The Cookie Castle News
About Apple Trees And The Perfidious NFL
IN THE MAY 18, 2024 ISSUE
Royal Greetings From The Cozy Castle Kitchen
Food For Thought
Laugh of the Week
Product Review
— Vaeqozva Portable Blender
Household Hint
Recipe Of The Week
— Homemade Ravioli
A View From The Castle (News Commentary Blog)
— The NFL Supports Felons, Thugs & Rapists, But Not Christians
CookieQueen Entertainment
Cookie Queen Cookies & Cakes
Cookie Queen Cookbooks
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ROYAL GREETINGS FROM THE COZY CASTLE KITCHEN
Cash crop update: Last week I told you about ordering a banana tree and a columnar apple tree to add to my cash crop. They arrived quickly and as I was reading how to plant them I discovered two things I should pass along to readers just in case some of you decide to order fruit trees.
1. Deer like to eat the leaves of both the apple and the banana tree. So - if you want them to survive and produce bananas and apples and have an issue with deer, then you will need to find a way to protect them.
My neighbor Tony reported seeing 24 deer in his back yard one early morning last week. I’ve seen maybe three at a time - but 24?? Yikes. So now the trees have been put under the large net tent where I am growing my blueberry bushes to protect them from the birds.
2. If you want to get apples you need two trees, not one. And they must be different apple species so they can cross pollinate. Too bad the folks at Fastgrowingtrees.com did not tell me this when I called to speak with their “experts.” I would not have purchased two apple trees as I barely have room in the tent for one and two trees were not in my budget.
So - now what? I could not send back the apple tree since I did not order it from amazon (amazon takes anything back). I decided to follow one of my Grandmother Cordera’s adages. She often would say, “You spent 11 you may as well spend 12.” And too bad it wasn’t just $12. The trees are very expensive - $169!!
When I first ordered from Fast Growing Trees I got a great deal because I was a first-time customer, because I had a coupon code and they gave me free shipping. So I saved a lot of money. But now they wanted me to pay the full price of $169 for the second apple tree. When I complained that the banana tree arrived with mangled leaves they gave me a small discount and so I decided to look elsewhere.
I got my second columnar apple tree from a site called StarkBros.com. $50 and free shipping.
When the UPS guys delivered my apple tree they said they would be looking forward to getting an apple from me in the fall.
I told them this year they would have to settle for apple pie made with store bought apples as I seriously doubt I am going to see any fruit this year on the bare sticks now growing (hopefully) under my net tent.
This tent is in my FRONT yard. It’s the only place on my property where there is
enough sun to grow anything.
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
“Complaining about a problem without posing a solution is called whining,” ~~ Teddy Roosevelt
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LAUGH OF THE WEEK
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PRODUCT REVIEW
When there are several of my neighbor children visiting I often make smoothies for them in my big blender. But when they aren't here and it's just me - I don't want to get out the big blender to make just one drink. This Vaeqozva Portable Blender is just the right size for just me. It holds16 ounces and recharges (USB) quickly (about 3 hours). It’s strong enough to handle up to 4 ice cubes very well. I have used it to make healthy blueberry smoothies for breakfast, invigorating iced coffee for a lunch-time break and last night a great strawberry/vodka slushy. It charges quickly. It's easy to clean — it comes with a sponge brush and a straw brush. Whatever did I do before this item arrived at my house? I now know what I'll be getting for many of my friends and relatives for Christmas gifts. Highly recommended - especially for older folks who live alone.
$30 amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTMPQHFQ
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HOUSEHOLD HINT
Do not throw away catkins. What are catkins? If you have an Oak tree then you will notice your lawn is covered with them in early spring. Catkins are those long stringy things that fall from the oak tree. They carry the male flowers of the tree.
In years past I would sweep up barrels full of them and put them out with the trash. Big mistake. I should have been using them as garden mulch or put them in the compost pile. They also make great bottom of the pot filler when repotting plants. I used a lot of them to mulch my raspberry bushes. Some people say you can eat them. Nah — not doing that.
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Other helpful household hints can be found in the second edition of my book "Never Scrub Another Toilet- The Cookie Queen Tells you How to Keep your Castle Clean and Other Ways To Live Like Royalty."
