A good excuse to take a day off.

Cookie. Exchange. Two words that were meant to go together. I love baking. I adore cookies. I do not have a fondness for messy kitchens or dirty dishes. So, on Friday, when I was invited to head out to the county and spill flour in someone else's kitchen with a gaggle of my favorite gals, I thought it was the perfect excuse to use up some vacation time.

I loaded up my go bag with flour, sugar, butter, and baking trays and headed out. Four (and a half) of us piled into a mini-van and headed across the river to, what felt like, the middle of no where. We passed open fields and barns and very few cars. Finally, we pulled up to a lovely brick house with Christmas music playing.

We took stock of the pantry...

And we mixed...

Grammy's sour cream cookies were a big hit!

Half Pint was a big help all day long.

and we baked...

Pumpkin chocolate chip. Yum.

and baked...

The oven wasn't ever without
at least two cookie trays baking away.

Before we knew it the sun was close to setting for the day and we were exhausted. So we city girls piled back into the van and headed home laden with six varieties of cookie (more than 60 treats all together!) and not a speck of flour landed on my own kitchen floor. Now that's a good day!