Mrs. Teabody Cuts Cookies

Good Morning, Gentle Reader. Little eddies of fog swirl through the lush green treetops, and there is no sign of blue in the sky, but Lady Glass and Mrs. Teabody will shortly meet for their morning constitutional -- a great start to any day. Upon returning, there is sugar cookie dough to roll out and cut into little teapots. Yes, another treasure trove arrived at Tickle Your Fancy yesterday, and among the treasures was a stack of  shiny little circular tins containing three nesting teapot cookie cutters. Quel adorable! Mrs. Teabody had her first teapot-shaped "biscuit" at Gypsy's Tea Room a few weeks ago during the "April Snow" episode and has been longing to replicate the experience for her esteemed clientele. Could today be such a day? Mrs. Teabody has some trepidation about using packaged cookie dough, but what could possibly go wrong?

Installment II
Lady Glass and Mrs. Teabody were very derelict yesterday after exercise taking to one of their more clandestine occupations. Attend: Mrs. Teabody had noticed an especially fine foundation planting in the garden of Duchess MacDonald and had described the beautiful unknown shrub to Lady Glass whose curiosity matched that of Mrs. Teabody and simply had to be satisfied. Wasting not one precious moment, the two were soon chugging along in Mrs. Teabody's ancient motor car to view the lovely plant.  Gentle Reader, it must be known that Lady Glass and Mrs. Teabody take on their garden-related activities with the fervor of a jejeune Justin Bieber fanatic, and hearts were a-flutter approaching the lovely MacDonald estate.  Mrs. Teabody brought the ancient motor car to a full stop in the middle of the thoroughfare, then at Lady Glass's urging, made an illegal u-turn pulling alongside the curb to have a long look: Slender, hues of amaranth stalk, lacy flower heads like elderberries, airy-fairy aspect. The two gazed in awe and wonder having no idea at all what the plant could be. Almost simultaneously both reached for door handles to cross the lawn and make bold enquiries, but better breeding prevailed, and both reached an agreement to call at a more reasonable time. Now in full garden-gazing mode, the hungry pair purchased in-the-car, specially priced for ladies of a certain age coffee and spent the next half hour peering into back gardens around the hamlet. Oh, what fun, Gentle Reader, but Oh, how late was Mrs. Teabody in making her lovely teapot cookies!

Once home, Mrs. Teabody went into full attack mode turning on the oven, gathering utensils. Flour flew through the air, the little oblong packet of dough was dusted, flipped, and placed between wax paper layers, flattened, rolled and finally cut into darling little teapots of varying sizes -- not without a great deal of mess and trouble, and not without Mr. Teabody's expert trimming. Into the piping hot oven went the lot and Mrs. Teabody took to her morning ablutions whilst Mr. Teabody "watched" the cookies. Mrs. Teabody returned to the kitchen just as the timing dinger sounded and eagerly popped open the oven door only to find that all the artfully-carved teapots had joined together to form one massive sheet cookie. Not one vestige of a teapot outline remained. Not. One, Gentle Reader.

Truth to tell, Mrs. Teabody was not terribly surprised even though her disappointment in herself for taking a dastardly shortcut was nearly paralytic. Mon Dieu, Gentle Reader! There are no shortcuts when one desires perfection. Butter and sugar must be creamed together, steps followed with precision, cookies cut in small increments chilling the dough between cuts. "Well begun is half done" goes the adage.  Every once in a while even Mrs. Teabody needs a reminder.

Ta for now, Dearies!