The Cookie Book: Food Network's 12 Days of Cookies: 2003

In my mind, 2003 is the Golden Age of the 12 Days of Cookies newsletter. It's not really because of the recipes (though Almond Snowball Cookies did arrive in my consciousness with this round), the snazziness of the design that year, or the immense importance attached to the newsletter that year (we'll have to wait for Round 2005 for that).

No, it stands out in my mind for it being the first time I encountered the Food Network's Christmas cookie collection and the first time I started getting into the annual tradition of the cookie baking blitz.

The newsletter and the newfound fascination with baking fed into each other. I tried my hand at those Almond Snowballs, they turned out well, and so I wanted to bake some more. Of course, I turned to the newsletter then for more inspiration.

In later years, the 12 Days of Cookies newsletter would turn into a real promotional monster for the Food Network, something hyped all through the year and packed with videos, contests, TV tie-ins, and a whole nearly hidden section of the web site (what . . . ?). It's such a big pull that in 2007 they didn't even bother putting the recipes in the e-mails, knowing one and all would click through to all the advertising goodness on the Web.

But now, in 2003, the newsletter is more an experiment and perhaps an attempt at spreading a little free Christmas cheer.

Major thanks go out to this forum archive, which provided me an ordered list of recipes for the 2003 newsletter. Where my copies of the newsletter ended up is a question only my dearly departed iBook can answer.

Food Network’s 12 Days of Cookies, 2003