Cookie Friday

Some related thoughts:

1) When I was a teenager, my house was not the go-to house for hanging out. My small group of friends always gravitated towards Jason's house. His parents frequently joined us around the kitchen table to play games or to whip up a pan of brownies at midnight. I don't mean to diminish or minimize the fun-factor of my mom or the lack of games at my own house; I just have an older sister that is severely handicapped and had to be in bed early and it's too hard to keep a bunch of teenagers quiet late at night.

2) My younger sister, Wendy, has a 14- and an 11-year-old boy and is just beginning the hungry-teenage-boy phase of her life. We've talked about how her kids and their friends come over and raid the pantry and cause her a little bit of a heart attack at how much food they can eat. Would it be OK to charge a cover fee at the door for teenage boys?

3) My cousin lives in Hawaii and for several years she has made cookies for all the elementary-school kids every Friday. She lives one block from the school and every child walks by her house on their way home for cookies each Friday. And I say this in all seriousness: she was Mother-of-the-Year for the state of Hawaii a few years back. No kidding.

With these three thoughts in my head, I decided to have Cookie Friday this past school year. I'm hoping to create a home where my kids and their friends like to be. This can be a little difficult for me, because sometimes I don't want kids at my house. Then I think, "I'd rather my kids be at my home than somewhere else. At least I know what they're doing." And truthfully, Cookie Friday has been as much for me as for my kids: I totally love visiting with parents who stop for a cookie as well.

Some varieties we've made:

• Chocolate Chip Oatmeal, of course (I love the recipe in "Favorites" cookbook)
• Coconut Cookies with Orange Juice frosting (a surprise favorite among the kids)
• Cinnamon Oatmeal
• Rolo Cookies
• Chocolate Cookies with Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Chips
• Coconut-Lime Sugar Cookies (my personal favorite)
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip (bought from a bakery because I can't stand those cookies and couldn't bear to make them, but thought they'd be appropriate for Fall)
• Peanut Butter cookies
• Sugar cookies with Orange glaze and Chocolate drizzle (way too much work and I've decided I don't dig chocolate and orange together)
• Banana Whoopie Pies
• Peanut Butter Cups
• Gingersnaps (fantastic and soft!)

There's only one more Cookie Friday! Stop by on June 3 around 1:00 for a treat.

(taken by my 5-year-old neighbor. I made the cookies and the apron!)

P.S. I'm sorry if you think I'm contributing to the obesity-among-children outbreak in America.

P.P.S. Some inspiring quotes: "To nurture and feed your family physically is as much an honor as to nurture and feed them spiritually." --Julie B. Beck. "Children need kindness and refreshment and affection. Every home, regardless of the cost of the house, can provide an environment of love which will be an environment of salvation." --Gordon B. Hinckley.

P.P.P.S. I love, love making people happy with food.