As I have iterated and reiterated ad nauseum, I’ve been baking cookies. This might very well be the last Christmas I bother. Do you know about Magic Bars or Hello Dollies? They’re graham cracker and butter crusts with sweetened condensed milk and coconut and nuts and chocolate chips,etc, bar cookies? I can’t make them to save my life. No clue what I’m doing wrong. The last batch were runny and when I let them set, I had to practically chip the suckers out with a chisel. I call that a big fail, don’t you? And, I don’t have pictures. My photographic skills are pretty lousy to start out with and adding in the failure aspect makes it just annoying as h*ll. It is a bit humiliating that I screwed up the easiest cookies to make. le sigh.
Yesterday was Christmas day and it was sunny and 50. Delightful. Because it was Sunday, I went to church, and because it was Christmas, church was quite relaxed. Our pastor (who rocks,by the way) and his lovely wife (who rocks, by the way, as well) hosted a pre-church smorgasbord of delights and brought their puppies, Max and Bear. My D and J brought their little guy, Y, and I brought Mr. Massive, the Grove. Does this picture look blurry to you, too?
Me, too. The puppy pre-church greeting time was seriously blurry. Three young dogs and Grover. He greeted them all and wandered around a bit, and then, in typical Grover fashion, started working the room and greeting the humans. After the initial shock of the “big dog”, the puppies pretty much accepted Grover and played with each other. That is, all but Bear. Bear decided to challenge Grover for “Big Dog” status. It was so cute. Lord, I love puppies. His big challenge was to kind of nip at Grover and bark like mad. Cracked me up. After the pre-church puppy greeting time, we all traipsed into the sanctuary. The little guys were amazingly well behaved (except for just one time when Bear was in the aisle and caught sight of Grover and just absolutely HAD to bark at him). When Grover was finally so exhausted he couldn’t keep going. He laid in the aisle with his Christmas bow.
That is one exhausted pup. Poor Sweetie. We came home and he went outside and had a snack, and hit the night-night bed for a long winter’s nap;-D
I will leave you with my favorite picture of the boy (I’m thinking Christmas cards next year…..hahahahahahahahahahaha…a joke since I’m notoriously bad about sending out cards)
And, since I have the day off work (YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), I’m going to go take my big boy out for a nice walk in daylight. You all have a wonderful Monday. And, my soundtrack for today? “Monday Monday” by the Mamas and Papas. Enjoy!
The picture of Grover would make a lovely card (you could always go with an e-card). Company’s coming here today for a couple of days, so Toby will have the big dogs to play with – last time, the cats were even OK with them. Enjoy your day off!
I’m not much of a baker, either. Everything is usually over-baked and hard as a rock. There must be a secret to knowing when the time is right. I think it’s right I stay out of the kitchen.
It’s warm (42), sunny (slight haze) and beautiful. Feels more like early March than late December. Happy Monday off work!! It’s a day to play with no obligations!
Cindy, I bought lots of cookies this year. Nobody lamented the absence of my slaved-over offerings, so it may be the way I roll next year too! I absolutely adore Grover and I think that picture should be on birthday cards, Valentine’s Day cards, etc. too… don’t just limit the pup’s adorableness to Christmas.
Love that doggie! And you, of course.
Hmmmmm… baking is just chemistry. I wonder if you had the temp wrong on the butter or something. Did you line your pan with parchment paper? That helps with the chipping away.
I hope you’re having a wonderful day off.
Anymore I look at recipes, easy or not, and instead of imagining how great they will be if I tried them, I picture the disaster that would ensue and have a good laugh at my imaginary finished product. Of course there’s less to blog about that way… I love dogs I know that they are messengers of God. Grover in front of the church-it’s just natural. P.s. what is your job if you feel like telling me?
Never tried the magic bars myself. I just did drop cookies, so I just throw in ingredients into my stand mixer in order then just use my cookie scoop. thank goodness I halved all the cookie recipes because there was just waaay too much! I ended up with a tummy ache from over indulging on Christmas day. Need to get back on track! I loooooove Grover’s little Christmas bow, he looks so cute
that’s so nice that you can take him with you to church! Just a 3 day workweek for me this week and one already taken care of today, yippee!
I’ve never made magic bars, but they sound fussy. I saved myself the hassle of baking this year and let Lubeley’s Bakery do it for me. It was very convenient, but more than I think I want to spend next year.
Grove is such a handsome boy. You should definitely use that as a Christmas card, or e-card as Joy suggested.
The Magic bars sound tasty….but way beyond my skills.
I usually don’t bake due to attention issues (meaning I get bored, wander away and burn them) but I managed to bake quite a bit this year. Wierd.
Love the pictures of our pooch Grover!
I’m laughing out loud at your saying your horrible at mailing cards. Right now I’m sitting next to a box that I thought I mailed to you 2 years ago!!!! Bwa ha ha ha ha. Maybe soon….Maybe. he he he.
Loving the idea of Grover’s photo on a card, be it Christmas or… and email card idea is fabulous.
Have never baked those cookies.
I did several days of baking cookies, bars, breads and then gifted them asap, just does not bode well having them tempting me 24/7.
Love you, and Grover, and Ms.StinkyTigerButt!
xoxox
ps the weather has been amazingly mild the past few days!!