Cookie Brigade, PAX East 2011: OVER 9000! ($9600 - and counting - for Child's Play!)

VThornheart · November 2010

Thanks to the wonderful people of PAX, and all the bakers and distributors who have helped make it happen, we have earned over

$9,600 for Child's Play

at this PAX! Thank you everyone, we look forward to seeing you at the next PAX!

Cookie Brigade, PAX East 2011

Greetings! If you were looking for information regarding becoming a part of the Cookie Brigade for PAX 2011 (or just want to know what it's all about) you came to the right place!

Stay tuned here for updates and information as it develops!

WHO WE ARE:

The Cookie Brigade is a ragtag group of Penny Arcade Forumers who have assembled since PAX 2007 to provide our fellow gamers with delicious baked goods! Cookies are baked by forumers, brought from afar by forumers, and distributed by forumers!

Starting in 2008, the Cookie Brigade began a mission to give these cookies in exchange for donations to Child's Play, the charity started by Mike and Jerry that provides entertainment to kids in children's hospitals. Since starting on this mission, the Cookie Brigade has raised over (EDIT: $30,000) completely from the handing out of cookies and the reception of donations from the incredible, amazing, and generous PAX community!

WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE?

Head to http://cookie-brigade.com/ for more information!

I WANT TO HELP IN THE BRIGADE!

If you're interested in

* Baking delicious cookies
* Distributing to people during PAX
* helping with Logistics

we can definitely use your help! Sign up at our website, http://cookie-brigade.com if you wish to participate in the planning, baking, and/or distributing!

An important note: due to certain external pressures on the Brigade, we have to keep some of our more sensitive planning operations private. If you sign up at the Cookie Brigade website, an Administrator will contact you if you're not a known or frequently posting member of the Forums so that we can verify your identity. Thank you for understanding!

We have learned through the past few years at PAX that there is absolutely no end to the need for cookies and people to distribute them... so every dozen cookies that we get *will* be passed out, and bellies *will* be filled by the fruits of your labor... and Child's Play *will* be benefited by your efforts! Please help us by joining the Brigade!

I'M INVOLVED WITH A BAKERY/GROUP THAT WANTS TO HELP!

Have at least one person from said bakery/group join up on the forums and at our website (be it you, your boss, the owner, etc...) and have them get in touch with us! We can't provide much other than thanks to companies that wish to join forces with the Brigade, but if you are willing to put your bakery or company's resources toward helping Child's Play through the Cookie Brigade we'd love the help!

punzie · November 2010

So you want to bake some cookies? Awesome! We appreciate all cookies/baked goods you donate.
Before you start, here are some things to keep in mind:

Spoiler:

Want to bake but not attending PAX? You can ship your cookies to another Brigadier. Here are some tips on shipping cookies:

Spoiler:

Make sturdy, dry cookies. The sturdier cookies will withstand shipping better; softer cookies are more likely to fall apart. Moist cookies could go bad before they arrive, so avoid shipping anything with jams, custard, cheesecake, etc.

Wrap your cookies. Wrap your cookies individually (or in small batches). We'll need to have them like this for distribution, but it also helps keep your cookies from knocking into each other and crumbling.

Airtight containers are your friend. We want to keep those cookies from going stale! There's also a chance that your package could get wet while in-transit. If you've individually wrapped your cookies in plastic wrap, you will then want to place them in a ziploc bag or other airtight container (one site suggested Pringles tubes: they are strudy, round, and airtight. Rinse them out first though). Make sure to get out as much air as you can.

Don't mix your cookies. Keep different flavor cookies separate from each other. If you package them together, the flavors may mix.

Choose the right box. Find the smallest box that will fit your cookies without crushing them. You want to give them as little room as possible to move around, but don't force them into a box that is too small.

