Three years in a row=An established tradition

In Chicago, I've started a tradition of having a Christmas Cookie Baking Drop-in right about now. It is one of the few times a year when I actually try to get my friends from different social circles together.  There is baking. And music. And decorating cookies. And EATING COOKIES. And it's pretty much one of my favorite things.

My impromptu Barcelona trip ended up being the week that I'd mentally scheduled this year's drop-in. So that didn't happen. So I rescheduled it for Epiphany.

Tips for Success

1) I invited way more people than would fit in my apartment (even in a drop-in style where people may only stay for an hour), so only the people who had RSVP'ed got a reminder e-mail.

2) I start mixing dough around 3. People are free to come anytime after that. Don't expect anyone until 5.

3) Make the dough that needs to be refrigerated first. And keep mixing doughs until people show up.

4) When the first people show up they get to start rolling the dough and cutting it out.

5) Powdered Sugar + Milk/Cider/Lemon Juice & Food Coloring = Icing
Milk/Cider/Lemon Juice + Powdered Sugar & Food Coloring = Runny
Pay attention to the order of operations.

6) Put a big bowl of soup on the stove before mixing dough. Cookies are yummy, but we need real food too.

7) Two sets of mixing bowls (and two sets of measuring cups and two sets of measuring spoons) is actually enough.

8) Four batches of dough is about right.

9) You can never have too many spoons.

10) The one time I have the recipes all printed out, no one wanted to take a copy home. BUT it is easier than running around trying to reference the computer.

The Recipes


I've used the same sugar cookies and molasses ginger cookies for all three years. They're vegan, so everyone can eat them. (Well, everyone whose only dietary restraints are vegan.) When I was gathering my recipes this week, the webpage for one of them had disappeared. Internet Archive rescued me, but figured I should start recording them for future reference.

Lesson 11: I don't take photos while hosting a party. Lesson 12: Everyone has fun decorating cookies.
Also, bonus points to the person who can name the theme of this tray of cookies.


Vegan Sugar Cookies
Adapted from Chez Betty

Ingredients
1.5 cups margarine

2 cups white sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder
.5 cups soy milk or whatever other milk substitute you favor
1 Tablespoon vanilla or whatever other extract you love
5 cups flour

Mix the Dough

Cream the margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy. 

Add baking powder to mixture and beat until incorporated. 

Mix in the soy milk. Then the vanilla.

Add the flour one cup at a time.

Cool It
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge.

Cut It
When people arrive (or after a while, guessing half hour), preheat the oven to 350ºF, and start rolling out the dough. I favor rolling it between a couple of sheets of wax paper, but that's because my table's not that big and I'm probably mixing dough on the other side. Have them roll it out to about a quarter inch thickness. (Warning, people who don't cook as much tend to want to roll it thinner.)

Pull out the cookie cutters (mine live in a basket on top of the bookshelf) and have fun. A silicone baking matt is your friend.

Bake
Pop in the 350ºF oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes until edges. The edges should be starting to brown when you pull them out  are just starting to turn a pale brown. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for a few minutes. Move them to some plates and give people free reign to nibble and decorate.

Vegan Molasses Cookies

Thank you Internet Archive! (And Cookie Madness...)

2.333 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce

In one mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt.

In a second bowl, mix brown sugar, vegetable oil, molasses, vanilla and apple sauce.

Add flour mixture to brown sugar mixture and stir until mixed.

Refrigerate. Again, when guests arrive, pull out the dough, preheat the oven to 325ºF, and let them roll it out.

Bake for 13-16 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for a few minutes. Move them to some plates and give people free reign to nibble and decorate.

Other Highlights

I also mixed up some crazy chocolate cookies (thanks for the suggestion, Grace) and cranberry pistachio biscotti (thanks, Sadie, for bringing the recipe two years ago).

I don't have my friends from different groups mingle often, but when I do one group or another seems to dominate. This time it appeared to be the Carleton people. But really, the secret was that almost everyone had attended school with Allison at some point. (At least if we count people enrolled at the same university at the same time as attending school together.) There were two people who hadn't. One of them is her husband.

I'm in better contact with her high school classmates than she is.

I'm also in better contact with her high school classmates than I am with my high school classmates.