A Welcome Diversion (or two or three)

Few things start a weekend better than a fresh batch of cookies.  The craving?  Caramel Dream, my very own cookie recipe, which I dreamed up over the summer.  But first, some details:

A wet paper towel...yum!

Wet a paper towel.  Just trust me on this one.  I am going to teach you a trick that my friend, Chef Jason (Nejberger) taught me.  (I admit I was completely embarrassed that I did not know it already.  I comforted myself with:  That's why he's the chef.)  If you are going to use a cutting board (and to make the Caramel Dream cookies, you are), first wet a paper towel and put it on the counter and then put the cutting board on top of it.  Viola! Your cutting board won't slip.  Your fingers and thumb will thank you. 

Now, let's get down to business.  After you fix up your cutting board, you'll need chocolate and vanilla caramels:

Caramels for now...Giacobean coffee for later

Each of these little beauties needs to be unwrapped...you may eat two (2) of each flavor.  No more. No less.

So modest in their wrappers...

...yet oh so irresistible

Yes, the chocolate ones will be messy. You must eat the crumbs.

Now get out the big knife (and if you are not thinking of Nicolas Cage in Moonstruck, you should be), and quarter all of them.  Yes, it takes a little time, but it's so very worth it.  I promise.  It's not hard...You'll need 1/2 cup of the chocolate caramels and 1/2 cup of the vanilla ones.  Once the little morsels of delight are quartered, put them in the freezer for 30 minutes.  You'll be tempted not to, I know.  You'll want to forge ahead, moving straight to the baking.  Patience, my friend.  Patience.  If you do not freeze the caramels now, then when you bake them, the mess will be much greater than you ever imagined possible.  Freezing the caramels makes them behave better during the baking.  I learned this the hard way. 

Oh no!  You quartered more than 1/2 cup!?  You may eat the difference. You're welcome.

I had just put the caramels in the freezer, and things were humming along nicely in the kitchen, when the doorbell rang.  

It was Frank and Omar, the delivery guys.  They had driven up from Texas with 9 boxes (9!) of irreplaceable treasure from my parents.  

I was no longer Betty Crocker.  

 I was Ralph Phillips in Looney Tunes, 

Ralph Phillips in From A to Z-Z-Z-Z

but instead of daydreaming about being a bird, I was daydreaming about the boxes.  Full of treasure.  I should have known perfectly well what was in those boxes (I packed them a few months ago), but I can't remember what I had for breakfast, much less what I did months ago.  I knew it was good stuff, but I just couldn't remember exactly what all the good stuff (NINE BOXES!) was.  Looking at these boxes made me realize:

I could go for what is behind Door #1 (bake cookies) or go for what is behind Boxes #1-9.  BOXES!  I totally went for the boxes and forgot all about those caramels in the freezer.  Did I mention there were 9 boxes?  I was a little excited.  

Here is what I promise:  I will not include photos and lists of all the treasure I found.  However, I will delight you with important cookie treasure from my mom, to wit:

Peanuts! (hypo-allergenic)

Hosting bridge club this week?  Surely you'll want to make sugar cookies that are perfectly suited to the occasion.

No less than 3 (THREE!) vintage cookie decorating presses.

My well-planned cookie baking was way off track.  I was in deep and not likely to correct course anytime soon.  (Other people, like Victoria Elizabeth Barnes, welcome diversion as well.  It's not to be confused with distraction, an entirely different thing.)  

Suddenly, a little voice in my head was saying, "You know, you have a pretty big collection of cookie cutters."  And I was saying back to myself, "No, I don't.  I don't collect cookie cutters."  And the voice said, "Yes, you do.  I dare you to take them all out."  And just like the 4th grade boy on the back of the bus who can't say no to being dared to aim a spitball at the back of the cute girl's head, I say to myself:  "Fine.  I'll do it!"  Which is how I found myself taking a picture of these:

All my cookie cutter friends

I bet you don't have one of these:

That's the Cassini satellite. Space cookies!

Here are the best in show:

My elephant, plain

My elephant, pink and sparkly

I'm a little tea pot...

I'm a little tea pot all gussied up.

Then I stopped and took a deep breath and thought:  I do have a lot of cookie cutters.  Funny how that happened.  I could make sugar cookies now that they are all out.  But sugar cookies don't have chocolate, and I really wanted chocolate.  And chocolate means caramel chocolate chip, which means: I needed to check on the caramels, which had been in the freezer for hours.  Which makes me realize: some days are about the diversions.  If you are lucky enough to have one, go with it.  The cookies can wait.