Multiplying the Loaves

...or in my case, Valentine's Day cookies. As has been pointed out previously, I enjoy baking. Cookies are especially fun because they are easy to give away (convenient; I don't want to think how much weight my roommates and I would gain if we were to keep all the stuff that I bake). This week, I was keen on baking Valentine's cut-outs. I decided to verge from the typical sugar cookie cut-outs and instead try my hand at gingerbread. I used the old, reliable Betty Crocker, which stated that I should expect approximately 2 1/2 dozen, 2 1/2-inch cookies. Now, my heart-shaped cookie cutter was smaller, about 2 inches, so I expected maybe 3 1/2 to 4 dozen, max.

Does this look like 4 dozen to you?!

I did not get 4 dozen. I got 11 1/2 dozen. What in the world...? I was dumbfounded. Appropriately, the daily Gospel for Saturday was Mark's account of Jesus feeding the 4,000 with just seven loaves and a few fish. I was pleased to be able to decorate and give away these cookies to my friends (and even announced to an elevator full of my classmates that they were all welcome to stop by my apartment on their way back to their rooms after class to get some cookies), but I'm still astounded with the vast misjudgment of the cookbook (or of me). How in the world did this happen? At any rate, I am still stuck with 2 dozen or so cookies. I'm hoping I can pawn them off on someone tomorrow. We'll see.

At least they look nice...?