Cookie Sunday Returns

...and we returned to Cookie Sunday in splashy fashion, or I did, should I say. Yes, we had barely been inside Aunt Ruthie's beautifully-appointed home for five minutes, before I let sling a full glass of Prison Brews root beer across her kitchen. Not a few drops, mind you, a full glass splattered from floor to table-top and up the walls. Well, ho-ho-freakin'-ho.

Whatever. Ruth and her daughter responded in expected low-key fashion by essentially saying it ain't nuthin' but a thing. Pretty remarkably gracious considering that Ruth is an interior decorator and her home is looking fairly flawless for the holidays. Message received: let's move on and have some fun...its Cookie Sunday!

Indeed, it was time once again for the annual family gathering where everyone gathers at one member's home to whip up a ginormous amount of Christmas cookies. The clanfolk arrived at Ruthie's loaded with ingredients and gifts for all of the participants. Everyone cooed over our newest Cookie Sunday participant: Allie and Tim's beautiful baby Grace Anne. Soon, the ovens were on and appetizers were setting up....including Anne's surprising white cheddar and black raspberry concoction and wow of a pizza dip. The pic of what looks like a pepperoni pizza is actually a cheese and onion based dip and it was great...look for a recipe soon. Jill also shared some excellent cheesy jalapeno meatballs. Various mounds of dough were getting mixed up and scooped and soon, the kitchen was filled with sweet aroma. The kids ran wild for awhile with Lindsay playing the roaring monster, but soon they fell into more quiet routines like making shapes out of dough and solving jigsaw puzzles.

Soon, the relatively sedate atmosphere gradually got a tad more raucous as the adult beverages started flowing. Homemade wine, pre-mixed Long Island Iced Teas, and some particularly potent moonshine cherries helped add to the festive atmosphere. Anne also mixed up some jello shots with some emerald-hued cherries for us to enjoy. Newly fortified, the cookies were flying and lining up on the sun-porch. Old favorites like monster and peanut-butter Hershey kiss cookies mixed with delicious upstarts like Kim's brownie biscotti and Jill's minty Grinch cookies. Our selections this year turned out quite well also....Giada's hazelnut-chocolate chip and a dark chocolate mint cookie from a recipe Kristy provided me with.

By evening, gifts had been exchanged and dinner was on, including Rhonda's awesome homemade noodles, Dave's Cajun Potato soup and Anne's buttery dinner rolls. Loaded with gifts and cookies, we said our goodbyes and headed back down the road toward home. Ah, Cookie Sunday...its an original.