Cushion your cookies. You'll need some protective cushioning: packing peanuts, bubble wrap, crushed newspaper, etc. Place a layer in the bottom of your box, add your cookies in neat layers, fill in any gaps between and around your cookies with more cushioning, and place another layer on top of your cookies. When you're done, there should be padding between your cookies and the box on all sides and there should be no movement inside the box when shaken.

Properly mark and close your box. Please include a note with your name/forum name and any info we may need in order to award your achievements (number of cookies, type, etc). Securely tape your box closed and mark it as both "perishable" and "fragile".

Take time into account. The less time your cookies are in transit, the less time they are subjected to possible damage. Plus, fresher is better! The US post office priority and overnight flatrate shipping boxes are free and should get the package to its destination within 3 days (international shipping takes longer, of course). Don't wait too long though. Plan to have your cookies arrive by Wednesday, March 9.

Any more tips? Anything specific for shipping internationally?

Here's a general list of what our bakers are planning. Items in italics are questionable and items in bold are specialty (vegan, sugar-free, gluten-free). If you want your name and baked goods added to this list, sign up for the Cookie Brigade website and post in this thread.

Spoiler:

Don't forget to sign up on the Cookie Brigade website and talk with us! http://www.cookie-brigade.com/

VThornheart · November 2010

We can really really REALLY use your help! We need so many cookies you can't possibly imagine! Every baker that contributes to our cause is a saint!

Last year we had a lot of cookies at East, but it was but a wave among the tide of cookie need! We need lots and lots of bakers! If you have baking skills and you will have the time to cook even a dozen cookies and bring them to the brigade, we would love you forever! Of course, as many cookies as you can make would be amazing! =)

Punzie will be coming forward soon with more information for bakers!

aerynkelly · November 2010

w00t!

MidnyghtChilde · November 2010

I am looking forward to this!

I am also going to try and bribe, cajole, and blackmail my friends into baking as well, even those who are not attending PAXEast.

punzie · November 2010

MidnyghtChilde wrote: »

I am looking forward to this!

I am also going to try and bribe, cajole, and blackmail my friends into baking as well, even those who are not attending PAXEast.

Excellent! The more cookies, the better! And baking is more fun in groups

As we get closer to PAX, I'm going to be trying to encourage/organize some group baking.

VThornheart · November 2010

That's fantastic! We can definitely use all the cookies we can get! =) That's awesome! If they do end up making cookies, tell them that they'll definitely be getting access to acquire Brigadier identifiers (whatever they end up happening to be, we're still working on that =) ). Make sure to sign up on the Google Group!

Valantine · November 2010

Sign me on again this year (PAXE 10' I did the mini pac man and ghosts.)
I'll plege to bake gingerbread Vault Boys
Choco chip
Peanutbutter blossoms
and maybe some mini portal cake bites (without the fish shaped solid waste)
Altogether about 12 doz. or more.

VThornheart · November 2010

Ooh, those are fantastic Valantine! =) Yay!

People freaking *LOVED* your Pac man cookies! Did I get the chance to tell you how quickly they went last year? I went to the main line with them, and I was mobbed by people trying to get them! I can't wait to see this new batch!

Just to make sure, are you still on the Google Group? If not, be sure to jump on there! =)

punzie · November 2010

I had PacMan cookies on my potential list of things to make. If you've got them covered, I can cross them off!

Moe Fwacky · November 2010

There can never be too many PacMan cookies.

Valantine · November 2010

right on! lets both do pac man cookies <3

punzie · November 2010

Well, in that case *adds Pac-Man cookies back onto potential baking list*
We must keep the moderators happy!

feitocomfruta · November 2010

I'm thinking maybe some mint chocolate chip cookies or other ice cream inspired flavors.

VThornheart · November 2010

Wow! That would be amazing! Ice cream inspired cookies would be really neat: if you can pull off a test batch, be sure to share the recipe with us! I can only imagine that they'd be a hit! =)

Also, I second Moe's motion that there can never be enough Pac Man cookies. =) Themed cookies are definitely well loved. Facelesscog and his wife made a bunch of themed chocolates at last PAX East, they were a big hit as well! Ooh, maybe we should add that to the Baker's checklist above... If you've got an idea for themed cookies, go for it!

