So, the annual ‘exchange of baked
goods’ marathon has finally reached an end. Or, in the case of my small
cul-de-sac, a temporary reprieve until pie-like fruits and berries are widely
available. The final results: I am ahead in the production quality of chocolate
chip cookies, although lagged sadly behind in sheer quantity. I blew away the
competition in spritz and lemon cookies, in part because I’m the only one of
German descent and makes the blasted little spritz, and the only one who made
lemon cookies as well. Although it was widely agreed mine are the best. It’s
true. On that note, The Girl managed to break the indestructible cookie press I
have to use for spritz. She swears it was an accident and I believe her because
they’re her favorite. Also, she’s accident prone.
I lost the race in pies and cakes,
having not made any. But I am moderately ahead in meringues, not because I was
the only one who made them, but because I was the only one who shared. Oddly, there was a suspicious
lack of sugar cookies this year. I didn’t make any, and I didn’t receive any,
and The Girl’s friends in the neighborhood reported they also had not seen any.
Bizarre.
As compensation for the cosmic lack
of sugar cookies, we did receive more than the usual amount of boxes of
chocolates. I take this as a sign people were not withholding sugar cookies in a subtle effort to tell me I’ve
put on a couple pounds during the seasonal bake-a-thon. (I’ve always been of
the opinion that you can’t gain weight by eating meringues because they’re
mostly air.)
Oh, and toffee. I missed the toffee
and vanilla caramels. Not that I can’t make them myself, but that I usually
don’t. Unfortunately, I had other confections slated for production that I
didn’t get to. This creates a problem. I have all this unrefined sugar and
accessories on hand, so I sort of have
to make them. Pecan-brittle, for example. (I prefer not to put peanuts in my
brittle and instead use pecans or almond slivers. I’m a brittle snob.) But if I
make it, I have to eat it or find a suitable occasion to pass it off on others. Everyone’s still recovering from feast and
sugar-induced indigestion, they don’t need more. And in a couple days, everyone will swear off
calories and call it a resolution.
Of course I do have two teenagers
in the house. Last year I wasn’t successful at bribing them into doing extra
chores with sugar at a time that’s overflowing with sweets, but I can give it
another shot. What do you think? Toffee for vacuuming, caramels for dusting,
brittle for putting away their laundry which they should be doing already . . .
