Back in August my place of employment was preparing to celebrate its 30th year anniversary of being in business. I let myself get caught up in the excitement of it all and decided to contribute to the festivities by baking cookies. A lot of cookies. And not just any cookies, but cookies in the shape of the company logo.
To get started, I needed a custom cookie cutter. Sure, sure, I could have used a paper template and traced the custom shape out with a knife for each and every cookie, but I opted for something that would make the process a bit more efficient. I attempted using materials found around the house to make the cutter before discovering and purchasing this kit.
With icing bags, food coloring, and cookie cutter in hand, I did a test run two weekends prior to the celebratory event. Following the lead of the queen of cookies at Bake at 350 (I stumbled on that site a little while ago and have been itching for an excuse to make fancy cookies), I baked and iced one batch of cookies. They didn't look the best, but I figured my shaky hands just needed more practice.
The weekend before the event I started baking and decorating. . .
. . . and baking and decorating. . .
. . . and baking and decorating. You get the idea.
All during the three days of hunching over platefuls of cookies I kept questioning whether or not I was being ridiculous for trying to make 400+ cookies in just a few short days. I had arguments with myself to prepare for the questioning I was sure to receive upon bringing in container after container of cookies.
I figured the one question that would be asked the most would be "Why?" And my answer? I wanted to see if I could.
Sometimes you (maybe it's just me, who knows) just need to set a ridiculous goal and push yourself to try to accomplish it. Most of the time when I set lofty goals I never reach them. I believe I fell a few dozen batches short of my 400+ mark, but I'm still proud of making and decorating 300+ cookies over the course of a few days.
On the day of the event I packed all the thawed cookies in one big tupperware container and brought them down to one of the food distribution points. As people began filling seats and grabbing desserts, I kept hearing compliments about the look and taste of the cookies.
I think the highest compliment received was that the cookies put a special touch on the event. I'm glad they were received well enough that none of the cookies came back home. It was certainly fun learning how to manipulate a new medium as well as creating a mass quantity of hand made somethings.