Smidget · November 2010

Have you all ever had requests for gluten-free cookies? That's something I could provide if there is a need!

MxWood · November 2010

I would totally bake, but i'm really only good for cupcakes, guess I could try cookies.

ransim · November 2010

I'm in again for PAX East. I'll be making more of the space invader candy using the perfected recipe.

I might even have some PI symbols if the mold works out.

punzie · November 2010

Smidget wrote: »

Have you all ever had requests for gluten-free cookies? That's something I could provide if there is a need!

Please do! There are always people with allergies/intolerances/etc. We don't want to leave them out! Gluten-free, sugar-free, nut-free, vegan. These are alternatives we should have.

VThornheart · November 2010

Indeed, every year we've gotten requests for gluten free cookies: some years we've had them, some we haven't... so we can definitely use them!

Also, I eagerly await the perfected Space Invaders candies Ransim! It'll be great! =)

feitocomfruta · November 2010

MxWood wrote: »

I would totally bake, but i'm really only good for cupcakes, guess I could try cookies.

Well, you have a fair amount of baking knowledge from cupcakes, so cookies will be easier for you. Definitely give it a try with a basic recipe, like snickerdoodles.

Durinthal · November 2010

I'm thinking about joining in, even though I haven't made cookies before (just started getting into baking) and it'll be my first PAX. Need to practice first. Yup, lots of practice cookies. Mmm, practice cookie.

f0cus · November 2010

punzie wrote: »

Please do! There are always people with allergies/intolerances/etc. We don't want to leave them out! Gluten-free, sugar-free, nut-free, vegan. These are alternatives we should have.

Gluten free peanut butter cookies are THE BEST peanut butter cookies, hands down.

VThornheart · November 2010

Yay for practice cookies!

Indeed, go for it Durinthal and MxWood! We can definitely use the help, and you'll have fun baking them! Well, hopefully you'll have fun baking them.

We also have a really helpful baking community who can give you pointers on making delicious cookies if you need a hand! =)

And I agree f0cus, gluten free peanut butter cookies can be amazing =) My wife made a batch once, they were very good!

Krissta · November 2010

As I said before, I'm in for baking and distributing! One day I'll be cosplaying as American McGee's Alice, so I'll be handing out iced sugar cookies in the shapes of hearts, clubs, spades, and diamonds. They'll also have "eat me" written on them, as another Paxer suggested (so awesome).

My big claim-to-fame cookies are cranberry oatmeal chocolate chip. I want to test with recipes, though, cause I cheat and just use the Betty Crocker bagged stuff then throw other stuff in.

I also found a recipe for nutella chocolate chip cookies which I'm dying to try (I actually just tried nutella for the first time yesterday, omg).

ransim · November 2010

VThornheart wrote: »

Indeed, every year we've gotten requests for gluten free cookies: some years we've had them, some we haven't... so we can definitely use them!

Also, I eagerly await the perfected Space Invaders candies Ransim! It'll be great! =)

Thats actually a thought. I did come across a few recipes for sugar free candy. I can see about making some of that as well for the people who can't have sugar.

drspacemonkey2 · November 2010

I'm wondering if anyone has used some professional-level facilities to crank out some cookies. There's a lot of bakeries and culinary schools that are willing to rent out their kitchens to people for off-hour use. The culinary school I went to has the gear to crank out around 12,000 cookies per week (off-the-cuff math using estimates for a standard cookie recipe and assuming full 2-person use for 5, 8-hour days, not including cleanup) and does private facility rentals. The cost to rent the facility might be prohibitive for 1 person, but if there's 3 or 4 people in Vancouver who'd be willing to jump in with me, I could make a few phone calls and see what I can come up with.

