Cookie Giveaway! You Heard Me...Cookies! Foodie Friday

     We all love to give things away here in Blogland. We also love to cook and eat sweets! Well, you can only imagine how excited I was to be contacted by Tate's Bake Shop in Southampton, NY for the opportunity to not only review their cookies and their cookbook, but to also do a GIVEAWAY for all of you! They said "cookies" and I said "sign me up!

     Of course once they contacted me, I did a little research on the company. Kathleen King opened Tate's Bake Shop in Southampton in 1980. All of the baked goods are made from the finest natural ingredients, just the way Kathleen made them when she was 11-years-old and first started selling cookies at her family's farm stand. She has expanded a lot since then, and now sells wonderful cakes, pies, crumbles, and many more cookie varieties. Everyday With Rachel Ray Magazine named them the "overall favorite" chocolate chip cookie. Ina Garten did the forward for the cookbook and said "these weren't just any chocolate chip cookies; these were the best chocolate chip cookies you ever ate"! Tate's have also been written about in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and The New York Times to name a few. Now do you see why I couldn't wait for my package to get here?

     It arrived yesterday. The packaging was very tastefully done and much to my surprise, Kathleen had autographed the book! Inside were three packages of cookies; Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin and White Chocolate Macadamia Nut. Oh my...bliss. I quickly opened the chocolate chip and they are perfect. They are different than other chocolate chip cookies because they are very thin and extremely crispy. The cookie would stand alone even without the chocolate. The cookies aren't overloaded with chips and the quality of the chocolate is rich and creamy. My husband is an oatmeal raisin kind of guy, so of course we had to open those too. He loved them and he doesn't love all that many sweets. I bit into the oatmeal raisin cookie expecting it to be crispy as well, but it has a more chewy texture, even though the cookie is thin. We haven't even opened the last flavor but I have no doubt it will be exceptional. What I can tell you is that I would absolutely order from Tate's myself, not only to have at my home but to give as a gift. Anyone would love to receive a package of these cookies...the perfect Christmas gift.

     The cookbook is full of Tate's favorite recipes, including the chocolate chip cookies. It contains recipes for breads, scones, muffins, cookies, cakes and pastries. There are even a few "healthy" recipes thrown in. The book is written in a way that even a novice baker could understand. Each page I turned had a recipe I wanted to try. I did want to make something from the cookbook before I did this review, but I didn't want to go to the store. I had the ingredients for Hermits, which I knew my husband would love.

Hermits

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 cup vegetable shortening

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

 1/4 cup dark molasses

1 cup raisins, dark or golden

     Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease two cookie sheets or line them with Silpat. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves. Cream the vegetable shortening and sugar till they are combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix them again.

     Add the flour mixture and mix it till it's just combined. Add the raisins and mix them until they are combined.

     Roll the dough into 7 equal logs. Do this with you hands as if you were handling clay. The logs should be about 7 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Place the logs on the 2 prepared cookie sheets.

     Bake the logs for 20 minutes.

     Remove the logs from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes. Cut them into bars, approximately 5 per log.

     I'm sure they don't look a thing like Kathleen's Hermits, but they are delicious. Chewy on the inside, slightly crisp on the outside with just the perfect blend of spices. I think my next recipe will be the Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing!

Now for the best news!

     You have a chance to win the package that I got! You will receive a gift-pack of cookies including oatmeal raisin, white chocolate macadamia nut, and chocolate chip, as well as a copy of the Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook. My readers are also being offered a 15% discount on tatesbakeshop.com through December 31st. Simply enter the word "cookie" when prompted on the website. 

The Rules:

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me you are a follower-for one entry. PLEASE LEAVE ME A WAY TO CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN!

2. Become a fan of Tate's Bakeshop on Facebook-for a second entry. You must come back and leave me a second comment telling me that you did this.

3. This giveaway is only valid in the U.S.

4. The giveaway ends December 9 at midnight EST.

I am joining Michael @ Designs by Gollum

 for Foodie Friday. You will find the

best recipes in all of Blogland, stop in to say hello.