We give you... Snag, Jr.!!!

Our #5 entry comes from none other than Snag Jr! That's right, I said Snag, Jr.! Apparently Snag, Sr. was too busy with his grackle-polishing business so son #1 jumped in to fill the spot. From what I hear, Snag, Jr. is quite the responsible one. He must take after his mother... but enough about that and onto cookies!!

*Entry Snag* consisted of 4 varieties of cookies. I did not have names for all of them, but will describe them the best I can.

Cookie #1 was a Mexican Wedding Cake of sorts, a very short, very rich butter (there's that word again...) cookie that was LOADED with sizable pecans bits. Grizzled and I both love pecans so we were happy with this. It was while tasting this first cookie that it dawned on me that had Snag been doing the baking, these pecans might have been replaced with grommets. My appreciation for Snag Jr rose appreciably. These were an excellent cookie.

Cookie #2 was a ginger cookie of sorts. Again, a delicious cookie that was both crispy and chewy and filled with wonderful spice. Grizzled was all moaning and groaning over the ginger cookie. He thought it was wonderful, but at one point I think I heard him say, "Needs more moose lard!" I thought it was fine the way it was and judging from his contented sounds, so did he.

Cookie #3 was a very thick peanut butter cookie with a large chocolate kiss in the middle. It was rich, it was moist, it was good. The lamblets were quite happy with it. Grizzled is not terribly fond of peanut butter cookies, but that merely says something about him and not the quality of the cookie.

And last, but not least, we had the Snaggerdoodle! It is the cookie shown in the photo up on the left. Don't be put off by Snag's questionable photography skills... I know we were all trying to decide what the heck those were... were they beef carpaccio sprinkled with uncooked oatmeal? Were they roadkill jerky garnished with lead-based paint chips? No, they were AWESOME chocolate cookies sprinkled with slivered almonds. The chocolate was intense and wonderful. The cookies were really moist. It was almost like a brownie, but not quite as rich. They also tasted as if they had almond flavoring in them. We were pretty full by the time we got to the Snaggerdoodle, but these babies were wolfed by all 4 of us. Only a few straggling crumbs remained and nary a "needs more moose lard" was uttered.

All in all, this was a solid entry. It deserves even higher praise because a 14 yr-old young man took the initiative to enter the bake-off and do the work. Props to Snag, Jr. for a job well done and props to Snag for raising such an awesome son.

A small aside that has nothing to do with bake-off. Happy Winter! The precise moment of the winter solstice was this morning at 1:08 a.m. EST. The solstice marks the start of winter, the shortest day, and the longest night. There is a slight lag, but daylight will soon start to increase. Woo-hoo! Again, Happy Winter!

(The majority of the punctuation that was somehow missed at 5a.m. this morning has now been added.)

Comments

[blue girl]

Woo-hoo! Feel the love for Snag, Jr.!! I am tres impressed.

And Happy Winter to you too, Jennifer!

[White Chocolate]

I congratulate Snag Jr. on his undoubtedly excellent entry, but I feel that only persons over 16 should be eligible for the Cookie Crown.

[Snag]

Surely if he's old enough to drive me home from the bar he's old enough to enter a cookie contest. Anyway, I intend to claim all the credit for his success and attribute any failures to him. Doing so will help prepare him for being an employee someday.

[billy pilgrim]

Snag-

Kudos for finding a way to make the little deadbeats compensate you for giving them life. If you win, I'll be happy to alert the IRS to the little sweatshop you've got going there.

[Mandos]

Yes, but I would hate to have disappointed what must be a nice young teenager when I win. Think of the emotional damage this might cause!

[Mandos]

Yes, but I would hate to have disappointed what must be a nice young teenager when I win. Think of the emotional damage this might cause!

[The Uncanny Canadian]

I originally sampled these thinking that Snag Sr. had made them, and already had heavy compliments for the lack of antlers/carnage within the cookies. The Mexicanesque weddingy cakey cookies were extremely rich and dense. I also like pecans, and am always surprised how they made this kind of cookie almost explode in flavour. These cookies were very potent; I haven't yet been able to finish one, out of fear for my coronary arteries. The ginger cookies were totally by the book. They had the right flavour and the right consistency without wrecking my pallete and overwhelming my sensory neurons. They also served as a perfect entree into the peanut butter kiss cookie. Now I kind of fall on the Grizzled camp where it comes to peanut butter cookies, but I find that a discontinuity of flavour, preferably by disruption via chocolate or jelly can turn these normally meh varietals into something far more pleasing. The giant Hershey kiss in the centre was just the right distraction. I arranged it so every bite of the cookie had a little bit of the very milky chocolate, and that made the whole experience just right. It also warmed me up for the intensity of the Snaggerdoodle. My snaggerdoodles came kind of hammerdoodled, so it was more like pouring the crumbs into my mouth, but boy was that some crazy rich chocolate almondy goodness. I have been thinking of the right conduit for the snaggerdoodle, and think that it might just be the perfect vanilla ice cream topping. I'm going to try this just as soon as I've saved up enough lactose, but I'm sure it will be amazing. Overall, these were four very different kinds of cookies, all of whom were baked by somebody with far more ability and craft than the typical 14-year old. I would say that it reeks of parental tampering, but knowing Snag, that would only hurt the process, so all-in-all even more bravo to Snag Jr.!!!

[Snag]

I hope it makes you all happy that your reviews caused my son to tell me, "Dad, just let me run things from now on."

That'll be me in the tent in your backyard.

[Brando]

"The Holiday Bake-Off made me homeless" -- Snag

Those really sound delicious. Congrats to the Snag pack for a solid, meatless entry.

[Pinko Punko]

Snag, that is better than in the RV out front. Although, if you DO get an RV you are more than welcome to RV block the driveway from other RVs, like my parents. I KID!! (we have a family joke about that, or maybe a family threat).