It's that time of the year again when I begin to think of what cookies I will bake for my office's cookie exchange; as well as the cookies I give out during Christmas.

To help me in my quest in determining what recipes to use I came across an article in Gourmet Magazine on the best cookies from the 1940's to present.

The article had a lot of interesting cookies I had never heard of and some standard ones as well.




Photo from Gourmet Magazine

The upcoming elections are on everyones minds. It is an exciting time in American history if not world history. So much so that food establishments are getting in on the action. 7-11 has a line of cups with the candidates names on them and Zaros has made cookies with the candidates faces on them. Thanks to the hubby for the tip.







Photos from feistyfoodie.blogspot.com and 7-eleven.com

I had a cookie exchange this week at work. I made Joellen's Chocolate Devil's food cake cookies, Mommas soft sugar cookies and sugarless oatmeal cookies. A big hit. So big of a hit they didn't make the picture. I got back some fabulous cookies as well:Linzer cookies, chocolate chip, white chocolate and cranberry oatmeal cookies and sugar cookies.

Niel came back from another run to Trader Joe's this week but this time with a box of Candy Cane Joe Joe's. They are chocolate sandwiches filled with peppermint cream. And oh my are they a tasty treat!

He also said they have good beef jerky and I love their Olive Boule.(Boule Boule ooooh yeah) I swear we do buy some healthy things there. I mean doesn't the Olive Boule count? And the Jerky doesnt have any nasty bits in there. That counts right? Right? But seriously even if you did buy junk foood at Trader Joe's it is way healthier.

The Secret Life Of, on the Food Network is a program about the history of various types of food or food related items. Over the holidays they had one specifically for Christmas. One of the topics was cookie stamps/molds. Originally wood was used to create beautiful and intricate designs on cookies. No one knows where the idea for molds originated. Later on cookie cutters took over the role of dressing up cookies. Cookie presses, rolls and stenciling are all other options for having sprucing up cookies. But you can still find wooden molds (which are pricier), or purchase its cheaper varieties of clay and Resin. Italians also have a method for decorating cookies using an waffle iron. These cookies are called Pizzelle. I found a Pizelle, Christmas and Easter cookie mold set a long time ago to add to my cookie cutter set. I recently found a few website you can purchase them. I think the molds are a nice addition to a cookie cutter collection and of course helps to make cookies pretty in addition to being tasty.