Thursday, April 25, 2013 

Anzac Day

Greetings to Australia and New Zealand



And a recipe for the traditional Anzac Biscuit?
Click HERE.

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1:30 AM | |

Sunday, March 24, 2013 

Happy Blogiversary to me....

March 24, 2005.
"Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap." - Barbara Jordan



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12:35 AM | |

Thursday, February 28, 2013 

Cookievore Criminals


Looks like some girl scout cookie loving criminals are on the loose. Those cookie monsters made off with 5,000 boxes of the treats. That's just so wrong...on so many levels.

We’ve all got our favorite type of Girl Scout cookie, and it appears lowdown, dirty thieving scoundrels who would steal from the young scouts are no exception. Someone made off with almost $19,000 worth of cookies from a South Carolina warehouse — all of them either of the thin mints or shortbread variety. - Consumerist

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10:11 AM | |

Monday, January 14, 2013 

I like Chewy Cookies

do you?

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9:03 PM | |

Tuesday, December 04, 2012 

happy national cookie day!

unleash your inner cookie monsters today!


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12:17 AM | |

Wednesday, March 14, 2012 

Who would do such a thing?

Buying Girl Scout cookies with fake money.
A Girl Scout near Boston found out the soullessness of some cookie consumers the hard way, when she took the haul her troop made off the treats to her local bank. Once there, she was informed that someone had passed her $80 in counterfeit $20 bills, says WBZ News.

"This is a very unfortunate situation that someone would do this at all, especially for the Girl Scouts," said Allison Rubin, the media and public relations manager for the Girls Scouts of Eastern Mass. "We really want to appreciate and say thank you to everyone. We are not soliciting outside funding, but we really appreciate their support."

The troop was trying to fund a hiking trip in May as well as a gathering on Cape Cod, and are now $80 farther from their goal. - The Consumerist

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8:28 PM | |

Saturday, September 24, 2011 

Happy Birthday, Jim Hensen.

Thank you for all the joy you brought into the world and making it ok for all of us to embrace our inner cookie monster!

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9:37 AM | |

Saturday, March 06, 2010 

Wine and Cookie Pairings.....

now THAT's what I'm talking about!
Have fun, taste wine, and support the Girl Scouts by purchasing your favorite cookies!

Saturday, March 6th
5pm Early Admission For Axxess Members
5:30pm – 7pm General Public
Santa Barbara Cellars Wine Storage
5329 Calle Real, Santa Barbara
(event location on the covered porch)

Wine Tasting Fee $15 (cash only)
Must be 21+ to attend.

Brad George, aka "The Wine Guy”, has paired the Girl Scout Cookies of 2010 with local production, small lot boutique wines for this special tasting.

Featured Vintners
  • Hug Cellars
  • Cru Club Co.
  • Paige 23 Wines
  • Bedford Thompson Winery
Axxess Members: Get the first opportunity to buy bottles signed by the vintners!

Save 25% on open case wine (while supplies last.)

The Girl Scout’s will also have everyone’s favorite cookies, from Thin Mints to Peanut Butter Cookies. (No limits on purchases!)

Paige 23 Wine is currently poured at the US Embassy in Tokyo and a preferred wine of James Beard.

Girl Scout Cookies - Tagalongs
Originally uploaded by zemok2007.

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10:19 AM | |

Monday, June 29, 2009 

FDA Finds E. Coli In Nestlé Samples

Perhaps a subtle reminder why we need food regulation...and to make cookies from scratch.

...Health officials still do not know how E. coli 0157, a bacterium that lives in cattle intestines, ended up in a product that seems so unlikely to contain it. The risk usually associated with cookie dough is salmonella, a bacterium that can be found in raw eggs. None of the ingredients in the dough -- eggs, milk, flour, chocolate, butter -- is known to host E. coli 0157.

Federal investigators spent more than a week at the Danville plant and did not detect contamination in the equipment or among workers, Acheson said. "It raises the likelihood that it was an ingredient," he said. "And it really means that industry has to be constantly vigilant, because foods we think of as low risk could be contaminated with a deadly pathogen." - WaPo

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7:51 PM | |

Monday, December 29, 2008 

Kelloggs is saving the Circus Animal Parade


Mother's Cookies Cookie Parade!
Originally uploaded by beastandbean.

How did I let this tasty little piece of info slip by? Kelloggs apparently has stepped in and purchased the recipes and the rights to Mother's Circus Animals!
On Thursday, Kellogg Co. closed on a $12.1 million deal to acquire the recipes and trademark of Mother's Cake & Cookie Co., former sister company of Archway Cookies.

Mother's Cake & Cookie Co., which manufactures iced animal crackers, sandwich cookies and wire cut cookies, has a devoted customer base in California and the western United States.

