Re: The cookie table

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

@muttmom wrote:
I grew up and still live in suburban NYC. I've been to more than a few Italian weddings. At most, if not all, there were trays of Italian cookies from specialty bakeries. I've never attended a wedding with homemade cookies or pastries.

I remember my mother saying when she was a child and teen, many wedding reptions were held in church halls. The food was prepared by parish members . It was how the ladies' religious society made money for scholarships and donations.

I wonder if people only think (assume) that the cookies came from a bakery because they are each person's most fancy cookie recipe.My aunt jeanne always only made tiny little chocolate chip cannolis, for instance - with the ends dipped in chocolate. If i saw those on a tray I may assume they came from a bakery. My grandma would make anisette not rolls - each little cookie is a minature nut roll. My Mom anisette with orange or lemon flavoring pizelles. Every cookie is each person's most fancy recipe. My Mom had a recipe for a nut cookie that had chopped nuts and cherries in it and you made a cherry icing from the cherry juice and dipped the one side of the cookie in it, My Aunt Madeline always made a spice and almond cookie that tastes just like those old fashioned windmill cookies. OMG - I'm going to go to bed craving cookies.

lulu2 · ‎03-09-2010

@sunshine45 wrote:
perhaps one reason why people are getting away from cookie tables is health concerns? i have seen so many times on these boards (and in person) where people say they will not eat food that is made by others.......they dont accept gifts of food because they dont know the bakers/cooks habits in the kitchen. a number of posters have said that if anyone gives them a cookie plate during the holidays that it goes right into the trash.

times have sure changed.

our local public schools cannot even do bake sales anymore and they were so popular when i was growing up.

I could not have said it better. At one time, I considered catering specialty desserts. When I found out what you need to do to have a kitchen pass the board of health regulations, it left my head spinning. I know of no catering halls that allow homemade items brought in to be served out of their kitchen. If someone were to get sick, it would be the catering hall's responsibility.

As for knowing who baked what would make little difference. No one knows who licks his/her fingers, whose cat climbs on the counter, whose hair is down in his/her face.

Times have changed. (for better or worse) There was a time kids made fun of the boy or girl who brought a package of store bought cookies to the class party. Now you cannot bring something that is not in a sealed package.

lulu2 · ‎03-09-2010

@chickenbutt wrote:
@lulu2 wrote:
My husband is 100% Italian. My then future MIL told me my parents needed to have trays of Italian cookies at the wedding. We (the bride & groom) were supposed to carry the trays from table to table offering a cookie in exchange for a wedding envelope. No way was I going to do that. MIL got bent out of shape when I left the cookie trays on the table, allowing guests to help themselves to as many cookies as they wanted.

Yikes! Kinda like begging, eh? I don't blame you. I wouldn't do that either. I'd have been embarrassed.

Almost 45 years later I still break out in a cold sweat when I think about those da*n cookies. Back then there was no Italian bakery in South Bend, Indiana. There was an extra expense because they were delivered from Chicago!

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

I find it totally incredible that some posters here actually have found a way to twist around something as simple, basic & greatly good like a cookie table at a wedding into something negative. Boggles the mind. i am glad i don't have to live with people like that.

And BTW - at 67 years old I have been to hundreds of weddings with cookie tables and have yet to ever hear anyone getting sick or dying from the cookie table. No one is forcing the paranoid to eat them.

VanSleepy · ‎10-05-2010

@151949 wrote:
@VanSleepy wrote:
Unless the wedding is strictly close family, the bakers are strangers to many of the guests. I was thinking the same thing sunshine wrote.

Well, you guys are more than welcome to not eat any and leave more for the remainder of us. No one is forcing you.

I wasn't speaking about my personal feelings. I'll eat any cookie you put in front of me!

muttmom · ‎11-28-2012

@151949 wrote:
I find it totally incredible that some posters here actually have found a way to twist around something as simple, basic & greatly good like a cookie table at a wedding into something negative. Boggles the mind. i am glad i don't have to live with people like that.
And BTW - at 67 years old I have been to hundreds of weddings with cookie tables and have yet to ever hear anyone getting sick or dying from the cookie table. No one is forcing the paranoid to eat them.

I do not see where anyone is twisting anything.

You asked about homemade cookie tables at weddings. Some posters had experienced them, while others had not. Some posters experienced cookie tables from specialty bakeries. Some posters pointed out, in their area of the country, particularly at this time, bringing homebaked items would not be allowed for sanitary reasons.

No one said people became ill or died from eating homemade cookies.

In typical fashion, unless posts are in agreement or support yours, they are wrong.

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

@151949

What kind of cookies do you make for the wedding cookie tables?

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

My daughter has an Italian Godfather. Very Italian, and by that I mean he is very proud of his heritage, can speak the language and cooks every Italian dish I know of.

I helped raise both of his children, his daughter tells me I am her 2nd mother. Her mother, my beloved friend, died some years ago of cancer.

I was there for the girl's wedding. No cookies. I am going to complain.

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

I usually make the ones my Mom made with the chopped up cherries and nuts that had the cherry flavor icing because they are pretty and taste good. I sometimes add my grandmas nut roll cookies if I have time, because they are tasty and easy. I have been known to also make small snickerdoodles just because I like them.

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

@151949 wrote:
I usually make the ones my Mom made with the chopped up cherries and nuts that had the cherry flavor icing because they are pretty and taste good. I sometimes add my grandmas nut roll cookies if I have time, because they are tasty and easy. I have been known to also make small snickerdoodles just because I like them.

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@151949

Oh, those cherry cookies sound delicious! My husband loves anything cherry

I know they have to be pretty, too.