Two batches of cookies done, and this year is the BIG SPRITZ EXPERIMENT. I have two recipes and one of them the kids prefer but I don't remember which. So I'm making both and they can tell me which is which and I'll write as much ON the recipe itself. One is in a book that came with my cookie press, the other is on a card in my small wooden childhood recipe box.

Annual holiday letters are almost all ready to go to the post office. I have a few extras and I'm sure I missed someone so I'll go back through the list. After the post office I'll swing by Goodwill and donate the bin contents.

I made a couple of small videos with the camera set on a tripod and the dogs in the yard to avoid interruptions; those videos were intended to offer tips like how to cream the butter and sugar before adding the dry ingredients. I missed adding the leavening to one batch so when I discovered it I pulled the dough out of the can and mixed in a proportionate amount of leavening. They aren't my best batch ever. Also, I tried some butter-flavored Crisco and I don't like that as well as using butter. It costs about the same, so in future I'll stick with butter. The videos will be edited and added to the family YouTube channel for my son and daughter as cookie making tips.

My smoker is restored to good working order and the old element is in the e-waste bag. I'm not sure they can do anything with it, but who knows? Most electrical things (except light bulbs) that get discarded these days go in that bin.

When I head out in a few minutes I'll look around to see if I need to retrieve anything that blew around the yard in the high winds today. We've been under a wind advisory all day.