Traditional Mincemeat pies though the mince is not as good as across the pond!

Second day of cookie week and we had two more bakers bring in the goods!  One of our colleagues hailing from the UK provided some traditional type gingerbread cookies decorated courtesy of the kids.  The kids did a good job. We had gingerbread men with raisin facial features and M&M buttons.  They also made some Christmas trees with white frosting and holiday sprinkles.  They were very festive.  Mum cranked it up a notch and made up some traditional English mince or mincemeat pies.  These are apparently a holiday staple and this was the second time in one week that a British associate brought these to a respective party. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mince_pie

The full menu for the day!

Gingerbread men courtesy of the kids!

Frosted Christmas trees also - these kids did good!

Mincemeat pies used to be bigger in the US but seemed to have faded.  Although the pies were very well received our colleague was not entirely satisfied because the mincemeat that you can get here is apparently not as good as what you can get in the UK.  Apparently it was too sweet and reminiscent of the filling for apple pies.  In the homeland they also include beef suet or something similar and that of course may be the reason for the taste discrepancy.  None of this mattered to those of us without the British upbringing and the pies were eagerly consumed. One person even ate three of them but in all fairness a lot of people have cake hour treats instead of lunch so we don't judge. Thanks for the mince and the next time you can bring us one with beef fat so we can decide what is better.

Mince pies for all!

Got that traditional look!

If only I had some beef fat or lard...

In addition to the gingerbread and the mince pies we had two types of cookies from one of our more proficient bakers. There were double chocolate cherry cookies. Chocolate, cherries - that sounds familiar. Sure enough, throw in a little whipped cream it could be a black forest cookie!  These were quite satisfying to those looking for a chocolate fix and the combination worked well.

Also baking for the day...

Almost Black Forest cookies!

Delicate almond lace cookies!

The other offering was something like and almond orange lace cookie.  These were very flat, and made with sliced almonds and orange zest.  The taste was great and no one complained but the baker felt they could have been crispier. Apparently today's cookie chefs have very high standards!

A full plate for the day!