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RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Store-bought ravioli are just awful. Tough. Tasteless. Boring. You really have not had ravioli unless you have had them home made. Long long ago when I was just five years old I recall watching my Grandmother Cordera making them. She made them often and the family loved them - but I think we took for granted the amount of work that goes into such an endeavor. It wasn’t hard work - it just takes a long time. I was not too keen on attempting to make ravioli until last week. I decided 73 years later it was time to do - not watch.
This recipe makes 124 mini ravioli — it was a five-hour adventure. And I had a lot of equipment that my Grandmother did not. She did not have an automatic mixer that could knead the dough. She mixed the dough in bowl with a spoon by hand. She did not have a pasta attachment for her mixer that would roll out the dough. She rolled the dough very very thin by hand. She did not have a ravioli “tray” or “mold” to form 24 at a time. She cut each ravioli by hand.
I had no idea how these would turn out and was surprised that they were wonderful. I’ll make them again too because it was fun and I loved sharing them with friends.
Ingredients for Filling
15 ounces Ricotta
1 cup grated parmesan
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 tsp white pepper
Dash of nutmeg
Dash of garlic powder
10 ounces fresh spinach cooked, drained, chopped
Ingredients for Dough
300 grams flour *
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. water
2 Tbsps. oil
Semolina
How To Make The Filling
* Make the filling the day before so there is plenty of time to dry the spinach. After I cooked it, I let it set in a colander for an hour and then I squeezed it with my hands. Then I placed it in between two layers of heavy duty paper toweling to dry more.
* When the spinach is very dry, chop or cut it into small pieces with kitchen shears.
* Mix all of the filling ingredients together in a bowl. Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight.
How To Make The Dough
* Using an electric mixer and the dough hook combine all of the dough ingredients and knead it for about 10 minutes until the dough is soft, shiny and easy to handle (not sticky). Cover the bowl and let the dough rest in a warm place for an hour.
* Sprinkle a work surface with semolina. Cut the dough ball into four pieces. Keeping the other three pieces covered, take one piece of dough and roll the ball into a 9” rectangle and then dock it three times. By docking I mean to fold the strip in thirds onto itself and then repeating the process two more times.
* Roll the dough until it is thin enough that you can clearly see your hand through it if you lift it up. You will roll it as long and as wide as you want to make the size ravioli of your choice. I was using the nifty ravioli mold (tray pictured below) so my dough was wide enough to cover the mold and twice as long. Cut the strip in half so you have a strip for the bottom and a strip for the top.
* Sprinkle semolina onto the ravioli mold. Lay one of the dough strips on the mold and press the bottom part of the mold on top of the dough to form the indents in the dough. Remove the top of the mold and fill each indent with the cheese filling. Using a small paint brush dampen all of the edges with water. Each square should be dampened with water on all four sides. This is very important — so that the top dough will stick to the bottom dough.
* Using the other half of the rolled out dough place it on top of the filling and press down firmly left to right and front to back with your hands to make sure the dough won’t wrinkle. Then using a firm rolling pin (I used a wooden rolling pin) roll across the dough so that the ravioli squares are formed. Press very hard.
* Turn the ravioli form over on a tray lined with parchment paper. The little squares should fall out of the mold. If they don’t, gently tug a bit on the dough and they all should come free.
* Using a dough cutter (pictured below), separate the ravioli that did not get cut by the rolling pin.
* Repeat this process with the remaining three dough balls.
* Allow the ravioli to air dry for about 30 minutes.
* Now you can either cook them immediately or freeze for future use.
* To cook ravioli, bring a large pot of salted water to a full rolling boil. Add however many ravioli you want to cook and bring the water to full boil again. Turn off the heat. Put a tight-fitting lid on the pot. Allow the ravioli to ”poach.” If cooking them from just made, allow them to poach for 6-7 minutes. If cooking them from frozen, allow them to poach for 15 minutes. Test one before removing all from the water with a slotted spoon. Be very gentle with them - these ravioli are going to be very tender unlike the frozen ones you get at the grocery store.
* Serve with your favorite red or white sauce. My favorite is the Gorgonzola Sauce.
* Note: if you want to make more dough than this amount be sure to use 1 egg for every 100 grams of flour.
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A VIEW FROM THE CASTLE (News Commentary Blog)
The NFL Supports Felons, Thugs & Rapists, But Not Christians
I have a bumper sticker on my car that proclaims “Defund Pro Sports.”
