Cookie of the Month Club

Have you ever heard of a Cookie of the Month club? The gist is you purchase a membership online and cookies are sent to the lucky recipient every month.

I think it's a great gift idea. The problem is, they're a bit over priced in my opinion. So I decided to start my own cookie club.

The beneficiaries:

• Baby Sister, who just started her senior year of college this year. It's almost impossible to believe.
  
• Brother-in-law-to-be, who is just beginning his freshman year of college (and is one of the biggest cookie monsters I know).
• Fiance, who -- like is brother -- loves cookies. I made him a few extras.
  
• Friends. We went to a friend's house on Saturday night and another friend's on Sunday, so I brought along a couple dozen cookies to share.
  

The goods:

• Standard chocolate chip, sans walnuts. It's a staple in Fiance's family.
  
• White chocolate chip and cranberry. This was a hit when I made it for my friend's wedding. (Remember when I baked pre-packaged dough for her return to work after she eloped? Well I actually baked -- really baked -- for the Pittsburgh cookie table at her real wedding party in January.)

The baking part was fun for me. I'll use any excuse to get out the oh-so-beautiful-and-wonderfully-functional KitchenAid stand mixer. Plus I got to legitimately wear one of the fabulous new aprons I got at my shower earlier this month. Last night I wore one just for kicks while Fiance was cooking dinner.

Ten dozen cookies later, Cookie of the Month club also became a fabulous excuse to use my new Martha Stewart cookie/cupcake carrier.

Lastly, mailing was a piece of cake. I used the USPS flat rate shipping box. Two dozen cookies fit -- barely -- into the small box. So two shipments and less than $10 later, they were off to our little siblings.

Here's to hoping the college kids get more than a box-o-crumbs. Love you both!