I consider myself to be a pretty competent baker and yet – until just a couple of weeks ago – I could NOT succeed at your basic Chocolate Chip Cookie! Brownies, Pies, Coffee Cakes – no problem! But Chocolate Chip Cookies – failure after failure! Until I finally learned these two really helpful tips –
1) Use half Crisco – not all butter (say what?!)
2) Refrigerate the dough over night

So, now I am proud of my Chocolate Chip Cookies!

If you have ever struggled, try this recipe:

MEGA CHOCOLATE CHIPPERS

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup Crisco
1 cup brown sugar – packed
2 large eggs
1 T. vanilla extract
1 tsp. salt
2 3/4 cups flour
2 cups semisweet chocolate
*I use over-size Ghiradelli chips. (You can see how big they are. This chip almost fills up our 1/4 teaspoon!)

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, shortening, and sugars.
Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until mixed well.
Add the baking soda and salt and beat until mixed well.
Gradually add the flour and mix until blended.
Stir in the chocolate chips.

Refrigerate overnight.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Drop 3 tablespoons of dough (these are large cookies!) onto an ungreased cookie sheet – 3 inches apart.
Bake until the edges are golden – do NOT overcook!

Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet and then transfer to cooling racks.

And remember…give up half of your butter and try crisco!
Enjoy!

Last week we learned that we were approved by the U of O licensing dept. to move one step further on our adventure to making licensed products. In a couple of weeks, we hope to be able to launch this new line!

After 25 years in business, I finally decided it was time to start working with sales reps to get our products into a store near you! Nearly every day we get a call from someone who is trying to find our products in his or her town.

We now have a whole fleet of reps who will be visiting stores in your towns. If there is a store in which you would like to see our products, be sure and send me an e-mail: info@crosbyandtaylor.com and I will see what I can do.

Here is the beautiful showroom in Atlanta where the southeast Reps are showing off our products.

Tango showroom in Atlanta

Today is the first day that we have even had time to catch our breath. We just had the busiest Christmas rush ever! We have had a lot of Christmases as small business owners…25, in fact! But we have never seen one like this.

We thank all of you who chose something artisan-made for your gift-giving this year. We are honored that you chose one of our American-made products.

Our shelves are pretty much bare. However, we do have some ornaments left. Knowing that everyone likes a little after-Christmas sale, we have marked our 2010 Ornament Collection down by 50%. No coupon codes are needed but quantities are limited to those on hand. Here are a couple of our more popular pieces from this Collection:

Holy Family

Peace

Joy

My favorite Thanksgivings were those spent in Boston with my grandmothers.

I grew up in a very small town in Northern New York but for holidays, like Easter and Thanksgiving, our parents  would pile us into the car (don’t you love that expression? why do we always say we were “piled” into a car – when we know good and well that we opened the doors and climbed in?!) and drive us to Boston. Now that was a pretty long way in the winter in a Dodge Dart, and then later a Buick.

Stopping for lunch out of the back of the Buick - 1965

(This picture was obviously NOT taken on a Thanksgiving trip!)

I loved getting into Boston. It was dark but there were so many streetlights and illuminated tunnels that it seemed really exciting.

My grandmother and grandfather lived in Belmont and my great-grandmother lived in Brookline. When we got to my great-grandmother’s house we would have supper around a card table in the hall – since the dining room was already set for the big meal!

Thanksgiving day was wonderful and we would sit around in the parlor and play games -  like “Twenty Questions” – with other relatives who had come to share the day with us. It was always pretty formal but we thought that was just the way Thanksgiving was. We liked dressing up for the big day! And I was in heaven  – spending the day with my grandmothers.

My great-grandmother and my grandmother and me

Thanksgiving dinner was fabulous, of course.

Then on Friday, my great-grandmother would take us three kids off in her tiny Austin Cooper to go clothes shopping. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. We didn’t have any clothing stores in our town in NY so this was really a thrill.

1968 Austin Cooper

Great Grandma Barbara Crosby was in her early 80′s in those days and she really liked to move out in that car. We rolled around in the back, laughing so hard since we were actually terrified but didn’t know how else to express it!

I never knew my great-grandfather since he had passed away many years before. But he was the grandson of Captain Elijah Crosby – in whose honor I named our company.

Our business started out as The Tin Woodsman Pewter Company. Both of my grandmothers had passed away by the time we changed our name to Crosby & Taylor.  I know they would have loved to see the Crosby name being honored.

Holidays – memories – and family names – they all kind of merge – and isn’t that nice!

All of us at Crosby & Taylor wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you enjoy making new memories together.

Here is a reminder that we have two great Holiday Offers, good through November 15th!

First, all of our Nativity Sets are 30% off. These miniature stylized sets are always a classic Crosby & Taylor Holiday favorite.

Use coupon code: 11nat15

13 piece Miniature Pewter Nativity Set

Secondly, we are including a free 2011 Collectible Snowflake Ornament with each set of Angel Measuring Spoons. New this season, these spoons have been flying out the door – ever since they were featured in Paula Deen’s latest holiday magazine.

2011 Collectible Snowflake Ornament

NEW! Angel Measuring Spoons

Since we have this wonderful connection here at Crosby & Taylor with Paula Deen, it seems we also must have some connection with butter.