...Also bidding on the bankrupt cookie companies Wednesday was Charlotte, N.C.-based snack manufacturer Lance, Inc., which won a bid to buy almost all of Archway's assets for about $30 million.

Lance also placed an undisclosed bid to acquire Mother's Cake and Cookie Co., but lost to Kellogg. - Battle Creek Enquirer 
I suppose it makes a little sense for the the little frosted animal cookies going to the home of the sugar frosted flakey tiger.

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8:46 AM | |

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 

It's that time....

Christmas cookies! Do you have yours all baked up yet? Don't disappoint Santa...you'll be sorry.



 Cakespy wonders what about the "true meaning of Christmas...cookies" 
And we are remiss in not congratulating Cakespy for being mentioned on the official Whole Foods blog! Congrats, cuppy!

Ah....the power of sugary goodness!

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9:51 AM | |

Sunday, November 30, 2008 

The First Cookie

of the First Family...and apparently the rest of the country. Sales of the "Obama" cookie are booming at Baby Boomer Cafe.
Want an example of the change Barack Obama is bringing to the country?

Check out cookie sales at Baby Boomers Cafe in Des Moines.

Ever since word got out of the President-elect and his family's fondness for Baby Boomers' chocolate chunk cookies, the small downtown restaurant can't get them out of the oven fast enough.

...Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, said the Obamas and the campaign staff loved the cookies, and they're fond of Maxfield, too.

"He knew most of us by name, and he cared about how everyone was doing," Vietor said.

Michele Obama would hold meetings in the cafe, and Barack Obama even called Maxfield the day after the caucuses to thank him for helping feed the staff and his family.

"It's just insane. I mean they are the coolest people," said Maxfield. - Chicago Tribune



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5:22 PM | |

Thursday, October 23, 2008 

COOKIE ALERT

Melamine-laced Koala's March cookies, that were supposed to have been recalled, have been found in Connecticut, California, and Alabama.

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9:04 PM | |

Thursday, October 09, 2008 

Hell has frozen over. Mother's has shut down.


Circus Cookies
Originally uploaded by Domain Barnyard.

and killed off my favorite Circus Animals; sent them all packing to the big cookie jar in the sky. I'm crying pink and white sprinkled tears.
Mother's Cookies, an Oakland institution for 92 years, has been shuttered, its owner seeking bankruptcy protection for the company.

The ending was abrupt: Workers for the company, which shifted its baking and distribution operations to plants in Ohio and Canada in 2006, told workers Friday that operations would cease and cookies would no longer be made as of Monday.

The company cited rising prices for raw materials and fuel, and on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.- SFGate

Washington Mutual implodes? Times are tough. Lehman Brothers is gone? Time for some belt tightening. But Mother’s Cookies? This, my friends, is a tragedy.- SFFoodie

Guess you'll know who will be stocking up on what.

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11:48 PM | |

Saturday, September 06, 2008 

California has some terrific Bed and Breakfasts

and Santa Barbara certainly has it's share being the tourist destination it is. The Old Yacht Club Inn. The Simpson House. The Upham Hotel (which has one of my favorite dinning spots, Louie's, as it's restaurant.) Villa Rose Inn. White Jasmine Inn. The Cheshire Cat.

The California Association of Bed & Breakfast Inns, of which several of our local B&B's are members, has a cookbook from their member collection of B&B's. (Yeah...yet another cookbook I recently picked up.) The submissions are from all parts of the state and reflect the different local tastes, traditions and most highlight California agricultural products. Some are hand me down recipes from the inn keepers family members; some are Mexican in tradition with a little "California Cuisine" inspiration. They all look delicious!
Artichoke Frittata from the Old Thyme Inn in Half Moon Bay.
Fresh Corn Waffles with Cilantro Butter from the Carter House Inns in Eureka.
Boysenberry Cobbler from Barney's Rancho Bernardo in Cathey's Valley (Near Yosemite). Sausage Chile Rellenos with Apricots & Raisins from the Inn at Playa Del Rey in (surprise) Playa Del Rey.
Caramelized Onion, Spinach & Blue Cheese Quiche from 1801 First in Napa.
Aunt Dora's Southern Barbeque Sauce from The Groveland Hotel (near Yosemite.)
Fresh Basil Vinaigrette from Sorensen's Resort in Hope Valley (near Lake Tahoe.)

My favorite, being the cookie monster that I am, is the Crunchy Chewy Ginger Snaps from Prufrock's Garden Inn just a hop skip and a jump down the 101 in Carpinteria.

3/4 cup shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
white sugar

Preheat oven to 375. In large bowl, cream shortening, brown sugar, molasses and egg together until fluffy. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Slowly add flour mixture to molasses mixutre, sitrring to combine.

