The big day is finally here!  Welcome to www.CookiesbyDave.com.  Please, take a moment to enjoy that new blog smell and feel free to help yourself to a free copy of my cookie cookbook (located along the top tabs).

I know you are asking yourself, “Does the world need another blog?” and “Will the Internet never be the same?”  The answers to your questions are “Yes!” and “Yes!,” because there are both stories to be told and yummy cookies to be baked and together they make a delicious pair.  So grab a cup of coffee, enjoy a fresh cookie, sit back, and enjoy the new reality, because the Internet will never be the same.

Today is a big day in the Paulsen house.  In a little while, I will walk my boys to school and my youngest, Ben, will enter Kindergarten.  Big day and big changes.  Our three boys will all be in school and a new world will open for this stay-at-home cookie baking dad.  For the last eight years, I have been blessed with the opportunity to be home with my boys and see them grow into young men.  Along the way, we have baked thousands of cookies together and have shared in life’s simple moments.  Indeed, today is a big day, with big changes.  A day with a fresh blog, a quieter house (until 3:20PM), and a new mission.  It seems like the perfect time to regain cookie dominance and focus on winning next year’s County Fair, but first time to talk cookies.

Yesterday, I tried my best to make Ben’s last day before Kindergarten special.  Since it was raining, this involved baking cookies, dancing together in the kitchen (which really involves me swinging him around upside down), “window” shopping for toys at Target, and lunch at a restaurant of his choice.  Ben selected “Worm Cookies” from his favorite Sesame Street cookie cookbook and we set about making a batch.  This cookbook has never been a favorite of mine, since I have had only mixed success with the recipes, but Ben loves the cookbook and as luck would have it, the “Worm Cookies” have potential to fit in with my planned “Lake themed” cookie entry in next year’s County Fair.  Baking the cookies, they needed some time to cool, before frosting and decorations, so we headed out to lunch.

 Dave, Ben, and cookie dough

Considering that Ben is 5-years-old and that our neighborhood McDonald’s features a nifty touchscreen kid game counsel, he succumbed to temptation and selected Micky D’s for lunch.  Settling into our table, by the touch screens, I set his Happy Meal contents on the table and he of course set about playing with the football player action figure Happy Meal toy, rather than eating his lunch.  Seconds later, our table was approached by a little 5-year-old-or-so girl, who was a stranger to us, but who could not resist the temptation of a toy sitting on a table.  The stranger child stood uncomfortably close, but Ben seemed fine with it and the two of them played, with Ben’s lunch growing colder, just inches away.  About the time that I started to wonder if the unknown child visitor actually had a parent, plans on ever returning to her table, or both, she let out a big sneeze on our lunch.  Yes, she did attempt to cover her sneeze, but it still left plenty of misdirected virus to be desired.

Looking down at lunch, I was now more concerned with the incubation period for the mystery virus than the enormous calorie count of our lunch.  I also reflected back to cookies cooling at home and how they would feature the new mystery virus, as part of their recipe, as we later applied the frosting.  No bother, young Ben will experience among other joys, during his year of Kindergarten, the joy of random illnesses.  So this morning, as I walk hand-in-hand with my precious boys to school, I can focus on how blessed I am to have them in my life and be a little less concerned about virus incubation.

 

WORM COOKIES   

 

1 cup Butter

½ cup Powdered Sugar

2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

1½ teaspoons Cinnamon

¼ teaspoon Salt

1 Egg

½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract

2 cups Flour

Powdered Sugar, Milk, and Food Coloring for frosting

Small Jelly Beans for decorations

 

Mix together the butter, powdered sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.

Mix in egg and vanilla.

Gradually mix in the flour.

Chill the dough for at least one hour.  You can get by without chilling the dough, but it will be easier to handle and won’t spread as much during baking.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Take 1½ Tablespoons of dough and form a “worm” about 6 inches long.

Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet in “worm” like squiggly shapes.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown at the edges.

Let cool.

Combine powdered sugar, milk, and food coloring into desired frosting consistency and color.

Decorate cookies with frosting and jelly beans.

 

Makes about 18 cookies.

 

Revised Source:  “Sesame Street.  Yummy Cookies.  Baking with Kids.”  Recipe for “Wiggly Worms.”

 

Man, Mixer, Mission.  334 days until the 2015 Kandiyohi County Fair.

 

Sam, Ben, and Jacob digging for worm cookies.