MidnyghtChilde · November 2010

Krissta wrote: »

As I said before, I'm in for baking and distributing! One day I'll be cosplaying as American McGee's Alice, so I'll be handing out iced sugar cookies in the shapes of hearts, clubs, spades, and diamonds. They'll also have "eat me" written on them, as another Paxer suggested (so awesome).

My big claim-to-fame cookies are cranberry oatmeal chocolate chip. I want to test with recipes, though, cause I cheat and just use the Betty Crocker bagged stuff then throw other stuff in.

I also found a recipe for nutella chocolate chip cookies which I'm dying to try (I actually just tried nutella for the first time yesterday, omg).

Nutella is so awesome. You'll have to share if they come out as delicious as they sound!

I'm still debating what to make, I have tried and true basics (oatmeal, chocolate chip, snickerdoodle peanut butter*), and some exotics that are just too good - peppermint chocolate chocolate chip, oatmeal with white chocolate chips and dried cranberries or cherries. I'm definitely thinking M&M cookies.

I can't wait to see some of them, I'd love a good vegan cookie recipe, I have a vegan friend and never know what to make for her!

I also decided Im doing a moogle costume for part of PAX. Cookie for charity, Kupo?

*SmittenKitchen's peanut butter cookie recipe is hands down, the best one around!

Krissta · November 2010

drspacemonkey2 wrote: »

I'm wondering if anyone has used some professional-level facilities to crank out some cookies. There's a lot of bakeries and culinary schools that are willing to rent out their kitchens to people for off-hour use. The culinary school I went to has the gear to crank out around 12,000 cookies per week (off-the-cuff math using estimates for a standard cookie recipe and assuming full 2-person use for 5, 8-hour days, not including cleanup) and does private facility rentals. The cost to rent the facility might be prohibitive for 1 person, but if there's 3 or 4 people in Vancouver who'd be willing to jump in with me, I could make a few phone calls and see what I can come up with.

Hmmmm... this makes me think... Can we try to contact colleges to maybe make some cookies? There's a school with a culinary program nearby me, and maybe they can work it into their class?

I won't try to contact them until I know it's ok, though.

punzie · November 2010

While we're on the topic of baking facilities: you can also look into your local VFW. I now it sounds weird. I know mine rents out the upper hall which has a large kitchen (once a month they do Sunday brunch and have at least 6 people in there all cooking at once). When I try organizing my group baking, this is where I plan on doing it (it does help that my family is involved with the VFW).

VThornheart · November 2010

Holy cow! 12,000 cookies a week? That's amazing!

I think having 12,000 cookies would actually end up with us satiating the need for cookies at PAX for the first time ever =) The logistics of getting that many cookies from Vancouver to Boston might be intimidating though... DJ Breslin brings like 500 cookies (which is a TON of cookies) every PAX Prime, and the contents literally fill four gigantic cases.

But if it could be pulled off (or even a fraction of that), it would go a long way to actually meeting cookie capacity... that would be impressive! This last Prime we went through roughly 5,000 cookies, and we still ran out towards the beginning of the day on Sunday (not counting the batch we received at the last minute which allowed us to still distribute at the end of the day =) ).

Schools, baking facilities, and anyone who wants to join the brigade are welcome in my opinion. More cookies = more money for Child's Play. We just need more Distributors to rise to the challenge as well if we end up with a huge influx of additional cookies, which is not a bad problem to have! =)

Also Ransim, a sugar free option would be great! I have been asked before for sugar free cookies, and that's one thing I don't think I personally have ever been given to distribute. =( Sugar free candies would certainly be awesome! =)

EDIT: Oh, and MidnyghtChilde, your Moogle costume idea is fantastic! <3 FF VI <3

drspacemonkey2 · November 2010

punzie wrote: »

While we're on the topic of baking facilities: you can also look into your local VFW. I now it sounds weird. I know mine rents out the upper hall which has a large kitchen (once a month they do Sunday brunch and have at least 6 people in there all cooking at once). When I try organizing my group baking, this is where I plan on doing it (it does help that my family is involved with the VFW).

