Welcome to Cookie Box Season 2023 🍪✨
A little background, and insight into what I'm doing to get started this week.
👋🏼✨ Hello and welcome to cookie box season 2023! This will be my fourth year personally baking + gifting cookie boxes during the first weekend of December. It’s something I look forward to for months, and I typically start doing small amounts of prep each week starting November 1st to ensure things go smoothly and don’t turn stressful. (Cookies should never be stressful).
Each week I’m going to use this space to explain what I’m doing to prepare, share resources / tips / recipes / inspiration, and hopefully highlight how the process is going for people who are joining in (micro cookie community!?)
Whether you’re making cooking boxes of your own this December (I dare you!) or just interested in an in-depth look at the process, I’m really glad you’re here. ❣️
This week’s entry is going to read like a midwestern meal prepping blog, starting with my life’s story as it pertains to cookies, followed by practical advice + cookie box homework for this week (hint: we’re going to focus on getting inspired first) Feel free to skip around as you please 🤲🏼
Me + Cookies
Like many others, I started baking frequently in 2020. I took an “everything but bread” approach (aside from banana 🍌), working my way through countless chocolate chip cookie variations, cakes, pies, pastries, flan (make this one from Nadiya Hussain, the layers literally trade places in the oven, it’s magic). But mainly, cookies.
While I’m newer to identifying as a “baker” I have always been a cookie person. In fact, here’s a highlight reel of The Cookies of My Life.
Early 2000’s - Kitchen-sink “cowboy cookies” (similar recipe)
My Grandma Hope made these for us when we visited her farm in Fredonia, Kansas. Crunchy, salty, my first encounter with butterscotch.Late 2000’s - Blue Chip cookies
My family would always pick up a box when we visited Kansas City. I dream of their dense, almond-y frosted sugar. Solid cookies made special by road trip anticipation.2012-2014 - Mrs. Slade’s classic chocolate chip cookies
My beloved high school psych teacher Mrs. Slade would bring these to class. I managed to coax the recipe from her when I graduated, the secret was an entire cup of lard <3 Cohesive + pillow-y (probably because of all the lard)2015 - Mom’s Pecan Tassies (similar recipe)
My mom shipped me a tin of these for my 19th birthday, my first away from home. I weeped in my dorm while I ate them, homesick and nostalgic. Tiny & nutty & perfect.2018 - “The Cookie” sold at the Met Market in Seattle (similar recipe)
I ate this massive cookie often during grad school (sometimes for dinner). As big as a pb&j, this is the most decadent chocolate chip cookie imaginable, ladened with walnut chunks. (I’ve attempted to replicate, and gotten close I think).
Why cookie boxes?
There’s a lot of reasons why cookies are my favorite baked good to make and to gift. Here’s a few of the big ones.
Cookie recipes are accessible. A majority of cookie recipes are something like “put a few things in one bowl, put a few things in a different bowl, combine them, form cookies, and bake.” Even if you don’t identify as a regular baker, you can do this.
Cookie recipes are flexible. Something I love to do is to take a classic, simple, easy cookie recipe, and think of ways I can make it more exciting or artful like:
forming individual cookies into unexpected or varied shapes
use cookie stamps to create intricate patterns on top
leverage the exciting world of food coloring (I love buying the small 1oz bottles from AmeriColor in funky colors to have on hand)S
Cookies are relatively quick. In general, I’d say the effort I put into baking one decorated cake is similar to the effort I put into making 2-4 cookie box recipes. Bang for your buck!
Cookie boxes are like opening several, tiny gifts. And everybody knows it’s more fun to open several small gifts vs. one big guy (at least that’s true for me).
A cookie gift screams “I love you.” There’s nothing like receiving a handmade gift. To know that a loved one spent quality time making you something unique is really special. (My bestie Emma is the queen of special, homemade gifts. Check them out here).
Close-ups from 2022
Week 1: Inspiration
Okay let’s get down to business. It’s obviously early in the process. If you’re doing cookie boxes this year, your focus this week should simply be to get inspired. We’ll focus on baking skills and logistics in future weeks.
Your homework (I did all of these over the past few days):
Go to a local bookstore or library’s baking aisle, and pull every cookbook that looks like it has cookie recipes inside. Flip through them, read them. There’s something unique about looking at recipes in the cookbook-format.
Think about the cookies that have made an impact on your life. Which feel the most nostalgic and why? What made them so special?
As a friend the same questions.
Explore bakers on Instagram and Pinterest. I love seeking out creative bakers who push the limits of what a cookie can be. A few examples to start with: @lanibakes, @constellationinspiration, @easygayoven, @thedeeperlivingeats
As you complete some of the activities above, keep a running list of recipes or types of cookies that capture your attention. Try to avoid thinking about how hard they might be to bake etc, and just collect ideas + reactions. We’ll worry about the details in future weeks.
That’s it for this week. If you’re planning on baking this year, I would love to be aware! Drop a comment here or message me. I may reach out to check in along the way ❣️
See you next week,
This made me so happy reading 🤓 can’t wait for more!