You put oodles of time and love into making decorated cookies for friends, family or children, send the cookies on their merry way via snail mail, only to have them arrive in a broken mess!
Has this ever happened to you?
I don’t have a picture of the ruins to share with you, but it has unfortunately happened to me. The recipient didn’t mind – she had some sweet morsels to snack on, but I’m sure you’d agree – I’d rather the cookies all arrive in one piece!
That’s where the cute new book, Cookie Craft Christmas
I’ve written about their first book
Some of the beneficial information includes a tested and successful way of sending decorated cookies in the mail. I’ve been given permission to share Valerie and Janice’s advice here with you. I’m going to follow their written instructions and use my own pictures:
Shipping Decorated Cookies
We’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like getting a box of delicious decorated cookies in the mail. Here’s what we’ve learned about how to minimize breakage when we send our cookies out into the world.
1. Choose sturdy shapes with a minimum of thin appendages to reduce the danger of your cookies breaking en route.
2. Use tins to keep cookies fresh and help protect them.
3. Make sure there’s plenty of packing material inside the cookie tin:
a. Place a layer of crumpled waxed paper on the bottom of the tin.
b. Place another sheet of waxed paper in the tin, as if you were putting tissue paper in a gift box, but instead of making it neat, crumple it to fit against the sides of the tin.
c. Add your first layer of cookies. If you haven’t individually wrapped them, fold each one in a small piece of waxed paper to keep them from jostling. Add small, crumpled pieces of waxed paper to any pockets of space to prevent cookie movement.
d. Place another crumpled piece of paper on top of the packaged cookies, and then add another layer of cookies. Repeat until the tin is nearly full. Make sure the cookies lie flat and apart from each other and leave at least 3/4 inch between the top layer of cookies and the top of the tin; add a fat top layer of protective padding (such as bubble cushioning or more crumpled waxed paper).
e. Cover with the lid and gently shake the tin. If you feel no movement, shake it a little harder. If you feel movement, add more padding and do the “shake” test again until you feel no movement inside the tin.
f. Attach your gift note to the top of the tin. Don’t forget!
4. Make sure there’s plenty of packing material between the tin and the box:
a. Choose a box that allows at least 2 to 3 inches of space around the tin on all sides and above and below.
b. Pad the bottom of the box with a healthy layer of packing peanuts, packing paper, or bubble cushioning.
c. Place the cookie tin in the box, and thoroughly pad the space between the tin and the sides of the box.
d. Pad the top tightly and close the box. Shake the package gently. If you feel no movement, shake it a little harder. If you feel movement, open the box and add more padding where needed, then close and seal the box, and ship.
Note: To help the environment, we reuse our packing materials — especially the nonrecyclable ones.
*Reprinted with permission from Cookie Craft Christmas, published by Storey Publishing, LLC., October 2009. Thank you to Michelle Blackley and Kevin Kennefick for providing the excerpt.
Now for the giveaway! CONTEST CLOSED
If you’d like the chance to win a copy of Valerie and Janice’s book, Cookie Craft Christmas,
Another way of entering the draw is to retweet this post on twitter. Tweets will be added to the draw! (One per twitter user please).
The draw will be held in a few days; on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009, at 10pm EST.
Good luck!
xo,
Marian
p.s. Wouldn’t the box below be adorable to fill with cookies and give as a gift?! I found it at the Hallmark store yesterday and will be hand delivering that one. (I’m thinking you could fold the tops down and send it too though).
I came across the site today while looking for inspiration for a gingerbread house I’m making for extra credit in my German class. I’ve spent waaay longer than I should have poking around and looking at all the different cookie tips and everything else you have. I’m in awe.
I plan on doing a batch of cookies for friends yet again this year. Why just hand out candy canes when you give give something so much better?
As for my favorite things to eat around Christmas time, I’d have to say the cookies. The fish from Christmas Eve dinner is great, but it’s always hard to beat cookies. Happy holiday =)
It’s really more about the drinks for me. Hot cocoa w/ Peppermint, Hot Cider, Caramel Brulee Lattes from Starbucks. I love it! And I love your website!
Great tips and very timely, as I’m packing my boxes of assorted truffles tonight! My favorite Christmas food is sugar cookies. Yum, yum, yum!
My favorite is definitely Butter Tarts. YUM … I love them.
Great giveaway. Thank you.
Your cookies are always so utterly BEAUTIFUL! I love your work! You are a true inspiration! Thank you!
(For some reason I am FINALLY able to leave a comment on YOUR blog…though I comment all over blogland, my comments for you would never work!?! I am just happy they do now! YAY!…I emailed you a couple of times instead:))
How wonderful! And those cookies are the cutest holiday cookies I’ve ever seen! I do love gingerbread cookies but my favorite holiday treat is divinity!
My favorite food to eat this time of the year is sweet potato casserole! YUM!
