Pour Some Sugar On Me
Have I told you lately how much I love the hashtag #CelebrateEveryDay? It is because of Nationaldaycalendar.com - the creators of that great hashtag and also my favorite resource for information regarding these national days that I am able to have oodles of thoughtful opportunities to write about. It so happens that today, July 9th, is National Sugar Cookie Day! People, we do not need any other reason than that to celebrate today.
According to their site, “The sugar cookie is believed to have originated in the mid 1700′s in Nazareth Pennsylvania. It was there that the German Protestant settlers created the round, crumbly and buttery cookie that came to be known as the Nazareth Cookie.”
Here is the sugar cookie recipe that I use because it’s tried and true and never disappoints. I have already posted this recipe before but it is so worth the repeat mention!
Aha! This recipe is of German descent! This is the first time that I noticed the tip about using crushed caraway seed above the recipe. I’ll have to try that!
Speaking of these sugar cookies but getting totally off-track, I am dreaming about hosting another cookie exchange. I have only hosted one cookie exchange but I’ve been to a few. For my event, the requirements for each guest was to bring three dozen homemade cookies of any variety to exchange. It sounds like work but it’s really fantastic because bringing three dozen cookies to the party means that you leave with a variety of three dozen other cookies. My exchange was before Christmas (I think a month and half before) and the goal was not to eat all the cookies before we got home so that we could put them in airtight containers to freeze them. When a holiday or any occasion called for a cookie presented itself, one could simply take out as many cookies as they wanted from the freezer. Allowing the cookies to sit at room temp for about 20 minutes was all one needed to do before serving some wonderful homemade cookies anytime. It’s a great festive, time saver.
At my cookie exchange, I had two activities we did as a group. We played a game that I made up and I also had a table set up for guests to frost the sugar cookies that I had baked prior to the event. Cookies that were decorated/frosted by the guests were their’s to take home in addition to the newly exchanged three dozen cookies. Since multi-tasking is what most women do best - frosting cookies and having great conversations came naturally. I must be craving both an opportunity to connect with my friends and saving time because I want to throw another cookie exchange before December.
Before I go - I have to tell you my Eileen Colossal Cookies story because it’s why I named the post “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” Last June, my neighbor Dana gave my hub some sugar cookies as an early, very generous Father’s Day thoughtful pinch. Each cookie was decorated with icing and a letter. Using a dozen cookies, together they spelled out H-A-P-P-Y D-A-D-S D-A-Y . I wanted something sweet that night after dinner and I knew my hub wouldn’t care if I ate one. I ate the ‘S” cookie. Instantly, I knew that it wasn’t an ordinary sugar cookie. What was it? I wasn’t sure so I ate the “Y” cookie. This time I concentrated because I had to know what it was that made this sugar cookie unique. I still couldn’t figure out the X- Factor so I ate the “A” cookie in the word “day”. I finally called Dana because I had to know what the heck was going on. She laughed because she knew exactly what I was going thru since she went thru the same experience. The answer is the slightest hint of almond. POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME! That was the answer! I started singing that Def Leppard song and danced around the house. Then I ate the “D” in “day “ leaving HAPPY DAD for the hub. When Dana told me about the drive she made to get those cookies I balked because it was out of my radius and I made fun of her driving that far to get them. The joke was on me because now I make that drive all the time!
Cookies for the GSD party April 2019
Photo by: Bethany Meister: Photographer. Cookies for my 8/28/18 launch party.
Sugar cookies have been my “go-to” cookie ever since I started avoiding chocolate. I love how creative we can be with sugar cookies. There are shortbread versions of sugar cookies, hints of lemon, hints of almond, butter, frosted, iced, cut outs (rolled out dough and using cookie cutters to make an endless variety of shapes), sprinkles - I’m sure there are more versions that I am leaving out but I have to go. I’ve got cookies to bake!
Def Leppard’s plea, “…In the name of love, pour some sugar on me…” - says it all. Make a batch of sugar cookies today or pick some up and give a thoughtful pinch to someone who could use a little sugary treat.
Pinches,
Barb
