Mark your calendars for December 9, 2006. It's going to be my big break! Shanti (the Market Chef at CUESA) and I will be demonstrating how to make three holiday cookies sourced from local ingredients at the Ferry Building's Dacor Kitchen at 10:30 a.m. We're going to have samples of various cookies and lots of tried and true recipes, and we're inviting the public to come out and watch *and* to exchange their favorite recipes with us and with each other! So bring your sweet tooth and copies of your favorite holiday cookie recipe and get ready to see what gems you can bake from local ingredients.

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Yesterday, six other CUESA volunteers/employees and I had a cookie exchange to decide what cookies should be demonstrated to the public on the 9th. It was a beautiful evening...the sunset was breathtaking. We sat around drinking eggnog, watching Ella take some of her first steps (!) and dicscussing cookies and markets and all sorts of things :)

Everyone's cookies were delicious. Shanti made Pumpkin Cookies with chocolate chips, chocolate shavings and chocolate covered candied ginger, Magnolia made Petaluma Pumpkin Cookies with raisins and walnuts and cloves, Julie (below) made Date-Pinwheel Cookies that were to die for, Ashleigh made vegan, raw thumbprint cookies from almost solely ingredients sourced from the market, Chelsea made Caramel-Chocolate Thumbprint cookies with fleur de sel, and I made Potato Chip Cookies and Chocolate Date Rum Cookies.

Although they were all delicious (Chelsea's are unquestionably going to ruin my pre-Thanksgiving diet because they are sooooo good), we decided on three that would be best for the market demo: the Raw Thumbprints (this will be a great way to at least introduce people to raw cooking), the Date-Pinwheels (they were just too good not to demo) and the Petaluma Pumpkin Cookies (but we may switch to squash and we'll definitely get it at the Ferry Building). I better start practicing my schtick! What if a food network executive just *happens* to be in the audience? :)