One of the great things about being the Supreme Czar and All Powerful Ruler of your own blog is that you get to make the rules. All of the rules. Well, since we had ten official entries in the “25,000 Cookies Celebration Prize Give-Away,” I declare that you are all winners! Yep, everyone who typed “I love cookies” (or close to it), as instructed, has won a limited edition “25,000 Cookies” mug and an accompanying package of yummy cookies. They will be shipped or delivered, as soon as I have all of the pieces together (don’t hold your breath winners, it takes me awhile).

Any who, Ultimate Official Supreme Blog Ruler Congrats to our winners… Judy, Rochelle, Betty, Darwin, Kathy, Tina, Marie, Jill, Monte, and Shawndra. Together, you are my cookie all-in-all.

And now for the question of the day, “Why did I start counting the cookies that I baked?”

Well, back on Christmas 2008, my mom sent me an incredible Christmas gift. A copy of my Grandmother Franck’s recipes. Not only that, in the “Cookies” section, there was a small handwritten note. In it, my grandmother had written down her “cookie totals” for about five years. Seeing the note, I was inspired. With the beginning of 2009, I started writing down the number of cookies that I had baked after every batch. Sure I needed to go back and estimate my cookie totals for my first 27 months of baking, but with good records of my average baking totals, I am confident that my figures are pretty accurate. So there you have it, my beloved Grandma Franck, whose cookies inspired me to bake for my kids and whose lifetime cookie total probably topped 150,000, remains my cookie inspiration and the reason I keep such impeccable cookie archives.

Congrats winners! I will see you all again at the “50,000 Cookies” celebration!