Here I am again. They won’t let me air my views on politics or religion or, in fact, anything controversial. All they do is pressgang me into writing commercials for Cookie Walk 2012. The Cookie Walk will be early this year. The event takes place on Saturday, December 1st from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
I know I write pretty good advertising copy, but that doesn’t mean that is all I want to do. I’m sure you would all benefit greatly from my 200 years-plus experience on a whole range of subjects from civil administration to church management.
Doesn’t the First Amendment apply to brass eagles? [No! Don’t get fresh! —Editor]
All I get is: “Isaac do me a favor and dig out some cookie recipes for the newsletter. You’ll find them in the files.”
It’s no easy matter for a brass eagle to schlep up to the Rector’s office, let me tell you. And when you get up there, can you find anything in the files? It’s hard enough to locate the blessed man’s desk, let alone unearth a filing cabinet!
Be that as it may, I’ve got nothing against the Cookie Walk. It makes a nice change of pace and it helps us all get in to the spirit of Christmas. But the fact of the matter is that my interest in it is entirely academic.
Brass eagles don’t cook cookies. Some might say life for us is all spit and polish. But that’s a very nasty concept. Actually we exist on a modest diet of brass polish and lemon juice. Expectoration (a posh way to say “spitting”) is a horrid, filthy, and disgusting habit. But I digress …
Brass eagles don’t cook so I can take no credit for the recipes I will be publishing in the coming weeks. But they all come from our famous Cookie Walk Cookbooks and from James Beard’s American Cookery Book—so we know they work! They are also firm favorites with the St. Stephen’s Cookie Walk crowd.
Among the first I shall be publishing is a batch of recipes for freezer cookies. You can make the dough in advance, freeze it, and bake to cookies in the week before the Cookie Walk.
One word of warning, however: The unbaked dough is delicious, so don’t let the children get at it. Not only will you have to start all over again, but you’ll have to put the kids on a diet before Christmas.
This year’s Cookie Walk Cookbook won’t really be a cookbook at all. Instead, we are going to publish a book of useful household hints. So bring you favorite household hints to church or email our editor Peter Threadgill (the best way): his address is mailto:petrus@ststeve.com. All hints must be in no later than Sunday November 11th. Thanks awfully!