Form dough into balls slightly smaller than golf balls. Roll in white sugar. Place 2 inches apart on greased (or silpated) cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until cracks show on surface. Cool briefly.

Then devour!

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12:29 PM | |

Monday, August 25, 2008 

Mrs. Field's cookies....crumbles


Mrs. Fields Blogger Meet
Originally uploaded by Our Awesome Planet.
looks like they're trying to cash out their "chips."
Mrs. Field’s Original Cookies, Inc. on Aug. 24 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company, which filed a prepackaged plan of reorganization, said it plans to emerge from bankruptcy within 45 days.

The announcement comes a little more than a week after Mrs. Field’s filed its intent to seek bankruptcy protection with the Securities and Exchange Commission. - BakingBusiness.com

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2:55 PM | |

Friday, June 20, 2008 

flickr foto friday


IMG_3665
Originally uploaded by Scott Hermann.

cookie baker in training! look at that smile! ;-)

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6:39 AM | |

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 

The Political Cookie Campaign

is getting kinda ugly, too. Seems that one "candidate" was caught with someone else's "dough."
Wonkette and the Huffington Post alert us to this culinary "cat fight"

A few months ago, John McCain’s second and current wife, Cindy, was caught stealing recipes from the Food Network and publishing them as her own material, a
simple lapse of ethics that you’re supposed to learn, and master, at age four. To atone for this, Cindy fired a hapless intern. But the problem was systemic! Cindy has contributed another recipe, to Parents magazine. This recipe for Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies was, of course, directly cribbed from Hershey’s website.
Cookies have made Presidential Campaign chitterchatter before, too, when Hillary Clinton was chastised for declaring that she didn't want to stay home and bake cookies when campaigning for her husband.

Cookies have a long political history with Presidents (or is it vice versa?)...there is even a book on the history of the President's favorite cookies.....

But...can't we all just get along...and bake? Reach across the (hot ovens) aisles?

Speaking of Presidents, from Monticello, we find the following muffin recipe was enjoyed by Thomas Jefferson and his family.

Monticello Muffins

4 cups of flour
1 1/2 packets of yeast
1 1/2 cups water
cast iron griddle

Mix flour, yeast, and water. Dough will be very sticky. Coat your hands in flour before kneading the dough. While kneading, continue to add small amounts of flour to the dough until the stickiness disappears and the dough becomes more solid. You may find you add as much as 1/2 cup more flour during this process.

Put the dough in a large bowl, cover with a towel, and leave in a warm place overnight. The dough should more than double by morning. The underside of the dough may be a bit sticky -- if so, knead it a bit more. Using your hands, shape the muffins into small golf-ball sized balls. Set the muffins aside, cover with a towel, and let rise for an hour.

Preheat ungreased griddle over medium heat. Add shaped muffins to griddle and cook for about five minutes on each side.

The muffins will look like biscuits on the outside and English muffins on the inside. Serve immediately. Makes two dozen small muffins.

-- developed from the original recipe by Monticello staff members Susan McCrary and Katherine G. Revell

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12:24 PM | |

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 

Do cookies have a "fortune" in film?

Seems that fortune cookies are having their day in the sun on the red carpet in San Francisco during the Asian American Film Festival and in the bookshelves with the forthcoming book "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles." Oh, and forget about what you may "think you know" about those fun little folded snappy, crumbly delish deliveries of fortunes...they are NOT Chinese. They are more than likely a creation of Makoto Hagiwara, a landscape architect and creator of the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco, 1909.
Another revelation is that there are no fortune cookies in China. "In China, it's an exotic item. A fortune cookie company from New York opened up a business in China in 2002, but it closed down in two years," Shimoda says, noting that the label said "genuine American fortune cookies." - SFGate
The film by Derek Shimoda - "The Killing of a Chinese Cookie" and the blog for the book, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. If you are in the Pasadena area on the 27th of March, stop on by one of my favorite bookstores, Vroman's, and see the author of the book, Jennifer 8. Lee discuss the book and her findings.

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8:15 PM | |

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 

Martha Stewart has a new cookie book out....

and Jessica's Biscuit has it!
In Martha Stewart’s Cookies, the editors of "Martha Stewart Living" give you 175 recipes and variations that showcase all kinds of flavors and fancies. Besides perennial pleasers like traditional chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin, there are other sweet surprises, including Rum Raisin Shortbread, Peppermint Meringue Sandwiches with Chocolate Filling, and Lime Meltaways.

Cleverly organized by texture, the recipes in Martha Stewart’s Cookies inspire you to think of a classic, nostalgic treat with more nuance.

And who knew that Martha blogged!

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7:47 PM | |

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