Visions of Christmas Cookies in July

                                         Gingerbread Cookies for my favorite time of year!

It's another very humid and hot day. I wish I could enjoy the warm summer days, but as a baker surrounded with hot ovens and cookies, my daydreams wander to the cooler days of fall and winter.
July is always the slowest month in the gift giving business and Country Cupboard Cookies is no exception. People are vacationing, swimming and grilling outside. Sending a gift of cookies is far from their minds. Yes, we do still bake daily and ship, though only 3 days a week, so the fresh baked cookies arrive without sitting over the weekend. But still....

 So, every July when the orders are slow, and I'm complaining a lot about the heat, my thoughts go to creating new Christmas Cookie Gifts. I fall in love with holiday ribbons and gift boxes. I think of new cookie flavors, a butter pecan shortbread cookie or maybe a salted caramel chocolate chip cookie. We just purchased some new grosgrain ribbons from a new supplier I found, Rabom, or Ribbon and Bows, Oh My! I just love the name, and their ribbons are fabulous. If you get some time, check out their site.  It's called Ribbon and bows oh my. Grosgrain ribbons so easy to use for tying gift box bows and we absolutely need EASY during the Holiday Rush. I will be posting a few gift boxes with the ribbons in the next couple of weeks.

                                          Holiday Cookies and Brownies Gift 

This is a deluxe cookie brownie combo designed for a Christmas Cookie Gift that will keep a large crowd happy. The variety is wonderful, including cookie flavors such as Chocolate Chip, Snickerdoodle, Cranberry White Chocolate, Decorated Gingerbread Boys, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and Double Chocolate Chunk. Deep dish brownies keep the chocolate lovers content and the packaging is classic with chocolate browns and copper and gold. This size of gift is a good choice for a corporate gift or for a large family.

Cookies for Christmas! 

I love decorating sugar cookies with cut out shapes of Christmas trees, stockings and ornaments. But  old-fashioned chocolate chip, peanut butter and snickerdoodle cookies are also good choices as cookie gifts for holiday gift giving. The nostalgia of a favorite homemade cookie is especially wonderful during the holidays when family and friends visit. Combined with a cup of hot cocoa or glass of milk, a soft and chewy cookie is a perfect dessert or a welcome snack. 

So don't forget to bake up a batch of Chocolate Chip cookies this Holiday Season! A topping of red & green M&M's will bring a holiday touch if you like, or try adding a handful of premium chocolate chunks or cranberries to your chocolate chip batter. 

HAPPY BAKING!

Valentine's Day and Cookies!

 Valentine's Day is coming in a couple of weeks, so we've started baking some of my favorite Cookies of the season. We are already shipping yummy Valentine Cookie Gifts for Birthday and other gift occasions, but most of the cookie orders will ship the week of February 10th. These chocolate sugar hearts are not to be missed this year. The chocolate sugar cookie dough is not too sweet and is mixed with butter, sugar and Belgian cocoa, so they taste divine. I love the contrast of the white icing on the chocolate sugar cookie and the red and pink colors just pop on these hearts.

 Mini sugar cookies are very popular lately. They are the perfect treat for those times you are looking for a bite or two of something sweet! Plus they are just plain cute. I definitely overuse the word "cute" but it's the first word to come to mind when I see these little sugar hearts piped in royal icing and topped with sparkling sanding sugar. We offer these hearts in bags of 12 cookies and they are packaged with our classic cookies such as chocolate chip, white chocolate cranberry ( oatmeal based and so good), double chocolate chip and snickerdoodles! If you're looking for a Valentine's Day Cookies gift for someone special, consider a gift box with homemade cookies. You can't go wrong.

 {New} this year, are these mini ( cute, too) sugared hearts. We've baked the sugar cookies with a ruffled edge, frosted them with royal icing and dipped each cookie in a bright color of sanding sugar. I just love the bright new colors!  We decorate using classic valentine colors of red, pink and white sugars, but also blue, purple and orange. I can just imagine someone opening this gift box to find these colorful cookies inside! The 2 inch heart cookies are  perfect for sharing and there are 2 dozen in each gift box, so there are plenty to go around if you were sending to an office or family. Kids in particular, I think, would enjoy these Sugared Valentine Heart Cookies.

We love baking cookies for Valentine's Day, but the packaging can be just as much fun. This white gift box is stamped with a small heart and tied with red grosgrain valentine ribbons. We line each gift box with a valentine printed tissue paper and fill it with white or natural kraft shred. Each gift box is then wrapped in bubble wrap and packed in a sturdy shipping box for a perfect Valentine Cookie Delivery by February 14th!