secrets to an award winning cookie

at work each year we make cookies, have a cookie swap for ourselves and then box up goodies for faculty and staff to be nice/bribe them to be nice to us the rest of the year. we also have a contest to see who baked the best cookie, fun is had by all and you get to go home with an assortment of goodies.

two years ago i made these reese's peanut butter cup cookies that one first place! if you know me, this was a feat two years ago because that was probably the first thing in 2008 i cooked.

1st place winners

last year we didn't have the cookie exchange, but this year we did. i decided to go for my old standard. call me a cheater, i call myself resourceful :) one slight problem, i couldn't find the recipe! i looked for literally hours, sad i know, but couldn't find it!

i settled on this peanut butter cup cookie recipe from allrecipes.com, with 1,600 5 star reviews i thought i couldn't go wrong, so i thought. when they were done they didn't look as good as the other ones but they would have to do. well, what do you know these cookies took 3rd place overall and were the only cookie in the top three so i say they won first in the cookie division :)

i'm still looking for that first place recipe and i am determined to find it, but until then i will share my secrets on how to bake award winning cookies:

1) choose an easy recipe. don't spend hours breaking candy canes to make perfect peppermint fudge. go with easy favorites, for some reason at christmas it get's peoples attention.

2) put candy in your cookies. people will be distracted by the candy goodness and won't notice if you didn't put the right amount of flour in them.

3) use a kitchen aid mixer if you are lucky enough to have one. it does all the work and you get all the credit

my secret weapon

the first place winner was a brickle made out of saltines and chocolate, i'm telling you go with easy favorites and you are sure to win!

the best way to spread christmas cheer...

is singing loud for all to hear of course! that, and an ornament swap!

i stumbled upon southern weddings when i was engaged and it was love at first sight. this creative team knows weddings, are full of charm, and somehow keep me checking their blog daily even though i've been married for a year and a half :)

not only do they highlight the prettiest weddings you've ever seen, they take southern hospitality to the next step, enter an ornament swap! all interested sent in their addresses then you receive addresses of 3 others to send an ornament to. handmade or store bought you get to spread christmas cheer!

i decided to go the martha stewart route. if anyone knows homemade ornaments it's martha!

i used beaucoup coupons at michael's to get a ridiculous assortment of glitter and the snowflake punch. oh, and martha makes glue with a brush included which is cheaper than buying glue and brush separately, this woman knows her audience! instructions courtesy of martha stewart living.

a work in progress. in true lauren fashion i did not read the instructions carefully and glittered each side separately which caused uneven glitter. also i didn't use colored cardstock as instructed. oh well, no two snowflakes are alike right?

the finished product! i used ribbon instead of string to add my own little touch. it was so fun mailing these off to people i don't know! something about spreading cheer is pretty cheery itself :)

o tannenbaum

i love christmas trees. while there are different thoughts to their meaning and origination, they originated in germany so that's enough for me.

to me they represent tradition, continuity, and remembrance. remembrance literally by the memories each ornaments bring or family traditions around them, but also a reminder of continuity and hope. that year after year you can see them during this time of year where we remember not only the first coming of our King, but the second.

either way you look at it, i love them. i am a colored lights girl myself, i like a tree with as much color and handmade ornaments as possible. one day i do hope to have a two tree house, in which one can be elegant and one forever childlike as i like it.

my aunt has two trees up this year, one white lighted, one colored, for me to enjoy. the highlight of my week however, was when my sweet husband bought me a tabletop tree for our room because he knows how much i love them, and we made that little tree as tacky as possible :) to quote mr. d "i like this tree. it's a little lost, kind of like us right now."

colored or white lighted, o christmas tree, o christmas tree, your branches green delight us.