My favorite food this time of year is rum balls/rum cake but my favorite drink is egg nog!
Absolutely adore this site – so much great advice on decorating cookies!
As far as my fave Xmas food is concerned, I love my father in law’s German lentils.
Oh how I would love that book!
One of my favorite Christmas treats is Coconut date balls. My mom made them when I was growing up, now I make them.
I just love your site. It’s my go to site for tips when my daughter and I want to bake something beautiful.
As for my favorite Christmas food, it’s definitely a tie between my grandmother’s Biscotti and my great grandmother’s peanut butter fudge. Yum!
It would have to be gumdrop cookies, one of my all time favorites. It is from a recipe my Mom and I developed and eatting them always bring back fond memories of her. Memories are what this time of year is all about.
Beautiful Cookies!
My favorite food this time of year are molasses cookies 🙂
Believe it or not…turkey and FRUITCAKE…I make a bourbon poundcake one,and another with chocolate and rum,and my Aunt’s…not your usual fruitcakes..
Thanks for the tips! Much appreciated!!
Cookies- I love all the different kinds of cookies at holiday time.
My favorite food at this time of year is Pandoro, an Italian yeast cake. It’s light and not too sweet . . . until you shower it with powdered sugar.
I love red velvet cake! But I truly love to bake, decorate and eat sugar cookies.
Gingerbread cookies are my favorite. I love your site.
Mm… Sugar Cookies! 🙂
Your cookies always amaze me!! My favorite holiday treats are chocolate truffles.
I keep practicing in hopes that my cookies will someday be as cute as these!
My favorite food this time of year is my dad’s marble cheesecake with an Oreo crust! I’ve been told by friends that it’s better than Cheesecake Factory!
My favorite holiday treat would have to be cookies! Snickerdoodles, gingerbread men, sand tarts, sugar cookies . . . it’s just a great excuse to bake, share, and eat lots of cookies!
Oh, gingerbread cookies, of course! YOURS are precious!
i love eating stews at this time of the year because it keeps me warm!
I love Czechoslavakian moonbeam cookies!
Just a plain, simple, flaky and buttery sugar cookie. With a hot cup of tea…aaahhh! I do wish I could make cookies like yours. That would be the best prize ever Ü
I just made cranberry/orange/walnut cookies. They are my favorite for christmas. I would love to learn how to make cut out decorated cookies and the book would be a God send. Hope your Christmas is merry and filled with love and joy. God bless.
I love to eat just about anything, but my favourite at this time of year is my mom’s rum balls
My favorite thing to eat are decorated sugar cookies! 🙂
I love to eat my mom’s famous green bean casserole. Every time take a bite I think of all of the Christmases past, with her and my grandma having Christmas in Tennessee.
I love pecan pie, but I also love to make sugar cookies, so those are tops too.
My favourite food for Christmas is Pan de Jamon a Venezuelan artisan bread made for this time of the year, it’s so delicious. For sweets nothing beats a delicious chocolate cake or almond cookies.
I love making sugar cookies and decorating them for Christmas, but my all time favorites I’ve been making for years- fudge and Mounds bars (coconut inside, covered in chocolate). 🙂
My FAV food this time of year is apple cider =D
Thanks for the wonderful posts and blog.
I love all sort of fresh baked cookies,deserts that you can only eat at this time of the year, and ofcourse all the festive chocolates they have at specialty markets at this time of the year.
Thank you for a great tutorial! This is super helpful. Now, we love to Swedish pancakes this time of year.
My favourite thing to eat this time of year is snowball cookies aka mexican wedding cookies. I love the texture and it tastes great with tea or coffee.
I have two favorites this time of year besides fudge. They are divinity and ‘made from scratch’ spritz cookies.
My favorite thing to eat this time of year is salted caramels I make to give as gifts, they’re addictive.
My favorite thing to eat this time of year is my hubby’s fudge! He makes THEE BEST fudge ever!
Every Christmas I order turtles (or tortues, as they call them,)from Southern Candymakers in New Orleans. I wait all year for these guys! Mine never come out as good.
Thanks for the great info. on shipping cookies-It’s nice to have the right pointers! I’d looooove to win this book, it looks adorable.
I’d have to say that my favorite food right now would be clementines.
I love eggnog so the Eggnog bread and the eggnog cheesecake bars are so good.
homemade caramels. I just can’t get enough. YUM!
My favourite snack is hot chocolate with a couple clementines at Christmas time but my favourite treats are naniamo bars.
A ham sandwich on warm, homemade bread…..yum. I won’t even get started on the sweets!!
I love your ideas!! My two favorite things to eat this time of year are eggnog and peppermint ice cream.
Believe it or not – cranberries! Love ’em!
I love Ben Heggy chocolates, especially their creams. My grandparents used to buy a ton of them and give us a big bag each year at Christmas.
My favorite treat at the holidays are peanut butter chip cookies!