This from a person who grew up thinking that the NFL, NHL and MLB were akin to religion.
I grew up in a family where my parents were fans and followed football, hockey and baseball. And so I spent many hours watching on TV or listening on the radio to these sports with them.
I wasn’t just a fan. I was a FAN-atic. I had never missed one Pirate game since 1962. I followed the Penguins when they were so bad they gave away tickets to people like me who donated blood. I knew the life story of every Steeler player. I used to set my schedule according to what game was being broadcast. I had the tee shirts, the jerseys, the jackets, the ball caps.
And then after allowing sports to dominate my life for 58 years I quit watching, listening, following cold turkey.
Why? Because the players started that kneeling nonsense after the George Floyd riots in 2020. I was not about to follow, watch, listen to or buy stuff with the names of people on it that disrespected my Flag, my National Anthem, my Nation or my Police. No way. No how.
I just stopped. And if I had not already stopped, after what happened this week, I definitely would have quit football for sure.
While the NFL says nothing about players who are convicted felons, thugs and rapists the powers that be decided what they just can not tolerate is a Christian. A Christian who voiced his opinion,.
Last weekend Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker gave a commencement speech at a Catholic school — Benedictine College in Kansas — where he received a standing ovation. But the NFL took exception to his remarks.
To what did the NFL object? Butker, 28, a three-time Super Bowl champion, dared to encouraged women to prioritize the vocation of mothers, wives, and homemakers.
After clips of Butker’s speech went viral, NFL senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer Jonathan Beane, responded: “Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity. His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”
What a load of hooey. Puh-leeze!
Butker’s comments that elicited such revilement were these: “I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you. How many of you are sitting here now about to cross this stage and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world. I’m on this stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation.”
He also dared to criticize Brain Dead Biden for his support of abortion rights.
Butker, a devout Catholic and married father-of-two, wore a tie inscribed with the Latin phrase “Vulnerari Praesidio,” (translation: “to protect the most vulnerable).”
“To me, the unborn epitomize the most marginalized in our society. Devoid of a voice, lacking resemblance to humans, diminutive in size, they cannot advocate for themselves,” he said.
The reason the NFL responded was because the trolls on the internet went ballistic. More than 150,000 people signed a petition demanding the Kansas City Chiefs fire Butker for his comments. I would venture to say that most of the people who signed have no idea what the NFL is and they probably have never watched a football game. Most of them probably unfulfilled, unhappy, screechy whiny women.
But the NFL and the internet trolls should take note: sales of Butker’s team jerseys and jackets have skyrocketed. As of today Butker has the top-selling jersey on the Kansas City Chiefs site. And…..Tavia Hunt, the wife of Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, backed up Butker's view on motherhood. "Affirming motherhood and praising your wife, as well as highlighting the sacrifice and dedication it takes to be a mother, is not bigoted,” she said.
There are way more of We The People than the 1% who believe that the rest of us must compromise our beliefs to make them feel included.
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COOKIE QUEEN ENTERTAINMENT
As I reported in December, Bill Cellio who performed with The Original Class Act for 31 years died Dec. 22nd. Very sad. And we will miss him - but the show must go on. So - we are casting for another male singer who is retired as we do a lot of weekday daytime shows. We also have rehearsals in the daytime. If you yourself or you know of someone who would like to “be a star” please contact me ASAP. 724-339-0920.
The Original Class Act has been entertaining audiences for the past 31 years. We sing. We dance. We act. We'll make you laugh and some times there will be a tear or two as well as we perform music loved by mostly older folks.
The Original Class Act is available for both daytime and evening performances. We come with our own sound system. All we need from you is an audience, a space to perform and a nearby room to change costumes.
Just like the old movie story - a group of friends got together to “put on a show” for the church fun fair way back in 1992. We presented an entire program of Cole Porter music.
The three-day gig stretched into 31 years as the phone never stops ringing. Everyone wants to book our group for a retirement home, nursing home, church dinner, a women’s club or lodge meeting, family gathering. We perform for political rallies and just like the late Bob Hope, we even do benefits to raise thousands of dollars for worthy causes and we often do benefit shows at the VA in Aspinwall.
The Original Class Act performs throughout the tri-state area for groups from 10 to 3,000.
