I got up early one morning last week, and turned the oven on to 350.

I pulled my Ziploc bag of Snicker Doodle cookie dough out of the freezer. This last weekend my daughter made up a double-batch, and this is what we love to do. We love to make the cookies, roll them up into balls, spin them around in a bowl of cinnamon and sugar, and then freeze them in Ziplocs!

This is the best way to have fresh cookies come out of your oven – in a snap!

What balls were left (for some reason, our family loves to walk by the refrigerator and secretly grab a frozen ball of cookie dough – and run!), I placed on my seasoned stone and placed in the oven.

My kids’ noses followed the scent down the stairs, into the kitchen, that early morning, to find cookies coming out of the oven. But little did they know, they were not for them!

I had pre-arranged to take dinner to a friend that morning, a friend who’d recently had surgery. Her family became the lovely recipient of freshly-baked Snicker Doodles, plus a dinner of Mango Crockpot Chicken, fresh tortillas, and all the fixings to go with it (and canned salsa from my sis’s garden!)

How do I find the time to do for others?

It’s just a way of life for me. Hospitality begins with me and it starts in my home. If I don’t do it, my kids will never learn. In this increasingly busy season of my life, hospitality rarely leaves my home – but if it does, it goes with me to take a meal, or cookies, or flowers, or sometime to someone in need, or for a quick hello.

But even QUICK can make a big difference!

Mmm, let’s get back to those mouth-watering Snicker Doodles – I think they’re ready to take out of the oven right now!