Operation Baking Gals: Round 5 & Elfster Secret Santa

I sent out my packages just in the nick of time. Better late than never, right? These last two weeks saw tons of Operation Baking Gals putting together their packages for Round 5! Along with Team Sweet Dumpling, hosted by Ellen of Sweet Dumpling, I baked a few cookies and and sent them with a bunch of other goodies to our Marine--Lance Corporal Steven Forrester, a 21-year-old infantryman on his second deployment. I don't know much about Steven other than what was expressed to us by his mother, but he sounds like a terrific guy and I am so glad that we could brighten up his holiday overseas this way. As I mentioned in previous posts, my brother-in-law is a Marine, so I'm automatically one of Steven's biggest fans. Here are some of the things I sent: trail mix, gum, a sack full of candies to hand out to the locals (since he's always out on patrols), and a holiday jar full of chocolate chip cookies! Yummy! I hope he likes them.

I also sent out my Elfster Secret Santa stuff for my Tuesdays with Dorie Secret Santa. I didn't think to take pictures of what I sent, but it would have been a dead give-away for my secret santa (if she follows my blog!). I hope she likes it too. Ahhh, the spirit of giving! My favorite thing about the holidays!

Operation Baking Gals: Round 4

First of all, since I just returned from a trip to Texas, I wasn't able to make this week's TWD recipe, Kugelhopf. I'd try to pronounce it the way my friend, Anna (who is German), says it, but I'd still mess it up. It sounds like "google-oopf" and she laughs when I try to say it. The recipe was chosen by Yolanda of The All-Purpose Girl. She has a beautiful blog, so check it out as well as the other TWD-ers who have turned out some beautiful Kugelhopf cakes! At any rate, this is my second round of Operation Baking Gals and I was honored to be a part of Team Angry Asian, hosted by Lan, whose blog, The Angry Asian, is just fantastic! Her blog features details of our soldier, PFC Amie McMillan. To sum up, Amie is a Public Affairs Specialist within a Military Police unit overseas. I am a huge fan, on the basis of her being in the ARMY, since both my husband and I are as well. I was so happy to bake her some Chocolate Chunk Pecan Cookies--a recipe featured on the Joy of Cooking website. Click here for the deliciously simple recipe. My cookies didn't come out as big and chewy as those on the website, but they were scrumptious!

Of course, the package would not have been complete without all other essentials, as seen below. I love putting these together! Shopping for the items is so much fun!

I don't know when the next round is, but I'm anxious to get people baking for Malu and his teammates! I've already told him to be prepared to received tons of packages!

Operation Baking Gals: Supporting the U.S. Marines!

This was my first assignment with Operation Baking Gals. I was a part of a team hosted by Susan Whetzel of She's Becoming DoughMessTic and it was so much fun! With the help of my sister and friend Anna, I was able to send at least two dozen White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies (along with chocolate chip cookies) to 1LT Jarrod Robinson of the United States Marine Corps. We didn't get too much information about this officer, other than the fact that he worked in Air Traffic Control and that there were 50 other Marines in his Detachment expecting some delicious baked goods from our team.

Being in the military myself, having a brother-in-law in the Marines working in just about the same specialty, and having served in an Air Traffic Control battalion before and in an aviation brigade for years myself, I felt a strong bond to these guys and I couldn't wait to show them my appreciation and support for their service by sending them these cookies along with some other goodies.

Well, I only had enough stuff and time to put two boxes together. Each box held about two dozen cookies, which I placed in plastic containers and affixed Colorado postcards to. I included some other stuff like sunflower seeds, tuna packets, granola bars, and hard candies--the essentials! I didn't think to send toiletries or anything this time around. Maybe next time, but if this unit is anything like mine when I was deployed, there was one room in the unit dedicated to excess package inventory. Much like a mini-PX, this little room housed all the extra baby wipes, toothpaste, hand sanitizer, and other toiletries that so many people sent in bulk. So it's not like that stuff isn't readily available.

I met my husband while deployed in Iraq over three years ago and we can attest that there is nothing that beats home-baked goods--NOTHING! I mean, you can only eat Girl Scout cookies for so long. I mean, I devoured so many boxes of them over there that I can't even stand to look at a box anymore! So these little "tastes of home" really mean so much and I am glad that I could be a part of this wonderful service!

Here is the recipe for the cookies that we made:

White Chocolate and Dried Cranberry Cookies
(from quickandsimple.com magazine)

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup quick cooking or old-fashioned oats, pulsed well in a food processor
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
12 oz. white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup dried cranberries

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2) In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or using a hand mixer, beat butter and both sugars until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides of bowl, then add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla, one at a time, mixing well between additions. Scrape down sides of bowl; add oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix until well incorporated. Scrape down sides of bowl; add chocolate and cranberries, and mix again.

3) Drop dough by heaping teaspoonfuls, about 2 inches apart, onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake until cookies begin to brown at the edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and repeat with remaining dough.

Yields 3 to 4 dozen.

These cookies were a cinch to prepare and so delicious! I'm definitely going to make them again. I'm crossing my fingers that they'll arrive overseas intact and still edible, and most importantly that the troops will like them! I can't wait until the next round! Oh, and once my husband gives me an address for his unit (because he's still mobilizing in NJ right now), he'll be added to the list and I'll get to bake cookies for him too!

Operation Baking Gals

Okay, so today I received a really sweet comment about last week's TWD recipe challenge from Pamela of Cookies With Boys (thanks again, by the way!). I added her to my blog list and just took a quick browse through her blog, which is quite wonderful if I might add! Anyway, a post she made about a blog called Operation Baking Gals caught my eye and I decided to check it out.

If you want more information about Operation Baking Gals, go ahead and click on the link I've provided because I'm sure you'll find that it's just a wonderful group to get connected with. I found it even more appealing because groups of dedicated bakers, as with TWD, take turns baking cookies for a selection of soldiers overseas! When I was deployed, I always looked forward to care packages with freshly baked goods. Although we were grateful for the boxes and boxes AND BOXES of Girl Scout Cookies (which I really haven't been able to eat since then--it's been over 2 years), nothing beat the taste of wholesome, homemade goods--especially anything with chocolate! Seriously, people would get into fights over those kinds of care packages!

What's even better is when I emailed the group's host, Susan of She's Becoming DoughMessTic (cute name!), I asked her first if I could join and second, if I could add Malu's name to their list of soldiers and she so nicely obliged to both! I'm so happy about being a part of this group. Not only do I get to help brighten the lives of soldiers overseas, I get to do it for my husband and his wonderful group of teammates!

So come on! If you're looking for a way to show your support for our troops abroad, here's a great way to do it, especially if you're interested in doing more baking and in meeting more people! And isn't the Rosie the Riveter poster just a great theme for the group? I love it!

If anyone from Operation Baking Gals is reading this, thanks for bringing me on the team! I'm so excited to work with you all!