This picture depicts a cute, quick little project doesn’t it? Ahh, my friends, if only that were true… I would have been a lot less tired at Jack’s preschool graduation.
The project started just like any other – an order of 80 cookies from an absolutely delightful and encouraging staff member at Chapelgate PCA, the church that graciously allows me to use their licensed, insured kitchen, and invited me to speak about malaria and Child Alive at a recent event. The order was for Sunday School teachers so we worked from a “sowing the word” theme – hence the watering cans and seeds.
If this were in a gallery, we would title it “World’s Most Impractical Cookie Cutter”. Can you imagine what happened when I attempted to lift cookie #1 of 80 onto the baking sheet? And consider the baking time differential between that skinny spout and the rest of the cookie. Even if I properly managed those difficulties, how in the world would I transport 80 of those ridiculously delicate cookies from Chapelgate to home for decoration, back to Chapelgate for the the donor, and eventually to the final recipients?? What was I thinking when I ordered it??? As we tell our kids sometimes – I was NOT thinking.
I really had no choice but to reshape each of the watering can cookies into the final shape above before transferring them to the baking sheet. Generally I can cut out 300-400 cookies in an evening at Chapelgate. This particular evening, I barely managed 120.
Believe it or not, the cookie cutter fiasco was my *second* major mistake on this project. The first was all too typical for me – I spoke before thinking. When brainstorming ideas, I mentioned that if we chose this theme, I could do 80 bags of two cookies each – seeds and watering cans together. “Wouldn’t that be cute?” I thought naively. For an order of a dozen or a couple dozen, doing a complementary cookie is not a big deal and I often do it. But that flippant offer turned an order of 80 cookies into an order of 160 cookies! To quote Dana Carvey quoting George Bush, “Not prudent”.
As I type this, it occurs to me that there is a third major mistake going here – I never got an invoice out on this order! But… when I get it out and the check comes back, we will have earned about 8 more nets for those who desperately need them. No matter how poorly a project goes, whenever I write that last paragraph, it all seems worth it. It is.
Bonus pictures that were mixed up in this batch of downloads:
Yes, I can see that the watering can could be difficult, but the project turned out well.
Oh, Becky, I love these! The theme is too precious and I think they turned out amazingly well. The only thing cuter than the cookies is your little helper:)