Home Grown: Cookie Factory

Monday, December 7, 2009

Cookie Factory

We all know what the holidays mean...FOOD! And great food at that. It seems like all we do during the holiday time besides running around stores Christmas shopping, attending parties, putting up decorations, is eating all of the yummy food. It has been a tradition in my family to bake Christmas cookies. We bake cookies for our family and friends and give them to them as gifts. My mother used to do this and of course we would help her. So, after my mother passed away, we started a cookie factory. My mom used to bake cookies over a period of weeks to prepare. Well, of course we do not have time for that since both my sister and I work. So, we started a one day cookie factory and that is exactly what it is a factory. We pull out mom's secret recipes and get to work like little elves in Santa's kitchen. Grandma Grace comes over to give us a little hand and this year my cousins joined us.

To give you an idea of how our cookie factory works. Picture this 7 different kinds of cookies being all prepared at once. Each person making a different kind of cookie. Not just one batch per cookie but 2. So when you think about it that is 14 batches of cookies and these recipes are not like small batches, oh no that would be easy. Each batch makes around 50 cookies. So, if my math is correct 14 batches times 50 cookies in a batch is a total of 700 cookies. Told you we have a work out.

The factory opens in the morning at my sister's house around 10 AM and closes around 5 or whenever the last cookie comes out of the oven. Lets just say we are all ready for closing time at the end of the day. We only take a break for the bathroom and lunch other than that we are busy at work.

Here are a few photos I was able to sneak in after a bathroom break.

The kids busy at play.

Grandma decorating the cookies.

Icing anyone?

Josie was our official cookie tester. The little sneak would run in the kitchen grab a cookie off the table eat it and then come and tell us either yummy or gross. She must have secretly ate around a dozen cookies that day.