Ann Clark Ltd. – Cookie Cutters from Vermont Giveaway! (Closed)

*** This contest is closed as of midnight October 24th!  I will be announcing the lucky winner later today! ***

 

I already have too many cookie cutters.  Or, rather, I have a lot of them.  But when Elizabeth Clark Craib, daughter of Ann Clark, of Ann Clark Ltd. in Vermont, contacted me to see if I’d like to review their products, I thought, you can never have enough cookie cutters!  So I said yes.

I received four cutters from their Traditional Tin Cookie Cutter line.  Here they are:  L-R I’ve got a Snowflake, a Moose, an Angel (or a fairy, if you ask Julia) and a Christmas Ornament. 

The Ann Clark Ltd. story is very inspiring.  From their website:

Back in 1989, Ann Clark started out with little more than a pig-shaped Christmas ornament and a dream. After years of painting and creating small gifts for her children to give away, she set up shop in her garage and turned a hobby into a business. In 1991, armed with a small amount of start-up cash and unbridled enthusiasm, Ann tackled her first trade show, setting up a booth at the Philadelphia Gift Show with six cookie cutter designs and several other hand-made crafts. She came home with $3,500 in orders, and Ann Clark, the person, became Ann Clark, Ltd., the company.

You can read the rest of it here.

The cutters themselves are big (very important to cookie-eaters) and sturdy.  You know how some metal cookie cutters are on the thin side, and if you’re not careful you can bend them and ruin the shape?  These don’t.  Sure, if you were determined to bend the tin, you probably could, but why go to all that effort?  With normal use, these cutters are tough enough to hold their shape, batch after batch after batch.  I also like the old-fashioned curved tin handles on them – much nicer to press against that curve than the thinner edges of the cutters.  I know, it’s a little thing.  But little things mean a lot.

Another good thing?  These are made in Vermont.  Yes.  Right here in the U.S.  And I’m hugely in favor of buying locally made products whenever I can. 

The overall favorite in our house was the Moose, which, I guess, is not surprising – the Moose has been Ann Clark Ltd.’s best seller since it debuted in the 1990s!  He’s really very cute.

Each cookie cutter comes with a cookie recipe and a frosting recipe tied to the cutter with twine.  See? 

I decided to double the recipe and to make a couple of changes, just because…well, the moose made me do it.  I wanted brown cookies, so I used brown sugar.  And I’ve been on a cinnamon kick lately, so I added a teaspoon of cinnamon. 

I whisked the dry ingredients together, creamed the butter and sugar, added the egg and the vanilla, and then added the dry until everything was just blended. 

Then I scraped the dough onto some plastic wrap, pressed it into a disk, and wrapped it tightly and refrigerated it for several hours.

Fast forward to later that day…after dinner, actually.  Here’s the chilled dough.

I let the dough sit out for about ten minutes before rolling so it could soften, and I called for my able assistant to help with the cutting.

We cut out four Moose, four Angels (or fairies, since Julia was doing the cutting), four Christmas Ornaments and three Snowflakes.  Oh, and eight bats.  Halloween’s coming.  I baked the cookies that night and after school the next day (yesterday) I mixed up some frosting, colored it, and handed it all over to The Decorators, also known as Alex and Julia (my kids) and their friend from across the street.  We’ll call him Mr. E.  They divided up the cookies and shared the frosting and set to work.

A little bit later, they were done.  I think a few cookies may have gone missing in the process.  Hmmm…I wonder where they went…..

These are Alex’s:

These were done by Mr. E.:

And…well, Julia took her time.

You can’t rush an artist.  Here are hers:

And that’s the cookie story.

Now, what does that mean to you?  Especially since I don’t think the kids plan to share the cookies with any of you…

Well, instead of giving you my kids’ cookies, the kind folk at Ann Clark Ltd. have offered to send four – any four – of their Traditional Tin cookie cutters to one of my fabulous readers!

Pretty nice, huh?

So here’s what you need to do:

1.  Let me know, in the comments section, if you’ve ever seen a live moose.  I know, it’s a crazy question, but I’m still a bit stuck on that moose cutter.  So – have you ever seen a moose in the wild?  I haven’t.  Neither have my kids.  Yet.  I think my husband has, but it was before I met him.  So that’s the first thing.  Have you ever seen a moose?

