Stealth Mission: Ninja Cookie Drop

On Saturday and Sunday, unsuspecting women all over New Zealand would have wandered out onto their front doorsteps or out to their mailboxes, only to find a little package of love, stealthily left by an unknown ninja.

Inside these packages, they would find an array of delicious baked treats, along with a copy of this poem:

Hopefully they would have no idea of the ninja baker who’d been crafty in their mission, or how they came to be the recipient of such sweet, sweet (or savoury!) goodness.

On Friday, I spent the day baking for the three women I had the pleasure of ninja-baking for.

Let me drop a few stats for you…

Butter softened: 460g
Flour sifted: 2 1/4 cups
Sugars creamed: 6 1/4 cups
Chocolate melted: 100g
Oven on 180degC for: 44 minutes
Number of times beater washed: 3
Number of times Tiny asked “What’s that on you?”, meaning my apron: 12
Number of babies who slept through the entire process: 1
Emergency trips to the store: 1
Number of times forehead slapped for forgetting I have Ninjabread Men cookie cutters: 3

I lined trays and pans. I creamed butter and sugars. I sifted flours and cocoa powder. I folded and spooned and flattened. I cooled and iced and decorated.

I made a delicious, powdery mess all over the bench, the floor, and myself. For once, I didn’t burn myself on the oven or the trays.

I danced to terrible radio music and let Tiny lick the beater for the first time, and the smell of good things baking filled the air.

When everything had cooled and set, I packaged them up with love and care, attaching recipes and poems with brightly coloured ribbons.

And I gleefully planned my ninja attack. Should I wear black, and a ninja-style mask over my face, in case I was spotted? Should I go for the safe option of the letterbox, or be bold and try for the front porch or by the front door? Should I run like the wind if approached, or calmly try and fudge my way out of it?

When I received my email from HQ with the details of my ladies, I breathed a sigh of relief that I knew none of them, and that they wouldn’t know me. I had envisaged dropping baking off at a friend’s, and being seen, unable to think of a viable excuse as to what on earth I was doing.

On Saturday morning, I was in the car just after 9am, off on my first drop. I took Pickle as my look-out. He fell asleep on the job.

As I approached the first house, I felt nervous butterflies begin to flutter in my stomach. What if I’m seeeeeeeen??! I squealed silently. It was a house down a driveway, with the letterbox at the road-front. YUSS!

Second house – curtains closed. Sweeeeeeet. Still, I drove away as fast as I possibly could, just in case.

Third house….I drove up slowly but inconspicuously; seeing no lights on in the front rooms, and no one in the front yard, I leaped from the car, dashed madly across the road, slid the package carefully into the letterbox and raced back to the car.

And then, I drove all the way home with a big, goofy grin on my face, and a little dance in my heart.

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To see what other ninja sisters baked, and to read the reactions of our deserving nominees, visit The Sisterhood on Facebook: warm fuzzies guaranteed!!

A massive THANK YOU to Sophie for organising everything – from the idea to the logistics. Girl, you are AMAZING xoxo