It's been such a long time

It has been a long time since the last time I was able to sit down and type with my entire brain engaged - I mean, here is it Tuesday already and I have not posted the photos from last Shabbat's cookies. It has been very hot, and it just saps all the will to accomplish right out from under you. These pix are not the greatest, but since I am under the general yet sometimes mistaken impression that something is better than nothing, here goes (or here goes nothing).

First is this week's platter - a 24 piece version. I forgot to take any pictures until after the platters were all wrapped and pick-up had commenced, so this was the best I got.The first flavor on the left is Orange cranberry white chocolate cookies - like a creamsicle with craisins. Next is tuxedo brownies - fudgy brownies with white and dark chips.

The center section is hermit bars - mandelbread shaped, spicy with molasses, ginger, and raisins, glazed with a brown sugar drizzle.

After that is chocolate cinnamon squares (or cinnamon squares, depending how I bill them). Cinnamon flavored cakey bar, coffee-chocolate-cinnamon swirl in the middle, chocolate frosting on top.Last but not least, Sacher torte sandwiches. Chocolate cookie, apricot preserves, chocolate drizzle. As a little bonus, this is the tray of banana cake and cinnamon chocolate loaf I made for Ariella's mesibat siyum. Every parent had to supply something - cake, drinks, snacks, paper goods, whatever. I was a little mean and made intentionally homely items. Some got eaten but the tray was not flashy enough to be a big draw, so there was a lot left, which meant we had something to eat for dessert on Shabbat! I love it when a plan comes together...

And it's already time to get moving on the next week's activities. Baking prep must start tonight, and other household chores await too. Tomorrow is Shana and Ayelet's last real day of school, then Thursday they go in at noon to collect teudot (report cards), and then off to an overnight. Not a bad way to end the year. I just wonder about the girls who don't want to show their parents their marks - can they just say it fell in the water and so much for that, better luck next year?

And just to make sure that no learning takes place tomorrow, the kids will be partying. Ayelet and her friend Ariella are baking a cake now to bring with them (I know, egads, in America you could never bring homemade!) and they are using a Duncan Hines mix. Clearly I have gone wrong somewhere in my parenting!

Oh well. Here's to being more productive than last week...

Dvora