2.  Link to this contest on your blog, your Facebook page, on Twitter – and then let me know.  Each link gets you an extra entry.

That’s it!

The contest will run from today (Wednesday, 10/20/2010) until Sunday (10/24/2010) at midnight. 

I will choose the winner by random draw (or I’ll have my husband or kids or cats somehow pick the winner, that’s always fun.) and make the announcement on Monday. 

Then all the winner will need to do is email me with a shipping address and a list of which cookie cutters you’d like, and I’ll have the lovely people at Ann Clark Ltd. send out your cutters right away.

All set?  Then let the cookie cutter contest begin! 

Oh, and as they like to say, at Ann Clark Ltd.,

Make more cookies!

Comments

[liz w]

Yes, I have seen a moose in the wild. They are totally bizarre looking in person.

[Rhonda Mock]

Come to think of it, I HAVEN'T seen a moose in the wild....Here in the mountains, we have deer, and lots of 'em, we have wild turkey....we even have bears and coyotes....but I haven't seen moose...Hmmmmm.....

[Kat]

Yes! I have seen a moose! I love them dearly, and my family knows the vehicle will make about umpteen stops on any road trip where there's even the remotest possibility that there might be a moose lurking nearby. We've stopped for fence-posts, tree-stumps, large rocks, and on occasion a moose!
Scroll down this post a little bit to see one.
http://thebobwhites.blogspot.com/2010/07/back-from-tetons-by-kat.html

[Jane M]

Nope the only Moose I see are on TV! Cute cookies! Your decorators are quite the pros! And oh so serious too!

[Jenny]

I've never seen a moose (I don't think) but one time in my youth - I saw a reindeer (I thought) that was surrounded by a purplish hue - but I was a little drunk....

[Amy]

No, I have never seen a moose in the wild but it would be kinda cool to!

[Jennifer F.]

Nope. Never seen a moose!

[Jennifer Juniper]

I have!!! We live in Ontario, Canada and regularly visit Algonquin National Park for camping and we have spotted them several times. I've even watched a mama and her calves - pretty cool!

[Jennifer Juniper]

oh, and I've shared your link on my facebook page! Cheers!

[R]

I have! The first one I saw was eating the bushes outside a Chili's in Anchorage (Alaska), it still makes me giggle because the last place you'd expect to see your first moose is in a strip mall.

[lucy]

Yes, I've seen them up north, they are huge! It's funny any time I see an animal in the wild I get shivers!!!

[Robin H]

I have never seen a moose, but it would be fun to see!

[Beth]

Yes I have seen a moose. It was in Denali Park in Alaska.
I thought it was really neat to see a real live moose.
They are not attractive but cute in their own way.

[Kate]

Sure have seen a moose 'in person'! But I wouldn't want to get too close... I hear they can be rather unpleasant to deal with.

[Sara M]

I have seen many moose in my day!

[Nee Nee]

I can't say that I have... Moose don't like Texas too much!

[Nic]

Does the Moose Lodge down the street from where I grew up count? Haha just kidding but yest I've seen some moose up north before I think we were in Oregon at the time.

[Christy McCreight]

I have never seen a moose as i live in the south. However my son, Oscar and I both enjoy moosetracks ice cream!!! :)

[Gryph]

I have seen a moose...but only in a zoo type situation. I have, however, seen elk in the wild. I'd rather see a moose.

[Sarah]

I have seen a live moose, several times. But the most memorable encounter was when I was canoeing in Minnesota. We came around a bend and a giant bull moose was in the middle of the stream. We stopped our canoe and a frightening staring contest until he darted into the woods. Quite scary and exhilirating at the same time.

[Shannon Brown]

I have seen a family of moose in the wild! The baby moose were pretty cute in person. I would not want to run into one on the road though!

[Amanda N]

I wish I could say yes, since I hear they are so impressive; but I have never seen a moose. I love the cookie cutters. Thanks for the giveaway.

[Nadia]

Nope, can't say I've ever seen a moose before!

[Rosemary]

No, I've never seen a moose but my husband has, but that probably doesn't count! And I love Ann Clark cutters.

[Terri]

I only have seen a moose once, I was going to my brothers house in South Woodbury, VT and I came up around a corner and there he was in the middle of the road...I almost pee'd myself...he was HUGE!!!!...he looked at me and turned and walked back into the woods. Being a Vermonter you would think I would have seen more than just one but that was the only time.