The group’s extensive repertoire features more than 2,000 songs including Broadway hits, country-music tunes, religious favorites, movie themes, Disney songs, patriotic anthems, inspirational hymns, and holiday favorites for just about every holiday - Christmas, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Fourth of July, Oktoberfest and Thanksgiving.
All shows are choreographed and costumed with members of the group making most of our outfits. This is a very talented bunch - at least that’s what audiences tell us after giving us rousing standing ovations.
You can book us for a date by phoning 724-339-0920 or e mail us at cookiequ@verizon.net.
Here is a list of our current programs. You may request a song list for any program:
* American Salute - Features patriotic songs, music from the Big Band era, Rock ‘n’ Roll hits from the 50s - music Americans love to hear.
* Best of Broadway - Have a favorite show tune? It’s probably in this program which features hits from dozens of Broadway shows.
* Classic Cole Porter - You’ll hum or sing along on every number. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll reminisce.
* Disney on Parade - Features songs near and dear to the young and the young at heart from all your favorite Disney movies.
* Everything’s Coming Up Flowers - New in 2018 - We developed this program for a show we did at Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh. All of the songs mention blossoms of some kind - roses, daffodils, lilies, hyacinths, crocuses. Come “Tiptoe through the Tulips” with us as we celebrate the beauty and musicality of flowers.
* Glorious Gershwin - From "Swanee" to "Our Love Is Here To Stay," the music of George and Ira Gershwin is best known for its versatility and singability.
* In The Good Old Summertime - A joyous celebration of summer with lots of familiar tunes.
* Irish Festival of Song and Dance - featuring traditional Irish favorites and some sing-along numbers too. We have new Irish costumes this year and can't wait to show them off.
* Love Changes Everything - Love songs from movies and musicals. As Cole Porter says, “Let’s Do It.” Time for romance and some song and dance.
* Lullaby of Bird Land - all songs that mention birds ….. blue birds, robins, doves, eagles, turkeys. A great program for springtime.
* Music From the Movies - Pick a movie - pick your favorite song. It’s probably in this show. Everyone’s welcome to sing along too.
* Oktoberfest - Get out your dancing shoes & warm up your pipes for a visit to old Germany. We bring the music, you bring the beer.
* One Woman, 20 Songs - A Tour de Force - Sometimes not all of our members are available for the date you want. Never fear - one of our members will be there. Pat - recently received rave reviews for her one-woman show. She sings, dances and presents a fashion show of costumes while performing her solos from each of the group’s programs. One attendee asked her, “Are you from Broadway?” Another told her, “I’d be willing to pay to see this show in Pittsburgh.”
* O Solo Mio - A Concert of Our Favorite Solos” - Members of The Original Class Act (and sometimes a guest performer too) have chosen their favorite solos to sing for you. There are songs from movies, Broadway, holidays and some inspirational music too. Maybe one of their favorites is one of your favorites.
* Showtime Showcase - This program features two dozen of our favorite numbers from all of the shows that we have done in the past 29 years.
* Let Us Lift You Up - New in 2022 - Traditional hymns and inspirational songs from Broadway and movies - including You Raise Me Up, El Shaddai, Scarlet Ribbons, To Where You Are, Roads, Lord of All Hopefulness, God of Our Fathers, The Lord's Prayer, O America, In God We Still Trust, All God's Creatures, Child of Peace, Hallelujah and songs from Sister Act, The Sound of Music, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell and The Hunchback of Notre Dame,
* Sound of Music - As the movie version of this beloved musical celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015 we salute it with songs we all know and love and invite our guess to join us in some all-time favorites: “Climb Every Mountain,” “Edelweis” and ”Do Re Mi.”
* Wizard of Oz - A great show anytime but especially for Halloween. The program includes music from the famous movie, the Broadway production of "The Wiz" and the Broadway Sequel - "Wicked." And - yes - we do have a Toto. Invite us over and we'll take you for an adventure as we Follow The Yellow Brick Road. The pictured Toto died in June - the new dog cast as Toto won't fit in the basket - but she can dance.
* December Holiday Festival - The show features traditional holiday music, some sing-alongs and lots of glitz and glamour in the many costumes changes.
