Some days are just special.  The temps raise just so.  The snow covering is just enough.  Magic.  The ground suddenly becomes not covered with snow, but rather covered with the makings of snowmen.  Genesis!

Then with a little effort and a dash of creativity, snowmen appear.  Winter doldrums dashed.  All of life should be so easy.

Welcome snow friends!

To my knowledge, I am not allergic to snow cats.

Snowman success, thanks to a special guest appearance by Aunt Kathy and Grandma Judy, plus Snuggles the Fabric Softener Bear and the Blue Ninja Turtle (I’m sorry, I always get their names and weapons mixed up).

I was so giddy.  I could hardly contain myself.  Holding the package tight, I anticipated the questions.  The moment seemed almost too perfect.

Opening the door to the Post Office, I was relieved to see no line.  Heading up to the front, I saw the familiar face of the clerk who had helped me so many times before.

Unable to wait any longer, I looked at him with a grin and said, “I cannot wait for the questions.  ‘Does the package contain anything perishable?’  No, there are Peeps inside!”  The clerks began to chuckle as they envisioned the hard and completely unnatural marshmallow baby chick candy-like-things.  No, they weren’t perishable.  In fact, these sweets will easily see the next Millennium.  The Apocalypse?  No problem.  Plus, if you get them slightly wet…  powerful adhesive.

Yep, mailing a friend some Holiday flavored Peeps created in me a bubbling sense of joy.  Perishable?  No way.  Nonperishable?  Yes, sir!

Heading out to close up the sunporch for the evening, what did I find?  11-year-old Jacob’s socks curled up in a chair on the sunporch.  Apparently, they had been enjoying the afternoon sun.  Hope you had a nice nap little socks, time for the spin cycle.

Our living room contains a large red ottoman.  I would say it is four to five feet of pure footrest intimidation.  Usually it sits between the couch and two chairs and is shifted about depending upon who would like to lift their feet.  This usually provides great comfort, but when you vacuum the living room, it is a grizzly bear to move about.

Today, I thought I discovered a new strategy.  While moving the ottoman to vacuum, I discovered that it would be more easily set on one end to move about.  Now towering, I moved the footrest off to the side.  Well, towering may convey too much of a sense of stability.  It was certainly exhibiting some teetering tendencies.  Proud of my new vacuuming arrangement, I surveyed the couch, which would need the pillows and blankets (Yes, blankets on the couch.  Minnesota is cold.) moved to vacuum up the dog hair.  [Time to insert the really bad idea.  What?  The ottoman set on its end was not bad enough?  No, here it comes.]  Seeing that the top of the ottoman teetering on its end was available for storage, I set the four pillows and blanket up high.  This caused additional teetering, but soon the ottoman/pillow/blanket tower stabilized and the two potted plants in the fall zone breathed a sigh of relief.

Thinking that the situation was under control, I began vacuuming the dog hair off the couch.  Kirby the Beagle, who already has an uneasy relationship with the vacuum, must have taken offense to the cleaning of the couch.  [Insert second really bad idea.]  What I can only guess was displeasure became apparent, when our pup decided to fling himself at the side of the ottoman tower.  Did he want to reach a pillow to rest?  Was he trying to take out one of the potted plants or one of my kids sitting in a chair ignoring the domestic labor drama unfolding only a few feet away?  Was Kirby simply seeing if he could jump as high as the ottoman tower, which was now fully swaying?  We will never know, because (a) Kirby cannot talk and (b) my flailing hand motions, in an equal effort to push the dog away and at the same time grab the ottoman high rise, made our beagle decide to pursue less exciting endeavors.

[Bad idea number three.  Why not insert another?]  Considering that the crisis had passed, the ottoman had been stabilized, and the potted plants on the floor had updated their life insurance policies, I decided to leave the ottoman standing on end and finish vacuuming.  There my friends is proof of a kind and loving God.  One that allowed me to finish up my cleaning without an ottoman unnaturally placed on end crashing to the ground.  Bad ideas, but a peaceful outcome.  As they say in the Turkish Republic, rest well, but never in a teetering ottoman’s fall zone.  Words to live and vacuum by.

Yesterday, I left a pair of 11-year-old Jacob’s socks alone to work on his spelling homework.  What did I wake up to find?  A total of four socks.  Knock it off!  You are supposed to be working on spelling homework, not multiplication.

From the look of it, green stripes are a recessive sock gene.

Today was a big day for our dog, Kirby.  Kirby turned two or according to my limited animal knowledge fourteen in dog years.  In order to help our teen dog celebrate, we bought him a new rope pull toy with one small stuffing filled portion, which he promptly gnawed in order to remove all of the stuffing.  We would have been disappointed in him if the stuffing had survived for over fifteen minutes.  Some strange stuffing vendetta he demonstrates.  We also served our pup a piece of pumpkin pie.  Ages ago, our previous dog Jasper had some scooting issues and the vet recommended feeding him pumpkin.  As a result, we figured Kirby would be able to handle some pumpkin pie.  Later on, I guess I will be the lucky one to find out if that’s true.

So it was all going well, we sang “Happy Birthday” and figured that was that.  I went upstairs to say goodnight to our boys and on the way downstairs, I saw Kirby slinking away with what appeared to be a white disk in his mouth.  Following him into the living room, I found our rebellious teenage dog disfiguring the bathtub stopper.  Ah, I see that Kirby is fully embracing the sassiness of his teen years or else this is a desperate attempt to prevent any future baths.  Either way, proof that our birthday pooch has plenty of empty storage room in the attic.

Ever wonder what socks do when you aren’t looking?  Well, apparently they are tutoring Jacob in his spelling homework.

There you have it, one of life’s mysteries solved.  You can thank me later.

Sitting down to watch some football, all looked well with the couch.

