No other month in the year can boast of "sugar and spice and all things nice" like December can. Ovens around the blog world are currently working overtime baking cakes, pies, and sweet treats for the Holidays. Cookies are always a vital part of the Holiday baking. Every country has its own cookie specialty and very family have their own recipes for baking such specialities.
To celebrate the Holiday baking season I would like to get all my friends and readers together to join me in this month's Monthly Mingle and bake cookies. Not just any cookies mind you. For this mingle I am looking for traditional spiced cookies from around the world.
Add a hint of cardamom, a touch of cinnamon or a sprinkling of saffron to a cookie and you have cookies full of delicious fragrance and flavor. I would like you to travel the world of cookies in search of traditional spice cookies specialities. The Indian Badam Katli, Italian Amaretti, French macaroons, German Lebkuchen, Lebanese Baklava or the Austrian Vanilla Kipferl are all exciting options for this mingle and I would like to end the year with a luxurious extravaganza of spicy, sweet, savory, piquant and tasty cookies. Come join me and celebrate a World of Spice Cookies!
I am not alone this mingle! This month I am joined by my lovely blogger friend Anita of Dessert First. For those who read Anita's blog will know that she has recently published her first book. We all fevered with her each step of the way and now it's finally here: Field Guide to Cookies: How to Identify and Bake Virtually Every Cookie Imaginable!
This cookie bible includes not only over 100 cookie recipes but offers helpful baking notes and fascinating historical trivia. Each cookie is photographed in glorious full color with step-by-step instructions on how to prepare, bake, serve and store your creations. And a copy of this cookie book could just become yours!
Anita has been kind enough to provide a copy of her Field Guide to Cookies to one lucky winner. Being my personal cookie expert I have asked Anita to judge and pick an entry that best qualifies. Remember the criteria for the entries are:
- the cookies have to be a traditional speciality from a country of choice
- contain at least one spice in the ingredients
Get those aprons on and your cookies sheets out and send me your world of spice cookies. The deadline is 5 January 2009.
There has been a minor change in the Monthly Mingle's guidelines. I am requesting all my readers submitting entries for the Monthly Mingle to send me recipes that have exclusively been made for the respective mingle. Over the past few months I have noticed one entry being submitted to 5 - 6 blog events! In the past I did not mind if your Monthly Mingle entry was submitted to 1 or 2 other events. However, after seeing some entries being submitted to 6 blog events I decided to enforce this guideline with immediate effect.
Here’s how it works:
- Create a dish that fits the theme of “World of Spice Cookies” as described above
- Post about it on your blog anytime from now until 5 January 2009 (entries must be in English, please).
- Your creation must exclusively be prepared for the current Monthly Mingle theme and cannot be submitted to any other blog event.
- You must provide a link to this post and send the details to me (see below).
Once you’ve posted your dish, send an email with “Monthly Mingle: World of Spice Cookies” in the subject line to: meetasmingle (at) gmail (dot) com by 5 January with the following information:
- your name
- your location
- the name of your blog and its URL
- the name of your dish and a link to the relevant post
- a copy of the main photo of your dish 200px wide (and compressed so that it is below 1MB!)
I hope you will enjoy your cookie baking. Anita and I are really looking forward to each wonderful cookie creation. See you!
If you too would like to guest host the Monthly Mingle in the future drop me an email at blogmeeta [at] gmail [DOT] com (Please note that this email address is different to the one you should send in your entries at.)
All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2008 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First
I think i will give it a mist this minle as i will b egoing on a short break soon .
ReplyDeleteHi Meeta, how are you buddy?
ReplyDeleteYes, finally all the projects we planned for this year are done and we are off to Winter vacation next week. I bet you are getting ready for XMas too, we will be in Disney World at that time, can''t wait to get away after all the noise and strangers at home for almost 3 mnts.
Have fun hosting, I will be back next year. Have a merry Christmas and a very happy new year to you and family in advance, enjoy. Hugs to you! :))
Meeta, just to shake off my doubts, how does a badam or kaju katli get called a 'cookie'? Isn't it just an Indian swee? This is not to say you are wrong - it is just that I could not see it as a cookie so would just like to know what you think?
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that HC - but I hope you will be back next month. Enjoy your break
ReplyDeleteAsha - yaahh! good to see you back my friend. Hope you enjoy your vacation and hope to see you at the mingle next month.
Sunshinemom - i wanted to give a larger range of creations for the mingle. while the kaju katli and also the baklava are not really defined as "cookies" I will accept kaju katli under the idea of rolled cookies and baklava under the concept of bar cookies.
hope that helps!
Lovely theme.I love to participate in this month as well.Thanks for the examples and also the clarifications to SunshineMom. Thanks
ReplyDeleteJust the theme I was looking for.. Hmm what to bake next?
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of c-shaped cookies are in the event photo?
Yes...great idea indeed. I love Anita's blog too, & the mind is now ticking. Agree about the restriction too. I'd better begin working on a cookie soon. Wonderful prize that one!! 5th Jan here I come...
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone - looking forward to your entries!
ReplyDeleteJude - these are Vanilla Kipferl lovely vanilla flavored crescent cookies. The recipe is fantastic one I am sure you will like!
One doubt: are community cookies -moravian spice cookies baked for Xmas and related to lebkuchen-acceptable?
ReplyDeleteSuch a nice idea :-) I will definitly participate in this month's mingle :-)!° happy x-mas!!
ReplyDeletelooking forward to your entries people.
ReplyDeleteCL - yes moravian cookies are very much ok for this event!
Hi Meeta, I did make something exclusively for this event...after much research ...Krusczyki-jewish cookies.
ReplyDeletehttp://cooking-up-a-storm-zaayeka.blogspot.com/2008/12/krusczyki-with-twist.html
Have mailed u too. :)
Merry X-mas and a happy new year .
Oh this is sad :( I made spiced cookies for Christmas and sent it to another event...maybe next time :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a great mingle. I love it.
ReplyDeleteMeeta Just sent in my entry!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!