baking for grandpa: January

My dad is impossible to buy for. Not in the traditional way of being hard to please or picky or ungrateful but rather in the opposite way. No matter what you give him, he is happy and thankful. Just never in that WOW-what-a-perfect-gift kind of way that I strive for. Not every gift can be perfect, I know, but just once I want to blow him away with something totally unexpected. (I actually have had an idea for years and years but it's completely out of my price range. Someday though, when I'm independently wealthy, I'll be able to do it :)

Needless to say, Christmas is most difficult for me when it comes to choosing a gift for my dad. And this year, finances as they are, I decided to try a different tack. I gave simply but with intent and the promise of time. A card, some delicious lemon cookies, and the promise that for each of the following 12 months, I would make something for him and hand deliver it to him.

My dad and I live only 45 minutes apart but neither of us are great at keeping in touch on a regular basis (no ill-will or bad feelings...we're just similar in that we're not overly social...at least I'm not) Every time we connect, we both express a desire to talk again soon...on a more regular basis...a "how has it been 2 months since we talked? kind of thing.

My gift to him was a promise that I will make the effort every month to think of him, what he might like, and purposefully visit him, IN PERSON, to catch up on family and work and life in general.

He LOVED it. He gave me the best reaction of any gift recipient of the holiday. Phew.

So, yesterday my assistant and I set out to make grandpa his January treat. Tomorrow we'll deliver it and have a great visit and chances are, he'll demand that we stay for lunch.

This month, we made chocolate pomegranate cookies. They were good (honestly though, I think I'd prefer less chocolate -gasp- and more pomegranate) and easy (seeding the pomegranate - by far the most time consuming step.)

this is how we roll on lazy days at home...striped pants, long sleeve t from halloween and princess socks

when chocolate in involved, craziness ensues

I don't have a fancy schmancy kitchenaid so I had to use my decades old hand mixer. A quick warning (I can't be the only one with a jurassic era mixer) that stirring the dry ingredients into the wet resulted in my motor seizing up a bit at the end (the smell of burning plastic isn't all that appetizing...great when you're trying not to dip into the chocolate chips!) It was a thick and dense batter but the cookies weren't dry - I was worried!

The results were pretty though. Hope he likes them.