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COOKIE QUEEN COOKIES
Reminder: If you plan to order Cookie Queen Cookies for Christmas -
my deadline is November 30th. See the list below for your options
Cookies. Cookies. Cookies. It’s one of the necessities when planning a wedding here in Western Pennsylvania. But not so in other parts of the country. I often deal with chefs at restaurants that hail from Southern and Western states and they ask me, “What’s with this cookie table at weddings?”
The custom is old world. European. Italian. Slovak. Cookies are expected. Back in the old country when a bride and groom would greet their guests to “collect” their gifts, they gave in exchange a small plate of cookies to take home. Many of these people who immigrated to the United States and mostly to the Eastern United States brought this custom with them.
You’ve probably wondered why little old ladies will stuff cookies in their purse before leaving a wedding reception. Now you know.
Anyway - it’s a nice custom and most area brides want cookies at their weddings. But how many should there be and what kind?
You know your guests better than I do. Are they cookie eaters or not? Are most of the guests in their 20s - these people usually are watching their weight. Are most of the guests men? Men like chocolate anything and they don’t like those dainty fussy cookies like Peaches. They want a brownie or a gob.
Are some of your guests children? They like smaller cookies - but lots of them.
Does the guest list include elderly women? They want the old-fashioned cookies like nutrolls, kolachi, pizzelles. And they want to take some home.
So - my stock answer is this: If you are having a sit-down meal and cake - then figure on a minimum of four cookies per person. Though - if you are Italian - you know in your heart it’s better to have too many than not enough, then figure on six per person. My cookies can be frozen IF there are any left over. If the cookies will be out before the appetizers are served, guests coming from the church will be hungry and will snarf down every cookie in sight and fill up and then they won’t eat the expensive meal. Try to discourage having the cookies out before dinner is served.
How many different kinds should you have? Not too too many because, when the nutrolls get raves and people start talking them up and then someone goes in search of a nutroll and there are none left - - bummer. It’s better to have fewer varieties and more of each cookie.
Here are some other questions often asked by prospective brides:
1. Do you tray cookies? Yes - but that costs extra for the trays and my time. I have spent six and seven hours traying cookies for big weddings. And you should ask at the reception hall. Some venues want to use their own trays for the cookies ... and they will charge you for this service. I prefer to tray them myself because sometimes folks who don’t know beans about cookies will put things on trays that just don’t go together.
For example, they will put anise pizzelles on a tray with other cookies. Once you put anise anything on the tray - all of the cookies taste like anise. Or they will put soft and crisp cookies together which means soon they all will be soft as the crisp ones absorb moisture from the soft ones. And then they all taste bad. And then there was the time that some dopey country club demanded that I have the cookies there on Friday morning for a Saturday evening wedding. As chance would have it, my singing group had a show at the same country club on Friday evening. Nosey as I am, I walked into the room where the wedding was to be held the following day and there were my wonderful cookies - already on uncovered trays with flies buzzing all over them.
2. Do you do “cookie favors” for the guests? Yes - and they are really nice. It’s a small box of six cookies. On the top of the box there is a pretty note thanking the guests for sharing this special day and then the name of the couple and the date of the wedding. These little boxes are usually a huge hit. One mother of the bride called me to say, “Those cookie boxes are all that people could talk about the next day at the post-wedding barbecue. Our out of town guests took them to their hotel rooms and enjoyed them late at night. Everyone raved about the cookies.” But I don’t do cookie bouquets? To get cookies to stay on a stick like that they have to be pretty darn hard. I don’t make hard tasteless cookies.
3. Do you make Peaches? No. No. Definitely no. I do not make anything that takes longer to make it than it does to eat it. Besides, have you ever seen how many of those half-eaten things get thrown out?
4. Do you make sugar cutout cookies? Yes - but only trees, stars and dog bones. My sugar cookies are so tender. If you want something with an appendage like a turkey neck or legs or arms they will break. Not doing those.
