<p>chocoholic, please share your double chocolate fudge recipe! If I hadn’t picked the screen name I did, I surely would’ve chosen yours. As for another shipping tip, in another thread someone suggested putting a slice of white bread in when you wrap baked goods. They claim that the bread becomes as hard as a rock while your home baked goods remain fresh much longer.</p>
<p>motherofTwo, thank you for the recipe. I made them this evening for my younger son. He gives them a big thumbs up! He says they are a lot like a brownie with a cherry on top. How are they without the frosting on top? BTW, for those of you who are going to try this recipe, I made mine bigger to hold the cherries and they made about half of what the recipe says.
I also found that the frosting made them adhere a bit to the cookie sheet.</p>
<p>I will do the fudge recipe tomorrow. But as far as the bread slice goes, you don’t want to ship the cookies with the bread slice, as they will become too soft and crumble. In fact I only do that when the cookies are a couple of days old and starting to dry.</p>
<p>Thanks for the packing tips!</p>
<p>Hi, bakers! Does anyone have a good Nanaimo Bar (sp?) cookies?</p>
<p>Here’s my page for my Nanaimo Bars 
YUMMO
<a href=“http://www.nanaimo-info.com/gpage.html[/url]”>http://www.nanaimo-info.com/gpage.html</a></p>
<p>What a great link! Nanaimos are the heaven on earth, and this has variations yet! My D made some in Peru for a BC exchanger, but I only know them from my Christmas cookie bake with friends.</p>
<p>Perhaps all of you already know this, but I was a little surprised when I went to mail the finished cookies to my kids this morning. I used the flat rate boxes, and the cookie container fit perfectly into the box. The flat rate price is $8.95, and I asked the clerk to weigh the boxes and tell me how much it would have been if I had paid by weight instead. For the box being shipped within our state, about 50 miles, it would have cost $5 something and the one going cross-country would have cost $13 something. I knew there was a difference for distance, but I did not know it was that large. So if you are shipping a short distance, flat rate is not always the best deal!</p>
<p>Sent my d a USPS flat rate box with assorted Valentine’s day candies, anything from a Valentine pez dispenser and those little chalk hearts with writing on them to dark chocolate truffles. Also some heart shaped balloons and other room decorations. </p>
<p>A couple of other suggestions that I did earlier in the year, a little expensive but I got good reports back: Zingerman’s deli bundt cakes, I sent 3 mini ones (chocolate cocoa, gingerbread and sourcream coffee cake); and most recently Perfect Endings cupcakes. I saw them in an Oprah magazine as I was waiting in the orthodontist’s office, sent three each of red velvet, coconut and chocolate, my D said they came packed in dry ice and were great!</p>
<p>I am feeling bad that this is the first year one of my kids will not be getting a VD gift from mom and dad. My daughter is in Spain for study abroad and I had just sent her some much need clothes. I did send several pounds of Jelly Belly"s, and mailed a card a week ago, but nothing just for Valentine’s Day. I looked online to see about sending flowers, but they were really more than I wanted to spend.</p>
<p>If someone has a great idea for a great gift that can arrive in Spain for Thursday, please share!</p>
<p>Snowball, you’re such a good mom. As are all of you, with the outpouring of giving and sending and baking. </p>
<p>I feel like a scrooge, as my overseas D got a card with nothing besides a few words and a pretty picture in the mail. As she’s suddenly off traveling, won’t even see that. </p>
<p>On line cards will get there on time, and some are very cute! An overseas friend sent me Christmas cards (yes, a few) from this company as they are so gorgeous. [E-Cards</a>, Animated Greeting Cards and Online Greetings by Jacquie Lawson](<a href=“http://www.jacquielawson.com%5DE-Cards”>http://www.jacquielawson.com) There is a charge, though I don’t know how much.</p>
<p>There are cute free E-cards if you search for them. Maybe not as nice as the ones you pay for, but they are still fun.</p>
<p>Just sent off the packages. They “should” get there by Thursday. Thanks for all the great suggestions. What is custard powder (an ingredient in the Nanaimo recipe)?</p>
<p>I will send my D a box. She always appreciates whatever we send.
My dear sweet son moved rooms and after asking for his new address 3 times and not getting it he is out of luck. Plus I know better then to send him anything perishable since he takes forever to go pick up his mail.</p>
<p>I love to bake and like sweets. No one else in my family is a baked goods eater. The kids all love candy(gummy stuff not chocolate) but are not cake and cookie eaters. So when I do bake husband and kids eat one or two and I end up eating the rest!</p>
<p>I just sent off cookies, peppermint patties and a couple little gifts, including an I-tunes gift card. He should get it by Thursday. I made his favorite cookies- sugar cookies with frosting!</p>
<p>I have never heard of Nanaimo bars before. They look great though. I am going to have to try making them some day. The recipe calls for icing sugar- would that be the same thing as powdered/confectioner’s sugar?</p>
<p>yes, icing sugar= powdered sugar in UK/Canada</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I priority mailed a batch of brownies in-state to my niece (273 miles) and out of state to my S (725 miles) this morning. BOTH where less than the $8.95 flat rate. The charges were: $5.70 for the in-state and $6.40 for the out of state.</p>
<p>I asked about a smaller volume, less expensive flat rate box. The postal worker said the only flat rate for a box was $8.95 but that shortly there will be a larger box (i.e., greater weight) for $12.00+. I asked if there was a smaller/lighter flat rate one in the works. He said NO.</p>
<p>I stated earlier that sometimes USPS is best & sometimes UPS is best. I should have added that there are even differences in USPS costs! I always go into the lobby & weigh the package myself on the scale at the automated postage machine. I play with the computer & figure out the best way to ship to get the lowest cost. I always have a box in the car, as well as packaging tape & a felt tip pen. That way, I can package the items in my own box or a flat-rate box, depending on what works best. I have a pretty good idea of comparable UPS rates, too, so I go to UPS if that seems like it will be best.</p>
<p>If you have a rough idea of the weight before you leave home, of course, you can get shipping rate estimates on the web!</p>
<p>Well, here’s my report. Ordered D’s chocolate at La Maison du Chocolat on Piccadilly Street because the vedy vedy British chocolate shop is in Mayfair and too far for D to walk. Piccadilly is close enough to her school and digs.</p>
<p>S’s package kept morphing. Included his favorite junk candy (don’t ask), jar of nutella, plain cookies to spread it on, chocolate covered pretzels and a Batman graphic novel (quite a treat for him), a DVD I found on the $5.00 rack and an unopened CD I found on my desk (?) of movie themes of all kinds (he just composed a movie score.) </p>
<p>While I was sending things, I sent a box of chocolate to my mom and H’s parents.</p>
<p>I sent both sons a valentine gift package from Fairytale Brownies. They tell me that these are the best brownies that they have ever had – their roommates love them as well.</p>