My Christmas "Baking"

I started a tradition among my friends that we would have a homebaked cookie exchange at Christmas. We got fairly competitive in a light-hearted way about it with rules and regulations about what sort of cookies, what amounts, packaging, etc. I participated and often would be put in the position to referee these questions, although some might say I put myself in that position to the point that my friends were calling me the Cookie Empress.

Well, one year, as I was about to bake my cookies, I just plain didn't feel like it, and had to admit I'm not a huge fan of baking. I decided to buy my cookies. I wasn't going to try to pass them off as home-made, but I knew I had to break this to my friends in just the right way.

So I went to my local bakery which is a wonderful place that has been in the same spot for more than 100 years. The interior has not been upgraded, I don't think, in those 100 years either. There are still wooden display cases and that tiny white tile floors. I felt very efficient "baking" my cookies in the two minutes it took me to buy them.

When I got to Mary's, I finally confessed, believing she would think it was amusing that the Cookie Empress bought her cookies.

Wrong.

It is one of the few times (really) that Mary was angry at me. Over the 40-plus years we've been friends, I've told her a number of things that I wasn't proud of myself for having done, but I always got a "Everyone makes mistakes" or "You're only human" or "That's not so bad" response from Mary.

Eventually, she has forgiven, but not forgotten. In fact, last night she made a snide comment about my non-baking of cookies. My saving grace is that my store bought cookies are so good that they can't complain that much.

I usually buy "white lace" cookies which are two burned sugar/thin toffee wafers held together with drizzles of white chocolate. This is the closest image I could find, but imagine the chocolate as white, not brown:

So it wasn't like I was showing up with a baq of Oreos.

Today was cookie "baking" time as I go to DC tomorrow. I went to Glaser's which is on First Avenue and the window is decorated for Christmas as if it is 1956:

and here's the interior. You can see the built-in wooden display cases and the white tile floor, complete with the bakery's name.

And here's the woman who helped me "bake" -- they still have balls of string hanging from the ceiling to tie up boxes.

Today the white lace cookies were being baked when I went in there and weren't ready. So I got two different kinds: Bavarian Almond and Cinnamon Swirl. Hmmmm-mmmm... just like Grandma used to make. And here they are, all finished baking and ready to bring with me.

Although I tried to defend my buying of cookies by saying that I was supporting local business, stores like this are what we love about cities, all the interesting independently owned stores and restaurants. In my neighborhood, so many of them are gone, replaced by Starbucks, Victoria's Secret, Sprint stores, CVS drugstores etc.