I spy a pillow on the couch.  Nothing unusual.

Removing the pillow to relax for the evening, they made their presence known.

Jacob’s Socks:  Subterranean Style

My first attempt at Brookies hiding in the shadows.

BROOKIES

“Sometimes in life, you just need to dive in and try new things.  Personally, I am not a big fan of boxed brownies or refrigerated cookie dough, but when I heard the concept of the “Brookie” (a brownie and cookie combined), I had to give it a try.  Plus, it provides a nice subtle reentry into baking after the Holiday baking push.  Baked in a muffin pan, these chewy cookies are fun, but my efforts certainly left room for improvement.  Although, I still need to work on my Brookies, here are some of my thoughts, which might lead you to greater success.

1) Use a metal muffin pan.  I tried my Silicone muffin pan that I love for muffins and the Brookies initially turned out undercooked.  When they came out of the oven, they looked perfect, but the cookie soon sunk deep into the brownie portion.

A post-baking Brookie still housed in the muffin pan, under a partial eclipse caused by my large head.

2) Aim for cakey brownies.  I only used one egg  in my brownie batter, hoping for more of a fudgy consistency, but I think it contributed to the cookies sinking.  The second egg probably would have helped.

3) Cool slightly and then remove.  The few Brookies that I baked in the metal muffin pan were baked through, but I figured I would let them sit in the pan to fully cool like normal brownies.  Unfortunately, this led them to becoming almost impossible to remove.  If I had intervened sooner, a few more of the Brookies (I just like saying the name) could have been saved.

4) Paper muffin cups?  Why not?  Considering the difficulty I had removing some of the Brookies, paper muffin cups are certainly worth a try.

I wish you the best in your Brookie efforts.  My boys liked the taste of my initial attempt, so I will certainly revisit this cookie adventure someday soon.  Enjoy!”  – Cookie Dave

One Box Brownie Mix, plus extra ingredients needed per package (we needed 1-2 eggs, 1/3 cup water, and 1/3 cup vegetable oil)

One Package Refrigerated Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

The primary Brookie ingredients.

On a side note, I don’t think I will ever stop being bothered by the fact that the Pillsbury Dough Boy never wears pants.  In the kitchen.  While baking.  Just not right.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a muffin pan.

Prepare brownie mix per directions on box.

In each muffin cup, place one Tablespoon of brownie batter on the bottom and top with one rounded Tablespoon of refrigerated cookie dough.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the brownie portion comes out clean.

Let rest for about 5 minutes.  Use a spatula to help remove the Brookies from their muffin cups.

Makes 16 Brookies.

Revised Source:  “Brookies” Facebook post by Z88.3 in Orlando, Florida.  As forwarded to me by my dear friend from my days at the University of Michigan and fellow cookie lover, Lisa Morgan Gessner.

We are on Day 3 of “Holiday Cookie Decision 2014,” as we await the official results from the Kay’s Naturals Holiday Cookie Contest.  Apparently, there is some dispute regarding hanging chads and the determination of voter intent in cases where they wrote in “Peppermint Biscotti,” as opposed to “Candy Cane Biscotti.”  Oh well, it is time for action!  As a result, I am declaring myself winner based on the following unofficial results…

First Place Winner – Candy Cane Biscotti (71 “Likes”)

Second Place Winner – No-Bake Coconut Balls (48 “Likes”)

I would like to thank all of you for your overwhelming support of my Candy Cane Biscotti.  Special thanks go out to Kara Brooker, my campaign manager and Cookie King Maker, Darwin Thorpe, who made my participation possible, and all of my other tireless cookie campaign staff and supporters.  Your talents amaze me daily.  You are the baking powder in my flour mixture.  You make good things happen.  I hope to make you all proud during the next year of cookie baking and I pledge to freely share the tasty results.

As an added bonus, I will be providing a “CookiesbyDave.com” prize package to one lucky supporter, who helped make victory a reality.

First I gathered up all of the 76 names (some just clicked “Like” on the wrong page), who voted for my Candy Cane Biscotti.  Then I alphabetized them based on your Facebook profile name, numbered all of the names, entered the parameters into random.org, requested a randomly generated number between 1 and 76, and presto…  a winner!

And the winner of a CookiesbyDave.com prize package is (drum roll, please)…  Kristie Wheaton Lowry!  Kristie has been a supporter of my on-line cookie baking efforts from the start and is also an amazing baker, who is featured in my cookie cookbook, “Today is a Great Day for a Cookie,” available for free download at http://cookiesbydave.com/today-is-a-great-day-for-a-cookie-my-original-cookie-cookbook/.  Congrats, Kristie!

Also, I wanted to share a treat with the rest of you, as a thank you gift.  Late last night, my post about Hall and Oates (http://cookiesbydave.com/a-hall-and-oates-moment/) put CookiesbyDave.com over the top and helped register the site’s 5,000^th visitor!  Thank you, one and all.  Both Daryl Hall and John Oates would be very proud.

Any who, onto the special thank you gift.  My father, Mike Paulsen, loved entering drawings, which probably helps explain my unabashed desire to enter contests simply for the thrill of victory.  Dad had an exceptional track record at winning.  Much of his success he credited to a “special” folding technique (a part of Paulsen Family lore), which gives your entry blank an unusual feel and therefore has a higher chance of being selected.  Well, without further delay, here is your special DIY thank you gift…  “How to Specially Fold an Entry Blank and Increase Your Chances of Winning.”

A typical contest entry blank.

A typical fold.

The “special” fold, which results in a “V” shape.

There you have it, the special fold in action.  Use it and watch your winning percentage skyrocket.  Thank you, Dad, and thank you to everyone who has shared in today’s thrill of victory.

“Give a man an entry blank and he might win.  Teach a man how to properly fold an entry blank and he will win for a lifetime.”