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Classy baking. #srsbsns #movember

I still remember that day.

Five years ago, a friend and I were driving back to D.C. from an audition in Raleigh. Neither of us had advanced. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was shining brightly when I got a call from my mom.

“Honey, I have some bad news.”

Something inside me knew exactly what she was going to say.

“Your dad has cancer. We found out a few days ago, but I didn’t want to upset you before your audition.”

Yep. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 60. At this point, I don’t even remember what stage it was or the sort of outlook they had for him. I just remembered when my grandpa, his father, lost his battle with cancer.

grad5

Post grad school graduation, on tippy toes.

People survive, though. After months of radiation treatments, my dad’s cancer was in remission! Thankfully, this is still the case.

With my family, it feels like it isn’t a matter of if you’ll get cancer, but when. Along with my grandpa and my dad, both of my uncles have had it (and survived). Having that kind of family medical history, I feel obligated to speak up about the cause of Movember rather than simply talk about some cookies that I made.

Chocolate 'Stache Cookies

But seriously, I made mustache cookies. (or moustache biscuits for the UK/AU/NZ/etc. crowd) How rad is that?! I spotted the cutters for these a year ago while Christmas shopping at a favorite store. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to make these for Movember.

When you can’t grow facial hair, you do what you’ve gotta do.

It's still November which means that it's still #Movember.

The recipe I went with was an obvious choice: Brownie Roll-Out Cookies from Smitten Kitchen. (Coincidentally, these are also in Deb’s new cookbook which she will be signing here tomorrow!) This is the third time I’ve made them, and it was as if they were meant for these cutters: the impressions remain clean even after baking! I’m sure Deb’s mom had visions of mustaches whenever she made these cookies. More importantly, they’re chocolate and soft in a brownie-like way.

peeking at dough

Tips for successful ‘staches:

  • Cold dough holds the best shape/details while baking.
  • After chilling the dough, I rolled it out between two sheets of parchment paper.
  • Stamp the cookies before cutting them. I found that you want to press pretty (but not too) firmly with the stamp which flattens the cookie quite a bit, so it’s better to roll out the dough on the thicker side.
  • I did occasionally run into the issue of the dough not releasing from the cutters, but wasn’t using any flour. A toothpick probably would have been helpful.

Added bonus? Almost all of the cookie ‘staches can hang out on the lip of your glass. I think Santa would be stoked to get a tray like this.

Chocolate 'Stache Cookies

And yes, they are appropriately sized.

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I could have baked these with cake pop sticks in them, but meh!

In the spirit of Movember, get yoself checked!

Also, make silly cookies.

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