Our bookclub’s annual cookie exchange is Saturday and until tonight I had given exactly zero thought to my cookie recipe. You may think I could just go with whatever I made last year but au contraire, I cannot. Two reasons, the first of which is one of general principle. I have never repeated a cookie in the seven or eight years of this cookie exchange. Even in the years when my fellow bookclubbers were popping out the kiddies (an activity inversely proportionate to the time available to bake Christmas cookies, reason #473 to stay childfree) and occasionally brought store-bought cookies, I came with a new recipe ever year. I figure if I can’t entertain my married-with-kids friends with any kind of exciting singles social life, I can at least rub in how much free time I have for baking.
The second reason is a more practical one. I have no idea what I made last year. Except for the almond lace cookies two years ago and the coffee/chocolate cookies from the first year of the exchange, I don’t really know what I made any year. I like the variety. I usually pick one or two kinds of cookies each year and make them multiple times – for the exchange, for my co-workers and (if it’s a really great recipe) for the family once I get to my mom’s. And then I am done with them. Perhaps I am a cookie whore (see above re: substituting baking for a dating life).
I think I’ve found my two cookies for the year. And yes, there usually need to be two kinds, my bookclub includes a woman who has given up all forms of caffeine (which is sick and wrong, but I still love her) and another allergic to coconut. This seriously cuts down on my options, but if I make at least one non-chocolate or non-coconut cookie, I can just gift each woman with a double set of the one cookie she can eat. This year’s chocolate option (assuming I can find cocoa nibs by Friday night) is Clotilde's Very Chocolate Cookies, found on the website of the excellent David Lebovitz, but originally from Chocolate and Zucchini by Clotilde Dusoulier. After reading David’s blog, I want to add a whole bunch of cookbooks to my Amazon wishlist (this is nearly as senseless as giving up chocolate – I cook as little as possible and I only bake recreationally).
Number two, which could perform alone if I can’t get my hands on those nibs(dirty!), is off my go-to baking site, Martha Stewart online. I love her for baking, though I find some of the entrees I’ve tried there in the past kind of bland. So I’m trying the Lime Meltaways and hoping I don’t end up with a dough that’s too dry, since this seemed to happen to a few folks in the comments section. Cross your fingers. I’ll post pics once I’m done with the baking on Saturday.
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