Milk & Cookies

Last night we went to a fabulous cookie party. Everyone brought 3 dozen cookies, there was tasting, voting, and trading, and we all left with a nice variety of cookies. Mmmm. It’s pretty much like a regular party but with rules and voting which makes it more fun plus adds an extra incentive to make the cookies really good.

We brought Chocolate Mint Chip cookies. Well, all of our training/blogging over the past 9 months paid off because our cookies won the “Best Looking” category and tied for “Best Tasting”!

This was truly a team effort; I pioneered the Chocolate Mint Chip recipe a few weeks ago but yesterday Jason improved them with a new strategy. Instead of putting lumps of dough on the cookie sheet, roll the dough into balls (we call this the “Smooth Ball Strategy”). When they come out of the oven they look beautifully smooth with cracks instead of kind of lumpy like the original cookies did. We couldn’t have won “Best Looking” without this strategy! We’d also like to thank our oven, Reynold’s for selling parchment paper, and our coworkers for being our guinea pigs.

Compare the two strategies below:

without the "Smooth Ball Strategy"

with the "Smooth Ball Strategy"

with a professional photographer

Yes, the results are clear. Besides looking at these cookies through the lens of a professional photographer, the best thing you can do to make these cookies look great is to use the “Smooth Ball Strategy”.

Here’s some more pictures from the cookie party:

The spread, complete with pencils and paper for voting!

Lacey oatmeal cookies, which were a contender in all three categories! ("Most Creative", "Best Tasting", and "Best Looking")

Stained Glass cookies - the colored parts are melted Jolly Ranchers and you can see right through them! These got my vote for "Best Looking"

Cranberry White Chocolate Macadamia Oatmeal cookies - came close in "Best Tasting"

Sandies, winner in the "Best Tasting" category

Peanut butter kisses (aka "Nipples") and Snickerdoodles. The Nipples were a favorite and were almost gone by the time we went to divvy them up and take them home.

Careful consideration before voting

Anthony wins "Most Creative" with his Peanut Butter and Jelly cookies

I humbly accept the award for "Best Looking", followed by a 10 minute acceptance speech.

Veronica wins "Best Tasting" with her Sandies

In the end everyone won because we all took home a pile of cookies like this.