I was thinking back on my history with butter. As unbelievable as it sounds, I actually can remember the time when I started eating butter. No joke! We spent my 7th grade year in Chapel Hill, NC so that my mom could get a Master’s Degree in Library Science. (Side note: Best year of my childhood! Thank you to everyone who welcomed me to the “Southern Side of Heaven”. If you were a 7th grader in 1979 at Grey Culbreth Junior High – give me a holler!)

When we returned back to Northern New York, my mom got a job as a Reference Librarian at SUNY Postdam! (Before that, she had been a stay-at-home mom and super volunteer in the community and in our church.) Suddenly my parents had a second income! They decided right away that there were two major things we could now afford….Drum roll…

1) We no longer had to fill our glasses half up with powdered milk! We got to have full glasses of real milk. You laugh but that was life-changing. All of us are big milk drinkers – still are! – and that meant so much to us!

Carnation instant milk

Bottled milk delivered to our front porch!

2) We switched from margarine to butter. Again, this was life-changing! I had experienced butter at my Great Grand-mother’s house in Boston – but that was pretty much it. It was definitely margarine at school on our Wonder Bread. And it was always margarine at home.

Margarine!

Butter!

I have read that Paula came from simple roots so I wonder if she can remember when she first switched to butter? I can, clear as a bell! Thanks, Mom, for going to work and bringing home the butter! I look at the picture of Paula below and wonder if this was pre or post Butter-discovery!

A younger Paula Deen with Jamie and Bobby

Some people call them Creche Sets and some call them Nativity Sets. Whichever way you go, we have 3 lovely Miniature Pewter Nativity Sets which are now 30% off through November 15th.

American-made Miniature Pewter Nativity Set

Jim made the originals for these nearly 20 years ago. He meticulously carved them out of a vary hard wood called Purple Heart. They are a stylized design and quite tiny – perfect for a mantle or any small space. Each set is sold in an organza pouch and we have heard that some people pop them in their suitcases and travel with them at the Holidays. Wouldn’t it be great to set something like this up in your hotel room or your condo?

Use coupon code: 11nat15 through November 15th to take advantage of this special pricing.

The sets are available in 3 sizes:

-13 piece Set C (Regular $179 – now on sale for $119)

-4 piece Set A (Regular $59 – now on sale for $39)

-7 piece Set B (Regular $79 – now on sale for $52.50)

Use coupon code: 11nat15.

Our beautiful neighbor, Lily, arranging one of our sets

7 piece Miniature Pewter Nativity Set

4 piece Miniature Pewter Nativity Set

Sometimes we make best friends with our co-workers. And sometimes our best friends become our co-workers. Here is a wonderful story of my dear friend, Cynthia, who has worked on and off with us, here at Crosby & Taylor for the past 5 years. She is my neighbor, my dear friend, but most importantly, my “sister from another mother”.

Here we are sporting our Pewter Pendants - ever the face of Crosby & Taylor. (I’m surprised we aren’t wearing Measuring Spoons around our necks!)  Do we not look like we are related?

Cynthia and me

This month Cynthia is our Mrs. October. Each month last year we honored one employee but Cynthia somehow got passed over because she is seasonal and part-time. Not fair – you exclaim! And I completely agree.

Here is our wall of FAME – each employee has a poster celebrating his or her greatness!

Our Crosby & Taylor wall of fame!

Of course, Cynthia is so camera shy that she wouldn’t even pose with her poster.

Cynthia's Mrs. October poster

She was busy assembling Christmas ornaments and just couldn’t even look up for a minute.

Life is short, as they say. I really try to cherish each and every day. Having people like Cynthia in my life – and with us at Crosby & Taylor  – is something to appreciate. I hope you will call in to place an order one of these days and get Cynthia on the phone. You will love talking to her. She’s just that kind of person!

Adam and Dan

Behind every product we create and ship, there is a team of individuals who works with us in our Crosby & Taylor studio in Eugene, Oregon.  These folks work hard to assure that the high quality standards of each product are met.   We simply would not be where we are without our team – so we like to brag about them from time to time.

We are so fortunate to have  the Trent brothers (TWINS actually), Adam and Dan, working with us. These guys are masters in the art of getting what we need and helping us get it out the door and on its way to you!

If you have a set of our Measuring Spoons or Cups on a Pewter Display Post, chances are that Adam assembled that for you and Dan cleaned it up and hammered it straight!

They get the job done!  Their old brother, Matt, also used to work with us but he moved on to the world of Credit Unions. Go Northwest Community Credit Union!

Adam and Dan grew up in Oswego, New York. I grew up in Canton, which is only about 2 1/2 hours away. It still seems kind of crazy to me that we all ended up working together some 3000 miles away.

Some people work for me for years and still can’t figure out which one is Dan and which one is Adam.

A few years ago, their brother, Pete, came out from Atlanta. We already had an old photo of the 4 brothers up on our shop fridge:

The Trent Babies

I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get an updated picture of the 4 of them. It was a pretty entertaining photo shoot! I can’t remember now how many beers it took to get them to suit up for the photo – but I believe it was more than a few! Adam and Dan are happy that I cropped this photo. They really didn’t like being photographed in the little shorts that I got to match these #12 shirts!

The Trent boys - "all growed up"

Last, but not least, here is a picture of Adam taken during an incredibly productive work day last Christmas season:

A big day for Adam!

Like I said, this pair of twins knows how to get things done in a pewter shop!