Current Cookie List
Amaretti $6
Amaretti (filled) $8
Apricot Delight $9
Biscotti $7
vanilla
almond
lemon
anise
Brownies $15
Chocolate Chip $7
Cho Chip/Pecans $8
Chipettes $7
Cho Mac $7
Coconut Mac $7
Cowboy Cookies $8
Fudge Dusters $7
Ginger Snaps $6
Gingerbread Cutouts $7
Gobs, Chocolate $6
Gobs, Pimpkin $6
Ladylocks $9 (8 oz)
LemonTarts (9)
Molasses Oatmeal $6
Molasses Raisin $9
Nutrolls $9
Oatmeal:
cho chip $6
plain $5
pecan/cc $8
apricot $6
cherry $6
raisin $6
Pistachio $6
Orange or Lemon (frosted) $5
PB OF $5
PB Cups $7
PB CC $6
Pecan Tassies $9
Piz - Anise $4
Piz - Vanilla $4
Piz - Filled $6
Pkin Cho Chip $9
Pkin Gems $7
Snickerd $8
Snowballs $9
Sugar - Ch Chip $6
Sugar - Pecan $7
Sugar - Trees $7
Blue stars $7
Thumbprints $9
Chocolate
Lemon Cream
Raspberry Cream
Vanilla Cream (can be tinted in your colors)
Triple Cho Chews $8
Weecakes $6
Buckeyes $9 1
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COOKIE QUEEN CAKES
It is most important that your wedding cake taste good. You want guests leaving your reception to say, “That is the best wedding cake I have ever tasted.” That is why you have chosen THE Cookie Queen to bake the cake for your Special Day. My cakes taste really good. I do not specialize in elaborate decorations.
I specialize in making “one of a kind” cakes. I do not have a portfolio of cake photos because I simply refuse to do any cake design twice. Each cake is unique and is designed for YOU alone. If you have a photo of what you would like your cake to look like, please bring it to our initial consultation or Email it to me (cookiequ@verizon.net) prior to your consultation to save time.
Here is a selection of the most popular Cookie Queen wedding cake ideas:
1. A two-tiered “show” cake with the 10” bottom to be cut at the reception and served at the head table and the 7” top to be frozen for the First Anniversary. Undecorated double-layer sheet cakes are served to the other guests from the kitchen. This way everybody gets icing. There are no center cuts.
2. Filled cupcakes and Weecakes (mini cupcakes) are ideal because your guests can choose their favorite flavor of cake and frosting. The tiered cupcake stands are very expensive and I have found them to be unstable - so I no longer use them. If you choose cupcakes, I recommend still having a small two-tiered “show” cake to cut at the reception.
3. A selection of 9” cakes in many different flavors: You can choose the usual chocolate, vanilla, marble or anything else you might want to have: carrot, spice, chocolate-cherry, chocolate- raspberry, German chocolate, rum cream, lemon cream, pineapple cream, peanutbutter-chocolate or a choice of your own. Cakes are on display where guests can select their favorite and cut their own slice.
4. 8” cakes on each table - so the guests can serve themselves at each table. This provides dessert and eliminates the expense of table centerpieces. But - there sometimes is wasted cake with this method. However - any leftover cake can be frozen for use at a later time.
Prices: based on the batter, filling, frosting and number of servings you will need.
Floral Decoration: I will coordinate with your florist and have them design the flowers or I will work with your colors and design the flower decorations myself.
Frosting: I do butter cream or whipped cream only. If you wish a smooth rolled fondant finish, please select another baker. The fondant may look nice but tastes terrible. Also I do not use “white” chocolate. There is no such thing and “white chocolate” has a strange after-taste. (FYI: White chocolate contains no chocolate liquor. It is a mix of cocoa butter, sugar, lecithin, milk solids and vanilla. Chocolate liquor is the brown paste leftover after the cocoa butter has been extracted from the cocoa nibs.)
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COOKIE QUEEN COOKBOOKS
The Cookie Queen has published three cookbooks: “Royal Recipes From the Castle of the Cookie Queen,” “Hassle Free Holidays” and “Never Scrub Another Toilet.”
To find out more about her books go to her Amazon Author’s Page:
amazon.com/author/thecookiequeen
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COOKIE QUEEN CLASSES
Did you know that the Cookie Queen teaches cooking classes? A gift certificate for a class here at the Castle would make a great holiday gift. I offer a whole host of classes from two to make bread to how to make pie crust to how to make dinner in 15 minutes. You can also design your own class. Tell me what you want to learn and I will teach you. And you can bring a friend or two.
But not more than 5 in a class. Fees depend on what we’ll be learning and how many will be participating. You can purchase a gift certificate by messaging me at cookiequ@verizon.net.
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This newsletter has been published weekly for the past 30 years. You can read some of the back issues on Substack. (
) Or message me for any back issues you'd like to read.