My first Operation Baking Gals!

Hubby and I have been wanting to get more into community service. When we lived in Ohio, we used to do community service on a very regular basis. We both feel it’s important to give back. Since moving to Beantown, we’ve fallen off that wagon and we recently got the itch to get back on. I’m looking into multiple ways to give back, including participating in Operation Baking Gals.

If you don’t know what OBP is all about, definitely go check out the website. Basically, a team of bakers send packages to one service member who is currently out of the country. Since that service member will be getting TONS of stuff, he/she can share it with others.

Now I’m not going to get all political here. After all, this is a food blog. But, I will say that no matter what you views on the wars we’re in right now, there’s no reason not to support the troops fighting in those wars. So consider joining a team for OBP and do like I am – using my love of baking for the good of someone else.

I joined team Ugly Angel. Our soldier is Captain “Doober” Turner, the husband of our team captain Kim! (Check out her blog here.) They have 3 small children and another on the way. And, one of the reasons I chose this team is because he’s a CH-53D pilot. I won’t go into details here, but the engines on that helicopter have something to do with my day job…

And now on to the package. I had a super baking day while Hubby was off snowboarding with friends. It was a blast. I got all of my cookie dough made, and baked about 18 dozen cookies. The last 8 dozen were baked the next day.

I made double batches of 3 kinds of cookies. I followed the instructions on the OBG website about how to package them and how to fill out the post office forms.

For the package, I made Alton Brown’s “The Chewy” (double batch yielded 8 dozen cookies)…

some Oatmeal Raisin cookies – Captain Turners’s favorite (double batch yielded 8 dozen cookies)…

and Lumberjacks – Hubby’s favorite (double batch yielded 9.5 dozen cookies).

I didn’t end up shipping 26 dozen cookies because Hubby and I ate quite a few and I saved some Lumberjacks for him. But I think I shipped about 20 dozen cookies! I really hope the recipients enjoy them.

If you are interested in participating in the next round of OBG, check out the website and sign up. I will definitely be doing this again. Also, be sure to check out Kim’s blog for a round up of the Ugly Angel’s Team.