Poetry Friday: Cookie Monster

Writerly Friends, this week marked a Very Important national holiday.

...but save some for this week's Poetry
Friday hostess, Robyn Hood Black.

I am deeply embroiled in blogger Brenda Drake's Pitch Wars. This involves checking one's Twitter feed obsessively for clues about which manuscripts author/mentors selected for their teams. It feels like choosing sides for Writerly dodgeball.

All of the stress sent me searching for crunchy nibbles. According to Fit Today, "Stress eaters often go for crunchy foods because the force used to chew them relieves tension in the jaw, a place where we often build up stress."

Unfortunately, the Thanksgiving pies are gone. (Bethany's apple and blueberry pie with granola crumble topping was tangy sweet perfection.)

The Hanukkah latkes are but a memory. 

I am definitely trying this curried sweet potato latke
recipe from Parade magazine next year.

Christmas baking season is not quite upon us. There were no -- as in: not one crumb -- cookies in the house. Agony.

That's why I'm still celebrating National Cookie Day (December 4)! 

Last night, I came home from the store with three types of cookies. Keebler Fudge Stripes for the family -- they're not my favorite, so they're safe to keep in the house, Newton's Blueberry Brown Sugar Fruit Thins (fake healthy), and SnackWell's Fudge Drizzled Dobule Chocolate Chip Cookies 100 Calorie Packs (portion control).

But what I really want for coping with Pitch Wars stress is a good, home made cookie.

For the holidays, my children and I will make:

• Italian Biscotti
• Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies (from the Baltimore Sun's annual cookie contest -- trust me on this one, you will thank me later)
• Cinnamon Stars
• Robbie's Chocolate Chip Cookies
• and Paintbrush Cookies

The Paintbrush Cookies are part of Shovan family lore. But first, to whet your cookie apetite, here is a poem from the book Food Fight: Poets Join the Fight Against Hunger with Poems to Favorite Foods, edited by Michael J. Rosen.

On Good Reads.

Christmas Cookies

by Myra Cohn Livingston

Reindeer, stars, bells, Christmas trees--

all the cookies look like these

baked for Christmas, cut from dough,

frosted, sugared. Who will know

where we licked when icing dripped

and somehow Blizten's tail got nipped?

Who will guess we ate the bell

with chocolate sprinkles? Who can tell

we cut four stars a little thin

to put inside the cookie tin

so let's give Jennifer a taste.

Still, there's too much to go to waste...

To read the rest, you'll have to find a copy of Food Fight. It's out of print -- a sad thing because Food Fight is beautiful, fun, and filled with more goodness than an Oreo.

Many years ago, when I was a teenage poet, my family took off for a holiday ski vacation and left me and my recently 'scoped knee behind. I spent Christmas at my boyfriend's house.

What the heck was I, a mere college student with no bucks in the bank, going to get for my maybe future mother-in-law? And did I mention that when it comes to me and Christmas, it's complicated? 

Hanukkah was early this year, but our Christmas
baking usually looks something like this.

When I saw a set of Mary Englebreit cookie tins, a plan formed. I would buy those tins and I would fill them with home made cookies! For my boyfriend's Italian mother. Who is an amazing cook.

I dug out my mother's Betty Crocker's Christmas Cookbook (1983). Little did I know, reading the Paintbrush Cookies recipe, that a family tradition -- yes, that boyfriend was The One -- had begun.

I'm not going to share the recipe, delicious as it is, because it's not mine. Your favorite sugar cookie dough will work. The key is the paint.

Betty Crocker Paintbrush Cookies

Ingredients:

Your favorite sugar cookie recipe

Egg Yolk Paint (1 egg yolk, 1/4 tsp. water per batch)

Craft paint brushes (small)

Make or buy sugar cookie dough. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour. Heat oven to directions.

Roll the dough 1/8 thick on a lightly floured board. Got cookie cutters? Get out those bad boys! Some of our favorites are an elephant, an alligator, and a house. 

I'm waiting for someone to gift me with Ninjabread Men cookie cutters.

Cut out your cookies and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. We use parchment paper. Prepare Egg Yolk Paint: mix egg yolk and water, divide into several rammekins, tint each with a different food color. The paint should be bright. Add drops of water if the paint thickens.

Turn on a Brian Setzer's Christmas album. Make several mugs of hot cocoa. Sit around the kitchen table with your family, painting away the afternoon.

When the cookies are painted, bake  until they are delicate golden brown, about 6 to 8 minutes. Makes several dozen cookies.

One of my favorite poems to write with elementary and middle schooler is the food poem. Our focus isn't just describing a food using the five senses, but writing about a food tradition like Paintbrush Cookies. You can read a brief description of my food poetry workshop and some sweet student poems here. 

Wishing you a delicious holiday season and a happy Poetry Friday!