“That’s a Good Cookie” – The Secret Revealed

I’m going out on a limb here and writing a post not centered on any pictures. But hopefully, it will be worth it for you.

My niece, CA, was eating one of my cookies the other day (I tend to ice a spare cookie and put her name on it, like any good aunt would). On this particular day, she looked at me in between bites and said, “NiNi, you put your secret in here, didn’t you?” I just love some of the things that come out of her mouth. This happens to be a perfect example. It just made me smile. I’ve never told her that my cookies have a “secret” ingredient. She just assumed that because she loved it so much, it must have a secret ingredient.

I used to think the taste of my cookies wasn’t the most impressive part about my cookies, even though my dad has always said that they’re the best cookies in the world. Of course, I just thought he was saying that because, well, he’s my dad. The rest of my family raved about them too, but once again, they’re my family, they’re just being nice, right?

Well, now that my cookies are getting around, I feel like I’m getting some unbiased feedback. I’ve had basically the same comment from two different people – who aren’t related to me – say that they loved my cookies and they’re not “easily impressed”. My dad gave a cookie to a friend of his who is a hobby chef (not sure that’s a real phrase, but you get my drift). After every bite, he said “That’s a good cookie” with a growing intensity. I have several people not in my family who are a bit fanatical about them. I promise I don’t put any addictive drugs in them, as I’ve been accused. Although, at times I have felt a bit like a dealer. My friend, who we’ll just call “J”, placed two cookie orders and at the end of discussing what she wanted them to look like she said, in a hushed tone, “And can you make me like, 6 extra? I don’t care what they look like.” And if you saw the way my brother-in-law rummages around looking for any extra cookies or witness his reaction to when I don’t have any to spare, you might call him a junkie.

Honestly, my cookies don’t have a secret ingredient. It is one of the most basic cookie recipes I’ve ever come across. I have tried more complicated sugar cookie recipes - Martha’s, Betty Crocker’s, but they weren’t any better, in my opinion. So, I stuck with the simpler one. It just contains the basics – butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, and vanilla. The only thing that I can think of that would make them extra special is that I use good quality ingredients, especially the vanilla. As for the icing, I use the royal icing recipe that comes with the Wilton meringue powder – confectioner’s sugar, meringue powder (essentially dried egg whites) and water. Pretty basic. 

Well, the point of this post was not just to take a bite off my own cookie but to make an announcement. My friend, Kari, made the suggestion that I offer my iced cookies that aren’t decorated fancy at a lower price - for those who want some Sweet B’s cookies, but don’t necessarily have an occasion to celebrate. She might be on to something. I think I’ll take her up on that suggestion. So, I’m now offering what I call Iced Whites. A baker’s dozen iced white medallions (that’s a fancy word for circle) for $10. I need about 3 days to make them – it’s still a process, you know. And I’m thinking from time to time, I’ll offer an Iced White Sale – where I have several dozen to sell, first come, first serve. As for those of you who are going to ask about shipping – I can try doing the priority mail thing for $5 plus the cost of the box and cushioning. I usually use UPS, because I know exactly when it will get to you, and I feel like they take better care of my packages. But I’m willing to give USPS a shot with the Iced Whites.

So, to those of you that were hoping to learn my “secret”, I hope you’re not disappointed that you didn’t get any real answers. I’m sure I didn’t disappoint any of my addicts, who can’t wait to get there hands on some Iced Whites!! Now that Iced Whites are out of the bag, I should probably go stock up on dough… happy mixing to me!

Just so you'll know how plain the are -

But feel free to dress them up yourself!

You didn’t really think I would post without any pictures, did you?