The Party's Over! ~ <big>The Bee Skep</big>

The Cookie Baking Party is over, and the Baking Babes baked 27 different kinds of cookies to share with family and friends. Believe it or not, we counted every cookie and our grand total of all cookies baked was over 2900 (about 242 dozen)! Wow, that was more than last year. A BIG shout out to the girls, who worked very hard in accomplishing this fete. Outside of the oven getting really tired of baking tray after tray of cookies, for about 12 hours, the day went pretty smooth. Oh, and my decorator's Kristin and Rachel, all I can say is that they did beautiful work, professionals, should open up a bakery.

I have to say this is work, we get tired, our feet hurt, our bodies hurts, but at the end of the day I forget about it because it is worth every ounce of all that. Everyone ends up going home with a huge container, with a variety of cookies, and it's all done in one day. I call it organized chaos, but really everyone does have a job, my sister's job every year is cleaning up, she loves to do it and DO NOT stand in her way!

I start the party off every year with a light breakfast for all. This year, homemade sticky buns, homemade banana bread, store bought bagels and flavored cream cheeses (I can't make everything!), coffee, tea and OJ to get everyone revved up. And YES I have rules! As everyone is eating I read off the rules, everyone has to follow the rules or things get jammed up.

My niece, my sister and I got a jump start earlier in the week to get some of the baking done. We wanted to get some of the more time consuming cookies out of the way. Sugar cutouts, butter cutouts, gingerbread, ribbon cookies, some new cookies that we never made before, and the pignoli and pizzelles. We did the cutouts ahead, so my niece could start decorating them the day of the party, while everyone else was mixing and baking other cookies. Doing this saved a lot of time. She does a great job, she's so talented and creative! She was actually taking the time to get every nook and cranny of the cookies, I then went and purchased a pair of craft tweezers to make it easier for her. My great- niece Rachel (can you believe I have a great-niece?!, she's a lovely girl) jumped in later to help her cousin out with all the cookies, both are wonderful decorator's.

Pretty snow globe snowmen and snowwomen.

We decided to go a little crazy with color for the ribbon cookies, and I love it!

Matched up the jimmies/sprinkles and.....

.....look how pretty they are!

My sister is the pignoli cookie queen, she allowed me to help and showed me how they are done. These are one of my favorite cookies. Also very time consuming, but well worth it.

This is the ingredient table set up and ready for my bakers. Everything they need to make these delicious cookies. We went through 60+ lbs of flour, 30+ lbs of sugar, 30+ lbs of butter, 72+ eggs and a variety of other ingredients to make our fabulous cookies.

Utensil table for all to use. Everyone brings their Kitchen Aid mixers, baking sheets, measuring spoons and measuring cups, I provide extras if needed, and everyone has a cute apron. The apron below my friend Jennie had made for me, she's a doll! Everyone is also asked to bring an ingredient, flour, butter, sugar, etc.

This table is set up for my niece, the cookie decorator. Every jimmie/sprinkle imaginable as well as flavored sugars for her to use. This year I found lavender and orange ginger flavored sugars. The lavender sugar actually has lavender flowers in it and was so fragrant while baking!

These were the cookies we baked off beforehand, all lined up and waiting for her to decorate.

The red lidded containers in the background are also full of cookies for her to decorate, there were cookies everywhere, even under the tables in containers. And for the cookie decorator, what party is complete without a baking shirt? Gingerbread Gone Bad!

Chocolate thumbprint, sprinkled and then filled with caramel or fudge, sprinkled again with edible stars or topped with a gold or silver gilded pecan. These were gorgeous when they were done!

Another of my favorites and new this year...

Poinsettia cookies, more like a pastry but oh so good!

All the Kitchen Aids lined up with care. We could do a commercial for Kitchen Aid Mixers, the best mixer around! Ten of my favorite family members and friends, I love them all!

We had red, green and white for the holiday season, hahahaha! It makes me happy to see them all lined up and mixing cookies, call me crazy, but I love this party! Relatives and friends coming together around the holidays is always fun.