checkers anyone?

I literally felt like the Pillsbury dough boy last Saturday. Except instead of churning out hundreds of the same cookies over and over again (and being poked in the stomach for fun), we made several varieties of cookies that I'd never made before. I have exceeded the Pillsbury dough boy's repertoire. View them and weep.

This plate of cookies includes a few varieties of shortbread cookies, linzer cookies, batons marechaux and gingersnaps. We also made a very toffee-ish cookie that I didn't bring home because it stuck to my teeth. 

My favorite of the bunch has to be the checkerboard shortbread cookie. This was the most time consuming cookie to make, but it's definitely eye-catching and was fun to prepare. To make these cookies, we mixed up three different kinds of shortbread and rolled them all out. Two of the shortbreads were then put on top of each other and cut into strips. Four of these two-toned strips were glued together with egg wash to make the square shape. Then the whole log was wrapped up in the third dough. These have to chill in the fridge for awhile before baking, but after they're chilled all you have to do is slice them up and bake for 7-8 minutes.

One day I will play checkers on a set of these. Have I mentioned that I love baking cookies? I can't wait to experiment with new recipes and even alter ones that I currently use based on my new knowledge of cookie characteristics. But in the meantime, I made homemade waffles for dinner last night. In my opinion, the Hungry Jack mix in our cupboard tastes just as good, but there is something satisfying about making waffles from scratch. And it's always nice to know exactly what's in the food you're eating.

ps. Greg made the whipped cream. A happy kitchen includes two newlyweds using mixers at the same time. And perhaps playing checkers on cookies someday.