Spring is rapidly approaching with another excuse to entertain: St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th) and the “wearin’ of the green” is a fun day to celebrate for Irish and non-Irish alike!

Though the typical Irish meal for St. Patty’s Day was boiled bacon and potatoes, Irish immigrants in the U.S. would use cheap meat that was tenderized with brine (corned beef) and slow cooked with cabbage, which became the traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal.

Serve the following to your guests with green embellishment and decorations:

• Corned Beef and Cabbage
• Irish Soda Bread
• Dessert is a cinch with a large festive tray of gourmet cookies like the Chocolate Mint Eclipse Cookies

Now, hire a bagpipe player and you’re set for a fabulously green party!

Fun Things To Do:

• Learn a little about the history of St. Patrick’s Day here and do a few crafts with your kids!
• Now if you’re really feeling like the luck of the Irish is on your side, go here to find an Irish Dancing School* near you and learn a jig to teach your party guests!

*Please post pictures if any of you decide to do this one!

Have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

♥ Heidi’s Heavenly Cookies

[image source: Flickr]

♥ Heidi’s Heavenly Cookies

Meet Michael, a Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookie Personality to be sure! This cookie-loving New Yorker finally found a nesting place after having moved 15 times in his life—whew! While perhaps a few too many Budget rentals for our taste, it’s certainly the type of on-the-go that makes for a very sweet Cookie Personality! He’s a real treat to get to know, so check out his responses to our shorter version of the original Heavenly Spotlight Series Questionnaire (go ahead and submit your profile—it’s only 3 questions!). Want to find out your Cookie Personality? Click here to find out!

TOFFEE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE: You are passionate. You have a love for the rich, buttery, chocolaty, flavorful things in life. Simplicity is great, but high-quality is what you demand. You demand only the best quality in fabrics for your clothing, towels and sheets. You have a small group of close friends that share your same tastes and you love to gush about the latest in “important” news. You are fun-loving and passionate about the things you do. If you see a need in our community or otherwise, you become involved in helping to make a difference. You have high expectations for yourself and those around it and it shows.

HEAVENLY SPOTLIGHT SERIES QUESTIONNAIRE

What is your cookie personality?
[Toffee Chocolate Chip] Sweet, delicious, and a little bit crunchy sometimes

What is something fun or unique about you?
I’m an Army brat and have moved about 15 times in my life.

Who is your hero and why?
I don’t really have an overall hero but as far as cookies go, my mom is definitely my hero.  I have many fond childhood memories of baking and eating all kinds of delicious cookies.  When I became an adult and got invited to my first holiday cookie party, I called my mom immediately for all her recipes!

Thanks Michael! Best of luck at your next holiday cookie party! What a fun idea—be sure to bring a few from yours truly!

♥ Heidi’s Heavenly Cookies

P.S. Would you like to be featured? Answer the 3 questions in our Heavenly Spotlight Series Questionnaire and send your answers along with a picture of yourself (sure, you can be eating our gourmet cookies in the image…*wink*), your name and city/state to heidi@heidisheavenlycookies.com. You’ll receive an exclusive discount code towards your next purchase!

Have you been wishing that we’d share a few baking secrets on how we get our gourmet cookies to be so fresh and irresistible when they arrive? Well, lucky for you, our latest feature is called “Did You Know?” and we’ll be giving away our magical trade secrets…okay, maybe not the very top secret, but close!

At Heidi’s Heavenly Cookies, we certainly pride ourselves in our work. Everything is made from scratch, like Leslie from Leslie Loves Veggies posted on her blog about her experience touring our bakery, “You won’t find a mix here! No Ma’am!” All of our dough is handcrafted into the perfect little “babies.”

Now, for the cream…

Baking Tip #1:  It’s All About The Butter

• Never microwave it — You will be tempted to do this insidious act instead of taking it out of the refrigerator and allowing it to come to room temperature on its own. Remove butter from refrigerator and set aside for about 1 hour ahead of time and you’ll be happy you did!

• Always use the highest quality butter you can find — Cheap out on it and you will be very disappointed and loose flavor.

Want to learn how butter is made from scratch? Watch this video on how White Cow Dairy does it.

Until next time…stay tuned for more Baking Tips.

♥ Heidi’s Heavenly Cookies

[image: flickr]

Attending a dull and disastrous party is a lot like chipping a tooth with teeth-whitening strips on. So, if you happen to find yourself at one of these (and there’s no way of salvaging it) head home early from the Mardi Gras party since you’re feeling so “sick”—we’ve got a few gourmet goodies to keep you occupied!

1. Tune in (online) to BBC Masterpiece Classic Theater’s Emma—watch the trailer preview.

2. Indulge in some gourmet sweetness.

Of course, if you’d rather not celebrate solo, no matter the turnout of the festivities, be sure to bring the party host/hostess an irresistible gourmet cookie gift basket — May the celebrations begin!

Happy Mardi Gras everyone!

♥ Heidi’s Heavenly Cookies

[image: Masterpiece Classic]

May it be filled with elegant sweetness!

♥ Heidi’s Heavenly Cookies

Be our Valentine?

♥ Heidi’s Heavenly Cookies

[image: Kate Spade]

♥ Heidi’s Heavenly Cookies

As we’ve all got Valentine’s Day on our minds, we found these pretty little things (some far littler than others) and they made our day—hope they do yours as well!

1.  DIY flower headband by Nonpareil Magazine

2.  Sycamore Street Press’s adorable offerings in cards and stationary

3. Little mail from World’s Smallest Postal Service by Leafcutter Designs

4.  “Kissing Kids” filigree ring from Oh, Hello Friend

♥ Happy Thursday!

Looking for some other lovelies to give to your Valentine along with that luxuriously rich and sinfully delicious gourmet cookie gift basket?

See this Squidoo Lens for cool Valentine’s Day Gifting Ideas for him and her!

[image: Elva Fields]