A pound of cookies in two days?
Just how long does it take to make a pound of Christmas cookies disappear?
For me, sadly, the answer is less than 48 hours. At around noon on Saturday I stopped at the Colby Lions Shelter to take pictures of St. Mary’s annual Christmas Festival. As I wandered around the room with my camera around my neck, one of the volunteers crept up to me and said “You aren’t going to leave without getting some cookies, are you?”
I glanced over at the seemingly endless table of multi-colored baked goods, and I could feel myself being reeled in. It didn’t take me long to fish out a five dollar bill from my wallet and start selecting various cookies for my styrofoam container.
By Monday evening, that container was empty, with just a few crumbs telling the tale of what used to be there. I hate to admit it, but I didn’t really have any help in reducing the pile to mere cookie dust.
When it comes to cookies, I’m not very picky. As long as they don’t have raisins in them, masquerading as chocolate chips, I’m usually down for whatever flavors you want to throw at my tastebuds. It doesn’t take much to make me happy when sugar, butter and other savory ingredients are involved.
I have a particular weakness for sugar cookies, especially ones that are decorated with various shades of frosting and other confectionery flourishes. If it’s made to look like a snowman or a reindeer, even better. There’s something about dismembering a cutout character, bite by bite, that makes me feel like a kid again.
I also like the deep brown cookies with the chocolate swirls in the middle. If you can manage to get a taste of chocolate in every bite, then you’ve really accomplished something. However, it is pretty tempting just to grab the chocolate swirl and devour it in one gobble.
Likemanypeople,Ihaveaspecialmindbody connection between the holiday season and sugary junk food. Things I would normally shy away from throughout the rest of the year — like candy and things with sprinkles — I’ll consume without much resistance during the months of November and December.
Two of my earliest Christmas-time memories involve cookies. One was my mother’s annual cookie-making party with her friends, after which she’d come home with several Tupperware containers full of delicious lumps of carbs and sugar. The other was the gingerbread man that our neighbor used to make for my brother and me just before the big holiday every December. We didn’t see that neighbor much throughout the year, but she always made a point of bringing over her homemade treat for us to enjoy on Christmas. Now, if I could only burn calories like I was 10 years old again.
OUT FOR A WALK
KEVIN O’BRIEN
EDITOR