The reason why I suggest culinary schools is because they tend to have equipment that you won't see a whole lot of other places. The one I have in mind has a 3 level European deck oven (capable of handling 9 full-sized sheet pans at once, or 18 home-sized), 5 commercial gas stoves, 3 Hobart mixers (if you know what those are, you know what sort of mixing capacity those give you), a sheeter (kind of a mechanical rolling pin) and a floor-model bread mixer big enough to fit a body in.

The ingredient cost would be all on us, but if there's enough interest, I'll crunch the numbers to see what I can come up with. I also have several recipes for some pretty awesome cookies, including a chewy triple chocolate chip cookie, and my own specialty Mars bar brownie cookie (the Mars bar cookie can be pretty labour intensive, but they're oh so awesome).

drspacemonkey2 · November 2010

Something to keep in mind - the numbers I'm thinking of would be about 550kg of cookies (pre-cooked weight). This would not be for the faint of heart, and would not be exactly dirt cheap. Entirely possible, and likely easier to do if we aimed for around, say, 2000 cookies (financially speaking, at least).

If you're interested in contributing (either with your time or money), let me know and I'll investigate costs as long as there's enough people to make it worthwhile.

VThornheart · November 2010

Yummy yummy, that'd be awesome!

Just be careful though: you'd have to both figure out how you'd get them all the way to Boston, wrap them, and keep them preserved between the time you rent it and PAX itself. Not to discourage you, because that would truly be an awesome baking contribution! I just wanted to make sure I put that info out there before any serious money was put into it!

The other thing to consider is that all cookie donations are only donations: we can't give compensation for materials unfortunately. =( However, if you figure out the logistics of how you'll get them here in one piece and those other things mentioned above, we *can* form a separate donation fund to let people donate to the cause of renting out the place!

2,000 cookies would definitely be more reasonable for transit and would make a significant addition to our cookie supply! It'd be awesome! In truth, I don't know if we could round up enough Distributors to distribute 12,000 cookies as that's more than twice what we've ever had at PAX before... but it would be neat to try admittedly. =) We'd just need a crapload and a half of distributors, and some very hungry PAX goers! =) Given all that though, 2,000 would be an incredible number and hopefully more doable all around =)

drspacemonkey2 · November 2010

VThornheart wrote: »

Yummy yummy, that'd be awesome!

Just be careful though: you'd have to both figure out how you'd get them all the way to Boston, wrap them, and keep them preserved between the time you rent it and PAX itself. Not to discourage you, because that would truly be an awesome baking contribution! I just wanted to make sure I put that info out there before any serious money was put into it!

Wrapping is easy, preserving is more challenging but still easy (just a matter of freezer space and I have a deep freeze I'd be willing to donate to the cause for a week or two), transport would be the most difficult. As far as I know, there's lots of Vancouverites going to PAX East, so that would be the best option, which is why I'm putting this out there looking to see who would be up for helping out before I do anything like book kitchen time

VThornheart wrote: »

The other thing to consider is that all cookie donations are only donations: we can't give compensation for materials unfortunately. =( However, if you figure out the logistics of how you'll get them here in one piece and those other things mentioned above, we *can* form a separate donation fund to let people donate to the cause of renting out the place!

If people are interested, I can sort out the issue with Cookie Brigade people donating to cover ingredient costs. That many cookies won't be cheap, and we'd basically just be pooling resources in a more efficient way than previously done. End result is the same, people are still buying flour, butter and eggs, we'd just be doing it in a co-op instead of individually (and thus, economies of scale kick in and we start saving some money). On top of that, I should be able to get stuff ordered on the school's supplier accounts, which means we'd be getting further discounts.

