Baked Goods Exchange: and the Winner is . . .

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 . . .