Retirement Cookie

My Dad finally retired recently from his own biz. That's misleading- he will be finishing up things for awhile, but we celebrated with him close to his "official" retirement date- which was also his birthday. That weekend we also celebrated Easter and my nephew Daniel's birthday. Busy party!

Anyway, I decided to make Dad a giant chocolate chip cookie since it's his favorite. There was also going to be an ice cream cake so I wasn't worried about getting everything else written on there, ha ha. :)

I wanted to get some appropriate decoration on there- his biz logo is a palm tree. I decided to do 2 since there would need to be a hammock to metaphorically represent rest. Even doing that little bit of frosting with piping bags was hard on my hands- I don't know how the pros do it. Kudos to you.

That's how much counter space I have. Seriously.

Things I learned:
• Make a regular batch of cookie dough
(maybe don't use entire batch- freeze up a good 1/4 or 1/3. I ended up having to cook for 10+ minutes longer and it spilled over the edge a bit. Be sure to put down tin foil or another pan to catch spill over)
• Roll out on pizza pan or sheet pan
• 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes (or longer if need be-look for browning edges)
• Let set for 5-10 minutes after baking

Birthday Bonanza

Celebrating a birthday means making favorite food for the birthday boy or girl. For me, that meant making German chocolate cake, my mom's recipe, and key lime pie, my own recipe/something I found years ago online. To top it all off, I made little ribbon flags on skewers that I shoved into the cake at the last possible moment like you would candles. Blowing on those does not have the same effect as blowing out flaming candles and it left me feeling a little lackluster---until I got to pass out the flags with pieces of cake. Wee!

I should have you know that I did get carried away with the flags. I couldn't stop myself. It looked better on the table- more of a centerpiece- take a look.

I'll go ahead and share the key lime pie recipe. It's pretty short and sweet.

Key Lime Pie

INGREDIENTS:

Crust:

• Go out and buy a graham cracker crust from the store. Don't be a snob.

Pie:

• 4 large or extra large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup fresh key lime juice (12 key limes or 2-3 regular limes)
• 2 teaspoons grated lime peel, green portion only
• whipped cream for garnish

MAKE IT UP

1. Use an electric mixer and beat the egg yolks until they are thick and turn to a light yellow, but don't over mix. 
2. Turn the mixer off and add the sweetened condensed milk. Turn speed to low and mix in half of the lime juice. One the juice is incorporated add the other half of the juice and the zest, continue to mix until blended (just a few seconds). 
3. Pour the mixture into the pie shell and back at 350 for 12 minutes to set the yolks and kill any salmonella in the eggs.

SERVES
8