	Cookie damage	Personal Damage
   12/05/02	After Dinner Mint Cookies Diamond Santas	Both doughs mixed and chilled	None	Large green food-coloring blotch on left hand. It's not coming off.
   12/06/02	After Dinner Mint Cookies Chocolate Chip Cookies	ADM's cooked.	ADMs crumbled. Batter for Chocolate Chip fails to congeal.	Only my wounded pride. Green blotch JUSt about faded.
   12/07/02	Chocolate Chip Cookies Complete Diamond Santas	Both batches baked and DS decorated	None! :)	Slightly burned left index finger while removing hot cookies from cookie sheet. No lasting mark. Green blotch gone.
   12/08/02	Snickerdoodles Chocolate Crinkles	Both batches mixed and baked	None! :)	None!
   12/09/02	Oatmeal Scotchies	Mixed and baked	Some scotchies crumbled because I waited too long to take them from the cookie sheet.	Wayward hot butterscotch morsel (sounds like the beginning of a personal ad) adhered to right pinky finger. No lasting marks.
   12/10/02	Peanut Butter Cookies Pizzelles	All cookies mixed and baked.	First six pizzelles were 'test' pizzelles to make sure I was putting the right amount of batter on the iron. Dropped one peanut butter cookie in oven.	None! :)
   12/11/02	Spritz Cookies	Cookies mixed and baked.	Some cookies are deformed because I pushed too much dough through the press at once. You won't understand this at all unless you've used a cookie press!	None! :)
   12/12/02	Snickerdoodles Oatmeal Raisin	Cookies mixed and baked.	Oatmeal Raisin cookies seem a bit...fat. I always remembered them thinner. This isn't really damage, but an observation. Fat cookies.	None! :)
   12/13/02	Sugar Cutout Cookies	Cookies mixed.	None! :)	None! :)
   12/16/02	Peanut Butter Blossoms	PBB mixed and baked, SCC baked.	Where DO I start? Well, during the photo shoot, I became a bit flustered and couldn't find my 1/2 cup scoop. No biggie, I'll just use the 1/4 cup twice. Well, I used the 1/3 cup twice instead. So the cookies are VERY peanut buttery, but taste good. Kitchen smells like roasted peanuts. The Hershey kisses I pushed into the middle of each cookie are taking forever to harden back up. Some of them got a bit...um...dinged. It's now almost 2 hours since the first batch has been out and they're STILL soft. Dunno how I'll store them. I'll leave them on racks for a while. Fact: I hate cut-out cookies. This has been a disaster. Angels decapitated, bells cracked, santas eviscerated. And don't even ask about the stockings. I suppose it's because the dough was made on Friday, and even though it's supposed to hold up in the fridge for a week, I guess it dried out too much. I'm supposed to get 48 cookies from the batch. I ended up with less than HALF that. Grrrr. If I were *only* a drinking woman....	Wounded pride, beginnings of ulcer.
   12/17/02	Sugar Cutout Cookies, take two Chocolate Crinkles (batch 2)	All cookies mixed and baked. Cutout cookies decorated.	No damage! Tonight's recipe went much better than last night's. I think the fresher dough was key. I need to purchase a new kitchen timer. Mine is making grinding noises and occasionally forgets to ring when time's up. That could pose a problem.	None! Butterflies in stomach over story in Courier-Post tomorrow. Now the tri-county area will KNOW I'm a loon.
   12/18/02	Chocolate Spritz	Cookies mixed and baked.	None! :) Will shop tomorrow for new timer.	None!
   12/19/02	Sugar cutout cookies (again)	Cookies mixed and chilling.	None! :)	None!
   12/20/02	Cutout Cookies; Peanut Brittle; Pizzelles	Some cutout cookies baked. Mixture too crumbly to continue. Kim suffers another cookie defeat. Peanut brittle cooked. Pizzelles baked.	Dropped candy thermometer into corn syrup/sugar mixture. Mixture fine, candy thermometer ruined. Had to use backup thermometer.	Hot melted butter splashed onto right forearm. Singed left middle finger on pizzelle iron.
   12/23/02	Gingerbread people, cutout cookies, chocolate chips, peanut brittle, candy molds	Gingerbread, chocolate chips, peanut brittle, candy molds completed. Cutout dough (for cookie trees) chilling overnight	Amputated a few gingerbread legs. Waiting for frosting to harden. Broke candy thermometer 2 whilst cleaning kitchen yesterday. Purchased non-breakable metal candy thermometer. Unfortunately, it DOESN'T WORK!	Developing nice scar from pizzelle iron burn on left middle finger. At this time of night, I'm willing to show it to anyone who asks. >:)
   12/24/02	Pizzelles, sugar cutout cookies, cookie tree	Baked pizzelles and cookies from last night.	Burnt 4 pizzelles through two bathroom breaks. ;)	None, though I think the scar on my left middle finger will forever remind me of Cookiecam.