VThornheart wrote: »

2,000 cookies would definitely be more reasonable for transit and would make a significant addition to our cookie supply! It'd be awesome! In truth, I don't know if we could round up enough Distributors to distribute 12,000 cookies as that's more than twice what we've ever had at PAX before... but it would be neat to try admittedly. =) We'd just need a crapload and a half of distributors, and some very hungry PAX goers! =) Given all that though, 2,000 would be an incredible number and hopefully more doable all around =)

For a project like this, I think aiming for 2,000 for a first go would be a much more reasonable number. Just under 6kg/day - I could easily do that with 1 or 2 helpers. Getting a few of the kinks out plus easier transport would make a higher goal more realistic for PAX Prime 2011. Plus, everyone would get to eat my awesome triple chocolate chip cookies, and I can promise you, that makes 2,000 winners.

VThornheart · November 2010

Awesome! It sounds like you've got experience with this sort of thing, I think it'd be a great thing to do!

Be sure to join the Google Group as soon as you can and put the call out there too: it's where we do the kind of organizing we can't do in this forum for the time being... and it'd be good to get you started up as a Special Projects Liason for this concept!

feitocomfruta · November 2010

I would really like to do something special with cookies for my cosplay as Professor Layton. In Diabolical Box, he carries a tea set with ingredients with him, and the ingredients for the teas have different attributes to them. So what I was thinking was maybe some sort of cookie for each attribute. Here's what I need:

Refreshing - Fruit-flavored brandy snaps?
Sweet - Snickerdoodles
Sour - Lemondrop Cookies
Mild - Butter tea cookies
Earthy - Truffles, granola/oatmeal
Bitter - beer cookies?
Spicy - Ginger Snaps, tuiles with cayenne chocolate
Smoky - Chipotle Chocolate Chip, Bacon chip cookies

I'm sure with our collective knowledge we can come up with something for each. The biggest challenge is taking each of those attributes, making them present, but still making them nommy.

EDIT: I'll keep adding your ideas, so keep them coming.

VThornheart · November 2010

Ooh! That's fantastic, I like the theme!

Hmm... for mild you could maybe do something like those british biscuit cookies: they have a good flavor, but it's not overpowering like regular cookies.

Refreshing, Earthy, and Bitter are much harder... I can't think of a thing. =( Anyone have a good suggestion?

drspacemonkey2 · November 2010

Here's some suggestions:

Refreshing - Fruit-flavored brandy snaps
Sweet - Snickerdoodles
Sour - Lemondrop Cookies
Mild - Butter tea cookies
Earthy - It's only earthy if you get the pun, but you could make truffles. Really easy, and they're named after something that looks like a clot of dirt. Plus you can flavor them with all sorts of liquors, including a nice peaty scotch or an earthy wine.
Bitter - There's lots of recipes for beer cookies that would work really well for this, I haven't tried this one specifically, but it looks okay. I know a guy who works at a restaurant where they put beer in EVERYTHING, I'll see if he has any suggestions.
Spicy - Tuiles filled with a cayenne chocolate. The first one is hard to make, after that they're a snap
Smoky - For this, you HAVE to do bacon chip cookies. Get some smoked bacon, candy it, and substitute for chocolate chips in whatever recipe you want.

hml151 · November 2010

feitocomfruta
Earthy- granola/oatmeal like cookie
Bitter- could be an icing on a cookie that is sourish

VThornheart · November 2010

Oh, we have to be careful about alcoholic flavors. The alcohol route takes us down a potentially vulnerable path... we ran into it at this last PAX Prime, and decided it was best to avoid it.

EDIT: I take back the artificial flavored comment, we can't even really have baked goods flavored like alcohol even if they no longer contain it or never did. If you want to make them privately to give to people you personally know, that's cool: but we definitely can't give them out for public distribution. Please see below... Brigadiers should go to the cookie brigade google group for more information.

Penny Arcade

Cookie Brigade, PAX East 2011: OVER 9000! ($9600 - and counting - for Child's Play!)

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